Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1867-11-16
ASHTABIJLA. OHIO, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16 1867

''Then can you tell me now what the
passage means that have been reading
to you?"
"There's so much of it," said Henry,
hopelesslY, 81 wish you'd just tell me in
short order, father"
ooh, read it for YOURSELF" said John,
as he pushed the book towards the bov,
for it was to be confessed that John per-
ceived at this moment, that he had not
himself received any particularly lumin-
Gus impression, though of course he
thought it was owing to his own want of
comprehension. John leaned back i'll his
rocking.chair, and on his own private
hook began to speculate little rs to
what he really should think the verse
might mean, supposing he was at al COM
pctent TO decide upon it. 'sAlake to
yourselves friends Of the mammon of un-
righteousness" says John ''that's money,
very clearly-how am to make friends
with it or Off Receive me ''into ever
lasting habitations?:" that's Il singular
kind OF eXpreSsion-I wonder what ii
means. DIR. Scott makes some very good
remarks about it, but somehow Pm not
exactly clear" 1t must he remarked
that this was not an uncommon result of
Johns critical investigations i'll this
quarter.
! Well; thoughts will wander, and as
J Ohm lay with his head on the b;trk of
his rocking-chair, and his eyes fixed Oh
the fiickering blaze of the coal-yiSions
of his wet tramp i'll the city, and of the
lonely garnet he had l,cen visiting, and of
the poor woman with the pale, discour-
aged face, to whom he had Carried
warmth and comfort, all blended them
selves together. He felt too little in
definite creeping chill, and some uneasy
sensations i'll his head like Il commencing
cold, for John was not a strong man
and it is probably his long wet walk was
| likely to cause him some Inconvenience
in this way At last he was fast asleep,
noddihg in his chair.
! He dreamed that he was very sick i'll
bed, that the doctor came and went, and
that he grew sirker and sicker: He was
s.rins tG tfat He saw his wife sitting
weeping by his pillow, his children
standing by with pale and frightened
faces, all things in his room began to
swim and wave, and fade, and voices that
called his name, and lamentations that
rose around him, SccrEed f;lr-oH and dis
tant i'll his ear "Oh eternity! eternity!
am going-I am going" he thought;
and i'll that hour, strange to tell, rot one
of all his good deeds seemed good
enough to lean OIL, all bore some taint or
tlnge 10 His purified eJt, Of ffortal selfish
ness, and seemed anholy before the ALL
PURE. 81 am going" lie thought, ''there
is no time TO stay, no time TO alter, to
balance accounts; and / know not what
| am, but l know, o Jesus, what THoU
art. | have trusted in Thee, and shall
nevr. be confoundcd." And with that
last breath of prayer, earth was past.
\ soft ard solemn breathing as of
music awakened him. As an infant child
not vet fully awake hears the hol Y warb-
ings of his mothers hymn, and smiles,
half-eonseiouS, 50 the heaven-born be-
came aware OF sweet voices and loving
! faces around him ere yet he fully woke
to the new, immortal life. -e.....
"Ah7 he has come at last; how long
we have waited for him-here he is
among us-now forever-welcome wei
come said the voices.
Who shall speak the joy OF that latest
birth, the birth from aeath to life! The
sweet, calm inLrcathing consciousness Of
purity and rest, the certainty that all sin,
all weakness and error are at last gone
foreycr-the deep, immortal rap.tffe IT
reposc-felt to be but begun-ncvcr to
end!
So the eyes of the hcaven-born opened
OH the new heaven and the new earths
and wondered ut the crowd Of loving
faces that throngcd about him. Fair
godike forms Of beauty, such us the
earth never knew, pressed round lsisa
with blessings ts::sr:k; and welcome.
The man spake not, but he wondered
in his heart who they were, and whence
it came that they knew him, and soon as
| the inquiry formed itself i'll his soul 1t
was read ut once by Ills lcavcniy friends.
a." said one bright spi;it, ''was Il poor
boy whom you found in the streets, you
sought me out, yoIt sent me TO school,
YOU watched over me, and led me to the
house of God, and now here | am. y
"AMA wc,'' said other voices, "arc other
neglected children whom he redccinra-
we also thank you" ''4And H. said an
other, 'was lost helpless girl-sold to
sin and shame; nobody thodgh | could
be saved, everybody passed me by until
YOU came. Toa built home5 Il refuge
for such poor wretchcs as re, and there
|, and many like me, heard OF Jesus, aud
here we are" "And l." said another,
"was once a clerk in your store. | came
to the city innocent, but | was betrayed
by the tempter. forgot my mother and
my mothers God. | went 10 the gam
ING table and the theatre, and at last l
robbed your drawer. You might have
Justly cast me off, but You watched over
me, YOU saved me. am here through
Won. this day" "-And l." said another,
;'was poor slave girl-doomed to lie
sold on the auction block, to n life or m
fanny, and the ruin Of soul aud body
Had YOU not been willing to give so
largely for my ransom, no one had
thought to buy ne. You stimulated
others to give, and l was redeemed.
lived Il Christian mother to bring my
children up for Christ-they are all here
to bless you this day, and their children
on earth. and their childrcn's children are
/ a., Ill., Iou - - And "