Year: 1878




Dean Stanley, in his sermon In Cal
vary Church, New York, said And.
lastly and fourthly, this sense Of the
vastneas Of the universe, of the imper-
fection OF our own kno gledgc, may help
US in some degree 10 understand. not
indeed the origin Of evil and suffering,
but at any rate something Of its posi-.
bic uses and purposes. We look around
the world and We see cruel perplexities,
we see tho useless remain, the useful
taken away, the young and the happy
depart, the old and the miserable linQer
on. We see happy households broken
up. We nee the failure Of those to
whom we have been accustomed To look
up to with reverence We look on and
We go through these trials with wonder
and fear. We ask whcrcunto this will
grow. Yes, but that has been gained
perchanee which nothing else could have
given us. We may have gained through
these sufferings a deeper knowledge Of
tho mind Of God, a deeper insight into
ours. Truths, which once seemed to be
mere words uttered without understand
ing, may have thus become parts Of our
inmOst life. IL times past VIC could
gay, 81 heard Of God by the hearing Of
the ear, but now can say, MY eye
seeth thee" Humility for ourselves.
self abascmcnt before the Judge Of all
mankind, charity for others these are
the gifts which often are the beat re-
suits Of distress, Of doubt and of diff
Guilty.


May / close these remarks by an IL
lustration which once heard from tie
lips of a rough seafaring man-one Of
a few survivors Of great shipwreclz
which took place some ten years ago on
the Bay Of Biscay. As soon aa those
who had escaped from the sinking YES
sci found themselves in the small boat
in which they had taken refuge, in the
midst OF the raging sea they found their
chief danger came not from the solid,
massive sweep Of the waters, but from
the angry breaking waves, which, from
time 10 time, descehtled upon them, and
against which every eye and hand had
20 watch with undated attention As
the shades Of the evening drew on, 10
the survivor told mo, their hearts sank
at the thought that in the darkness Of
the night il would be impossible to see
those insidious breakers, and that soon
or or later they would be caught and
engulfcd by them. But with the dark
ness there came corresponding safety
Every one Of these dangerous waves as
rolled toward them was crested with a
phosphorescent light which showed It's
coming far of, and enabled them to
guard against it as carefully as If they
had been in the fall light Of day. The
spirits of the little crew revived, and
those who from time to timc-the cow
ards and despetadoes among them
were for turning back TO the ship were
guided by these cofrnscations through.
the night, and in the early dawn they
caught sight CT distant vessel by
which they were at lasesaved.


Mark that crest of phosphorescent
light. On the top of those breaking
pillows is the light of divine grace. the
compensating force of Providence. In
the darkness of this mortal life, and on
the wave of this troublesome world our
perplexities and dangers and griefs
bring with them, or may bring with
them their own remedy. On each
bursting wave of disappointment and
vexation there may be the grace ot
heavenly light which reveals the peril
and shows the waves and guides us.