National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1877-01-08
TIME AND KTERNITY.

DIR. Rankin at the Congregational Church.
Notwithstanding the weather, there was a
large attendance at the Congregational church
yesterday morning, 1t being the quarterly Oom-
nunion service. DIR. Rankin spoke Of the con-
nection between time and eternity, from Daniel
xi:l3-"But go thou thy way till the end be, for
thou shalt rest and stand in thy lot at the end of
the days" The whole discourse was kind Of
memorial sermon for the past year. The speaker
began by saying that II is difficult for US to come
to any sense Of the progress of time. Sleeping in
Q car, we awaken when the car stops and know 1t
has been in motion, and so il 1t the end Of life.
A friend Of ours that shocks into sense Of the
may be the end of . year or the coming Of q
birthday-lfke stations on the route to eternity,
at which We seem to pause just moment and are
1t h progress that day and night, summer and
winter, year by year, moves onward.
is on tse surface. conid we see it all and we're We
not hurryfng forward to some new surroundings,
to some new destiny. 1t is solemn enough to
affected the lives of tens, ffties, of hundreds,
perhaps Of thousands whom we have met. Speak
Ing out Of their earthly lives, how this twelve
and destiny. But when we think Of the conuec-
ton between time and. eternity how this life is
nifty i surely beyond it how that eternity is not
only sequence but consequence of time, . re-
tri6utiye consequence, then the serious thought
suficient for It'll Let Us look at this
LIE AS WE ARE LIVING IT,
as a progress toward eternity. 1t is there await
ing us. We cannot avoid 1t. Had the passengers
on that i'll fated train known what horrid death
down into the abyss helpless, mutiiated, burning
and drowning; this moment chatting costly, card
playing, sleeping, the next moment amid the
icy waves, every one would have hurried from it
at some previous station. They did not know.
In moment the structure gave way and to them
the Son Of Man came. 2. Look at eternity as Q
consequence Of this life. Years follow as Sc
Quences. Eternity is q consequence Of time, be-
no Of
pours all that floats upon Its surface into the
ocean, 50 time empties all human interests and
generations to-day whose dust sleeps In earth's
bosom?
dead that die in the Lord; their works do follow
them" It is great truth that q mans influence
does not die when he dies that he sits in the train
bsa q aSs
grave. The good or the evil q man does never
dies, but follows him forever and forever. When
such o
SWEET SINGER AS P. P. BLISS
is hushed in death his hymns and his songs are
not killed. They cannot be killed. They follow
him. They have been winged with his own i'm
mortality. and will go into eternity with the
they viii sioS Se@ and Sess tSs rsIa
Again, we must look at eternity as q life Of re-
tributive consequences. The law Of moral descent
is Just as much law as the law Of gravity. Ifs
man drinks up or CANDLES away his property, his
character and his business, he goes down inevita-
bly,. But this is not all; he goes down retribu-
lively. God has 80 made men that their sin or
their virtue finds them out.
Lastly, 1t becomes us, whose eternity grows out
Of our time, to live just as We should Ike to die
We know not when we may be called. 1t is the
very word OF the Lord when He says, Blessed
are those servants whom the Lord, when He
should put on sackcloth and wear q solemn face
but, having set his affections and his hopes upon
Heaven, and Heaven alone, he shall live among
men as one anxious to comfort them and help
them-cheerful, hopeful, courageous.