Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1873-05-02
An Eloquent Lay Sermon.

can appreciate the following beautifully
eloquent article from the N. Y. THJane.
GOOD FRIDAY.
There is an old story in an old book
Of certain well-to-do man who found
his income 50 secure, his house so COM
Portable, his barns so well filled, that he
began to look upon the whole affair, both
master and possessions, as the one thing
meant to be permanent in this shifting
world Soul he said in joyial hui
NOR one night, to the Something out of
sight inside of his healthy body, costly
clothes, stately dwelling, and estate
Soul let us cat, drink and be merry"
This live creature, at least. he was sure
OF. Body and land and houses, being
dead matter, might wear out. but that
which had earned and ruled them all
would stay. When dawn came, the old
record goes on to state, the morning sun
found fields aud floclis unaltcred. There,
too, were the comfortable house and the
rich clothes unchanged. Even the body
which had served its master so long, was
there ready to do his bidding. But the
soul had gone, and never sent message
back to say whittier. "For six thousand
years" says Schiller, the dead have
been going from us, and not one hath
returned to bring us tidings."
Certainly this wcll-to-do man did not
belong to these days Whatever else our
crimes, we are not Indifferent, We all
of us take keen interest in that I'M
known country to which each of us must
90 some day on an memorable journey,
never to come back, taking with us moth
ing that we have needed here. When we
90 into strange countries now we can
make place for ourselves with our mo-
ncy or acquaintance even good clothes
are of use. But what baggage or letters
of credit can we take with us there? Even
the fair face or bodily graces which have
covered up so much of our real selves
must be left behind TO think of the
dreadful naledncss of il! To whom shall
we talk of the matters which have always
filled our lives until an hour--fve min
utcs before Who will care there for
the next election, or the price of stocks
in the market Who will ask for the
last Joke or bit of gossip 2 Who will
know Of the fashions or the last new book?
Things that have filled our hands and
brain for our whole lives will have van
shed from US like breath, and hands
and brain will have gone with them ! If
we could but take Il bit of hair from the
child that lay in our bosom if we could
but feel the kiss which the one dearest to
us left on our closed eyes But the child
will grow up and forget us; and the dead
eyes will be together in the grave far be-
low and what will be left to us ? Who
can answer-what?
No man, however silly, is Indifferent
to this end Of the history Of each of us.
Men now-a-days do not talk much about
death or heaven, or hell Why should
they Have any returned to bring them
tidings? But they stand pecring, rich
and poor, boor and scholar alike, at the
closed gate, with the question of the old
Chaldean prophet on their lips, "Whcn
a man djeth shall he live again p He
gycth up the ghost, and where is he ?
Why do the poor crowd to funerals
Why do hosts of unimaginativc people
accept tablc-rappings and mediums p
Why is death. from the lonely murder
by midnight to the opening of the great
jaws of the sea and the enguliirg Of hun
dreds in moment, the one subject which
renews in us all, day by day, the same
brcathless, morbid interest? Not surely
that the article of death, livid lips, and
CLASSY eyes are a rarce show that attract
any man. 1t is the secret beyond; the
hope that, hating in the open darkness,
on the verge of the gulf, the departing
soul may let fall some hint Of that which
it sees on the other side, and which it
will never come back to tell us. job,
even, in the first morning of time, while
the world was yet young and fresh, cried
out with impotcnt despair against this
land Of darkness" The poor Indian in
Brazil goes out at night into the forest
to try to learn the song of the bird which
he fancies has come from the spirit world
with message from his dead The wo-
man whose child died here to-day knows
only the DID, unalterable longing Of that
savage and Of that man whom God and
Satan put to trial when she kisses her
baby's lips and they do not move again
to hers
Why, but for this reason, is to-day SGT
apart from all others? There have been
countless deaths as tragic in circumstau-
ccs as that of our Saviour So unbrokcn
has been mans progress to the grave
that the worlds stir has been but the
breath Of the dying In every war or
pestilenco thousands are swept into the
grave. Why should not only churches
be open, but business be made to halt in
american cities to-day, because eighteen
centuries ago the son Of Jewish car
penter was cruciGed between two thieves
on little hill outside Of Jerusalem p
Why but because with divine strength
in his mans body he went ont into the
dark unknown to solve the great secret
for us-to "bring us tidings r All the
miracles &c the Saviour, all Of his teach
ings, would not have won the worlds
belief in Him but for that last voluntary
struggle with its enemy. We watch
Him going down into that final abyss of
silence and darkness, and rejoice that lie
goes as a man and not as a God. He
yearns as We would do for human SYM
pathy. Could ye not watch with me
one hourI' His last tender thought is