But, brethren, there is a remedy for all these evils. God has provided the remedy. Nor is it a bitter draught. It is the "milk and wine" of his Word. Both mean Truth. I used to wonder why the Prophet Isaiah used both terms, when both mean the same thing. Now I will tell you. He says: "Come unto me, buy wine and milk, yea, buy wine and milk without money, and without price." Milk is truth in its simplest and plainest forms. Gospel truth presented in a way that very young and uninstructed minds may readily take it in, is what Paul calls "milk for babes." But wine is the very same truth extended and expanded into forms of instruction adapted to the understandings of "men in Christ Jesus."
All are invited and even exhorted to come; to come to the "fountain that was opened in the house of David." It is the same that is meant by the "river of the water of life which proceedeth from the throne of God and of the Lamb." I exhort every one, both old and young, to study God's Word for the truth it contains, represented by the beautiful symbols set before you therein. Even the unconverted sinner is invited to come and take of the "water of life freely."
"Here pardon, love, and joy divine
In rich effusion flow,
For guilty sinners lost in sin
And doomed to endless woe."
The interval between the last given date and Monday, February 15, has nothing in it claiming special notice. But here he says: "To-day I attended the funeral of little Susanna Brower, who died yesterday morning. As it is our privilege to 'rejoice with those who do rejoice,' so it is our duty to 'weep with those that weep." I could but weep to see the remains of this interesting little girl laid in the cold and silent grave. I think it was the ancient Romans who personified death in the form of a walking skeleton, scythe in hand, cutting down whatever the whim of his fancy might suggest. This representation may accord with the relentless strokes his scythe is sometimes seen to make; but the light of heaven reveals a Hand that holds his bony arm within its grasp; and that Hand is the hand of our God. For,
"'Not a sparrow to the ground may fall
But our Father's in it: Heart of Love that governs all.
Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.'"