Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1873-02-01
AN EXCELLENT LECTURE.

mug Vi The New ear. i MS excellent
and able divine was formerly pastor of
the NJ. Z. Church South, of this place,
and we commend the Lecture to our
readers, as an able and eloquent produc-
ton, feeling satisfied that it will amply
repay careful perusal -
Better Is the end Of thing than the
beginning"
So the wise man hath said. What
shall be ? is life's great question. Nearly
every thing we do, has some reference
to the future. The beginning, every step
of progress bat suggests the question,
how shall it end ? If we SOW, it is with
an eve to the reaping The reaping is
better than the sowing. The fruit bet
ter than the bloom, however charming
the odor,or delicate the blossoms blush.
TO Law the heavy stones in the founda-
ton is hard work, but when the edltice
is complete-the cap-stone with shout
ings has been laid-when we gaze on
dome and tower, we feel that better is
the end than the beginning
The artist brings from quarry deep
with much toll, the ASHER trough, and for
weeks and months with chisel edged
by genius and by wisdom driven, he la
bors on, but behold the marble hath
been fashioned into life, and though it
is out cold marble still, yet it almost
breathes, and we eXclaim with the wise
man, .better is the end than the begin
nine.
Oh, may we be able to stand up in
the last day Of this year, this new year,
and as the sun shall slowly sink behind
the snow-clad hills of the distant west,
eAclaim, better is the end than the be-
ginning
We 90 now upon the presumption
that We shall live to see it close And
vet the thought will intrude itself upon
us,-we may not live,-some who com
mence this year on earth may end 1t III
another world The old veteran now
leaning upon his staff, calmly waiting,or
tottering on with feeble step, he will not
end this year on earth, but in his case
the end will be ''better than the begin
ming" 1t may be that Young and Wig
orous manhood now withers before the
breath of the destroyer, and will hence
be called too soon, in his case, the end
may be better, but o. it may be worse
than the beginning.
But we all may live-what then If
in the acquisition of knowledge weshall
have succeeded in making some advance
ment. if we shall have been able tosolve
some of the problems that are being
thrust upon us, if we shall have been
able to gather some fruit from toe
fields Of science, if we shall have been
able to drink deeper still Of the stream
of mysterious truth, if we shall by dill
gent search, have found and trod pure
wisdom's path untrod by us before, then
we NAV say ''better is the end than the
beginning"
Ii we shall have looked abroad in the
world and found there others than our
selves whose spirits may keen anguish
feel. the sea of whose life is tempest
tossed, whose Lark is frail and broken,
or whose hearts all bruised, now bleed
for the loved and lost, perhaps the
widow in her loneliness, weeping for
the love and sympathy Of a heart long
since cold in death, or perhaps the or
phan poor, who with vacant stare, and
heart as sad as the face of death, the
future tries to scan, or perchance the
poor whose little store is more than
gone-oh if we shall have been able to
pour little oil on that troubled sea,and
to that bark give strength-it we have
that angushed spirit soothed, and pour
ed the balm of love into that bruised
and broken heart-O! if we have lifted
up that lonely dropping plsnt,or hushed
the orphans cry,-if we have found the
poor and give him bread and with HIM
wept, then we may bless God and say
The end is better han The beginning.
Or if that heart now chill and cold
meath the death-dealing influence of sin
should warm into life beneath the sun
rays of the smile of God that neck
now so proud and stiff should bow to
his blest will that hand to no selfish
purpose given, but for heaven swift to
work that life now waste most
frightful, shall this year bud and bloom,
and bring forth precious fruit beneath
the saving smile of Heaven. .! If the
dry bones shall again stand forth with
sinewed beauty clad if the blind shall
see, and the lame shall leap with JOY, II
the dead in sin are raised, then Of truth
We may say the end is better than the
beginning.
And @! if the prodigal shall return,
II the swine and husks of this world be
gwen up, and the wanderer come again
once more to tread the fathers courts
with JOY, clad with ring and shoe, anG
robe all wrought by loves unwearied
hand. If the backslider be brought
back, the wandering sheep to the fold
restored. If that cold eye shall melt in
tears, aad that profane tongue for mercy
crv. till me.cy's found, then will we
with the lost now found, eXciaim, '4he
end is better Man the BEGINNING.
And my brethren and sisters, if at the
end of this year we shall know that we
have grown stronger in the Lord, if the
sun of our experience shall more bright
" shine, the sky of our religious enjoy
ment have fewer clouds than now, II we
shall be able to drink higher up the
stream and nearer the fountain OF eter-
nal bliss, if We shall behold in clearer
L. IL Z. l,.nr4;nr &C tho nrOss II our