The eastern clarion. [volume] (Paulding, Miss.) 1837-1863, 1860-04-18


with all their sanctuary privileges in reg
ular and orderly succession, Many have
been nurtured in the very lap Of the Cos
pei, and perhaps from infancy up through
youth, and to manhood, have been oh
iects Of the tenderest and most affection
ate parental solicitude. soIicituds
which consecrated them to God in infan
cy, which carefully provided and secured
those means and influences the best cal
culated to turn the growing mind towards
the distant future, with the anxious in
quiry, . What mast I do to Be saved" A so
licitude which oft times. upon the bended
Enee at the altar Of prayer, cried, 20.
God, save those thou hast given as pledg-
es of thy love-
God himself also spesks to such in the.
Gospel of his Son. in vice that must be
heard, in language that must be under
stood, and under sacred influences which
are hard to be resisted. How he warns
how he peFsuades-hOw he entreats-how
he tenderly expostulates! Repent-be-
lieve. Ho' every one that thirsteth, come
We to the waters. Turn ye, turn ye, for
why will ye die, is the voice celestial
which makes its daily appeal.
All these opportunities. however nu-
merous-all these invitations, however
kind-all these warnings, however alarm
ing-will be closed by death. When he
strikes the fatal blow, no more will the
Gospels soothing. persuasive voice reach
he ear of him who has made no prepara-
ton for change of worlds-no Longer
will the fervent importunate prayer, a.
cending from the heart Of father and
mother, salute his ear. Then there will
be no Sabbath in whose sacred silence the
soul is summoned to private counsel with
itself-no Bible to direct-no. Savior to
stand before Heavens bar in advocacy Of
the sinners cause; for his time of trial is
now past.
Bird. Death may be styled common
enemy.
When we cast our eyes to the right and
the ieit, and see this one and the other
the tall, the wise, the reverend"-totter-
ing, and falling, and tumbling back to
their mother earth. When we GO back,
and by the aid of the historian, live the
lives of antiquity, and here witness one
nation after another fading away-one
kingdom after another vacillating under
the devastating car Of pestilence and fam
inc. When we see the King, once deco
! rated in the most gorgeous habiliments OF
royalty; and once welding successfully
the sceptre of power over millions thrown
under his jurisdiction, in the short period
of a few days, lying side by side with his
poorest and obscurest subjects. When
we here see the conquering Alexander,
the ambitious and blood-thirsty Caesar,
the sagacious and intrepid Napoleon,
sleeping the sleep Of death, within the
embraces Of the same narrow spot OF
arth, with those who fell as subdued VIC
Tins before their drawn swords and their
puissant arms, we are irresistibly forced
to the conclusion to which the inspired
pensman, by long and close observation.
arrived: Man goeth to his long home
he giveth up the Ghost and where is he .
All are tending to the silent tomb-al
are of the dust and all return to the dusi
again. There is no rank, no grade, ex
empt from the ravsges of this terrific en-.
emy. There is no circle where death
does not enter, and when he enters, where
he does not do marked execution. None
so high, AND exalted, and dignifed, that
their pre-eminence. win repel the grim
monster for moment, in his steady and
onward march towards them. None SC
low, that their poverty will save them
from the paralyzing stroke. He is com
mon enemy to our common race Young
and old, the best and the worst, the pi
Gus soul and the abandoned wretch, mus
go at his bidding.
When he advances, no one will find |
rock to build upon which is stable anC
firm enough to stand unmoved under tn,
peltings of that storm which leaves no on
untouched and unharmed Oh! tha
this awfully solemn truth. taught so for
cibly in Gods book, and confirmed b
+ the observation of every man, might b
stamped indelibly upon every heart.
4th. Death is not only common enc
my. but an enemy which is inexorabl
and unrelenting in his claims upon h
, victim.
! When he puts forth his iron grasp, h
is fixed in purpose and firm in resolution
D Nothing can stay his destroying arm f
, one moment. No sins does the set hoI
l arrive when you must bid an eternal far
= well to this life and all its enjoyment
had you all the treasures yet concealt
+ in the beds Of California-had you the q
e cumulated wealth of kingdom after kin
, dom, yea, Of ten thousand worlds iii
this, all at your disposal they would n
n move him to spare you year, month,
I week, an hour, no, not one moment. I'll
i pre-eminently eloquent tongue cannot pc
= suade him to procrastinate his work. o.
|, en- do we hear of the rising storm of Il
/ agitated and infuriated populace beiI
h hushed into silence and perfect calm,
a one peal after another of unfeigned 81
quence bursting from the lips of the OF
II tor, deeply interested in the lives of tho
: who are about to fall helpless victims
, the ruthless hand of an angry commui
ss ty-but no where upon the page of hist
k ry, or from any other quarter, do we lea
$ that the king of terrors," in the first !
e stance out Of untold millions, has be,
q moved by any. however eloquent, and no
S ever pathetic may have been his pleadin,
n Cries and entreaties will not mo
l. him. Seldom do we meet with an eneu
IS among men so fixed in his purpose to &
1t stroy life, so unyielding and inexorab
It but that his hard heart will be touch,
IS by the tears and pathetic cries of mot
Of or pleading for the life of the tender
is fant, or of the disconsolate, heart-brok'
is wife, who begs for the preservation of hi
e. who is her only earthly stay. But al
is death. iuexorable, uDyielding death, sto
1t not for tears, though they be tears
K blood poured forth by the nearest kin
red. when called to part with kindre
in without the most remote expectation
I'd ever beholding their face again this si'
h. the bar of God. When he comes al
he nresents his summons, the mother plea
d, without success for an only daughter, 4
to father expostulates in vain for him W
ch is the only hope of his declining years
Id the wife's supplications are unavailing, al
ch the PRAYERS of the child about to be throv
Nv out upon the charity Of q cold-heart
he world, all go unheeded.
it We next very briefly notice the conso
ed tory and animsting thought brought
ar view in our text in the declaration ma
iy, by inspiration, that this enemy is to
ily DESTROYED through the power and agen
lis of ,Iesus Christ. Death is TO be the /
ed enemy'-and though formidable el
my in all his contests-though an enel
20 Who separates between the soul and bo
nv though he winds up probation in Go
.ct government-though he steps in and 5,
ITS ders with ruthless hand ties strong a
en- tender; the promise that issued r.,
he Him Sho does not lie, and who has
power to say and then execute his o
in word, that this enemy shall be finally
I'D stroyed, and shall not harm that $,
by who has taken refuge from the gatheri
er storm, under the protecting power