The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1878-12-18

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truth of history in Justice, therefore. "a
the dead and TO the living. In the try.
: Ing times just past, when all the svnpr
thies and all the energies of our being
ought to have been thrilled into one
: longing and one effort for the relief of
the suffering, some there were. and
doubtless good and true men, who illus
trated the frailty and weakness of our
poor nature by pausIRg in the midst OF
the dying and on the very brink of per
sonal fate to try to pre-occupv the public
mind IN favour of the unfinching cour-
age and heroic devotion of this or tn It
christian people to the cause of humani-
ty. We mourn that such has been the
case but we make no reply save to point
to our death roll, headed by the names
OF our four ministers. They kept back
nothing no man can take their crowns
II. OUR THANKsGIvING. B 1t even
all this Is not cup OF sorrow unmixed.
We mourn to-day as few churches and
communities have cause to mourn; vet
not as those who have nothing tor which
to thank God.
L. We are here as the representatives
of christianity; and more than ever before
We dothis day bless God that in the person
of His Son he has revealed himself to US
We make our boast in the religion of our
Lord Jesus Christ; in its sustaining power
in this hour of trial, and in the comfort
1t brings our poor hearts when we think
OF those whose names we have just heard.
| Woe, oh! woe unto us and them if there
were no Christ of God, no balm in Gil
cad What do We here now If we be
lieve not in the Father, the Son and the
Holy Ghost?
2. We give thanks that our dear ones
were children of the Most High, walking
in fellowship with Him who giyeth the
power of an endless life; that our lives
were cast with theirs, that we were ia
voured with their christian companion
ship, and had the inspiration of their
beautiful example.
3. We praise Him for the assurance
that our beloved dead are not utterly lost
to us, not clean gone forever; that they
''toiU rise again" in spirit and come
back to us, and talk with US by LIES sad
! dened way even as our Master came and
talked with his discoRsolate disciples; and
that our hearts will burn together as we
hold sweet communion with them. We
bless him for the faith that when in our
solemn feasts the Saviour has girded
himself and is mnistering unto US, these
sainted ones will be there with Him to
make the place holy and our feasts de
lighttul by their influence on our hearts.
We bless Him for the belief that we snail
meet forever at the Marriage Supper of
the Lamb and in the Kings Court with
cur robss of everlasting life about US, we
shall strike hands again In an immortal
greeting.
f. Once more: We thank God that in
our distress we we were pot left alone of
our fellow men, that in the hour Of NOR
tai fear and overcoming anguish all men
did not forsake us; that there were sub
stantial tokens from those far away tell
ing that their hearts were filed with
our sorrows; that in communicating to
our necessities they gave testimony,
grateful forever to our memory, of a rec
ognition of the common brotherhood of
man. We thank Him that love of life
was not stronger than pity for suffering,
that fear of death could not overcome
sympathy with distress; and that we have
examples, illustrious almost beyond his
toric parallel, of men who, though not
unmindful of the imminent peril to them
selves, bowed to the supremacy of human
necessity and came to giorify humanity
by their ministry to their fellow men.
III. OUR DECLARATION.-And now,
my brethren, turning our faces toward
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, can we utter those sublime words
of the Psamist as setting forth our I'M
shaken faith in him who has allowed us
to be afflicted ? We have said san this
has come upon us"-''thou hast f06eR as
and covered US NTH the shddoto Of DEATH"
can we add those triumphant utterances
of the soul that makes his boast in God,
even though he Stay him? Can we say
"yet have ace not forgotten thee, neither
hare aOe dealt falsely IN thy coOenant.
Our heart is not turned back, neither
haze our steps declined from thy aOay T.
Oh ! if you can do this, happy are We,
after all; even with your faces to the
earth because you cannot forget those
that are not, it is well with you
1. Mems RedSOnings about Great Cal
amitieS. Full well you know there are
some who say concerning ali the afflicted
sections of our country, that this peculiar
distress is sign of the peculiar dspleas
ure of God toward these communities for
their high handed SHINING. Men, min.
listers, in public and on the Sabbath day,
have given forth such utterances,. and
men, perhaps many, have believed them
to be true. Are you prepared to accept
such a statement as regards Grenada?
For my part, L am not.
[ do not profess to know much about
divine providence. Does anybody except
those who are wise above what is written?
Job says he "doh great things, past find
ing out; yea, and ,Conders a0tthout nuns
Der 81 Ix:10], and Paul exclaims:" Hoto
unsearcha6te are his judgments and has
,cays past finding out For 10ho hath |
knoWa the mind Of the LordF i" Rom. XII:
80 4 But this l say, / do not believe
Mississippi is more abandoned than Ala
bama or Massachusetts; that the western |
half of the State is wickeder than the |
eastern, that the counties on the River |
and the Railroad are worse than those !
remote from either, or that Grenada and !
Holly Springs have sinhed with higher
hand than Oxford or Aberdeen. Nor
can feel sure that the very men who
charge iniquity against these people as
the cause of their affections would have
escaped untouched, if they had resided
here during the last four months
2. Hear some Scripture Stdtements.-
The thirteenth chapter of Luke begins
thus: There lVere present at that season
some aoho told him of the Galileans aUhose
blood Plate had mingled tcith their
sacrifices. And Jesus, answering said
unto them, suppose ye that these Gal
iLGeans t0ere sinners above all the Gall
leans, because they suffered such thingsF
I tell you, Nag: but ercept ye repent, ye
shall all likesctse perish. Or these eighteen
upon tchona the tolOer IN Sloan fell and
stea0 them, think ye that they aOere sinners