A MODERN SERMON. The following exhibits the method upon which the average parson constructs his delectable discourses: "Brethren, the words of my text are: "Old Mother Hubbard, she went to the cupboard To get her poor dog a bone; But when she got there the cupboard was bare, "These beautiful words, dear friends, carry with them a solemn lesson. I propose this evening to analyze their meaning and to apply it, lofty as it may be, to our everyday life. "Old Mother Hubbard, she went to the cupboard To get her poor dog a bone,' "Mother Hubbard, you see, was old; there being no mention of others, we may presume she was alone; a widowa friendless, old, solitary widow. Yet, did she despair? Did she sit down and weep, or read a novel, or wring her hands? No! she went to the cupboard. And here observe that she went to the cupboard. She did not hop, or skip, or run, or jump, or use any other peripatetic artifice; she solely and merely went to the cupboard. "We have seen that she was old and lonely, and we now further see that she was poor. For, mark, the words are 'the cupboard.' Not one of the cupboards,' or the 'right-hand cupboard,' or the 'left-hand cupboard,' or the one above, or the one below, or the one under the floor; but just the cupboard - the one humble little cupboard the poor widow possessed. And why did she go to the cupboard? Was it to bring forth golden goblets, or glittering precious stones, The or costly apparel, or feasts, or any other attributes of wealth? It was to get her poor dog a bone! Not only was the widow poor, but her dog, the sole prop of her age, was poor too. We can imagine the scene. poor dog crouching in the corner, looking wistfully at the solitary cupboard, and the widow going to that cupboard-in hope, in expectation, may be to open it, although we are not distinctly told that it was not half open or ajar, to open it for that poor dog. "But when she got there the cupboard was bare, And so the poor dog had none.' "When she got there!' You see, dear brethren, what perseverance is. You see the beauty of persistence in doing right. She got there. There were no turnings and twistings, no slippings and slidings, no leaning to the right, or faltering to the left. With glorious simplicity we are told she got there. "And how was her noble effort rewarded? "The cupboard was bare!' It was bare! There were to be found neither oranges, nor cheese-cakes, nor penny buns, nor gingerbread, nor crackers, nor nuts, nor lucifermatches. The cupboard was bare! There was but one, only one solitary cupboard in the whole of that cottage, and that one the sole hope of the widow, and the glorious loadstar of the poor dog-was bare! Had there been a leg of mutton, a loin of lamb, a fillet of veal, even an 'ice' from Gatti's, the case would have been different, the incident would have been otherwise. But it was bare, my brethren, bare as a bald head, bare as an infant born without a caul. "Many of you will probably say, with all the pride of worldly sophistry, 'The widow, no doubt, went out and bought a dog-biscuit.' Ah, no! Far removed from these earthly ideas, these mundane desires, poor Mother Hubbard, the widow, whom many thoughtless worldlings would despise, in that she owned only one cupboard, perceivedor I might even say saw at once the relentless logic of the situation, and yielded to it with all the heroism of that nature which had enabled her, without deviation, to reach the barren cupboard. She did not attempt, like the stiff-necked scoffers of this generation, to war against the inevitable; she did not try, like the so-called men of science, to explain what she did not understand. She said nothing. The poor dog had none!' And then at this point our information ceases. But do we not know sufficient? Are we not cognizant of enough? "Who would dare to pierce the veil that shrouds the ulterior fate of Old Mother Hubbard, the poor dog, the cupboard, or the bone that was not there? Must we imagine her still standing at the open cupboard door ; depict to ourselves the dog still dropping |