The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1881-04-07

1
you prayed? Have you been savedP asl
nothing about anybody else in all th'
universe. All my thoughts bend towarC
you. The lane travel up ends at you
heart. The door bell l ring is that O
your soul. 1t is your life, your death
your judgment, your enthronement Of
exile, your unendihg existence, A mik h
tier eartf quake than that which demol
ished the Phillippian penitentiary viii
after a while rumble about your ears
The foundations of the earth will give
way. But one tremtr Of the earth, al
American cities will be thrown flat il
the dust. Lisbon and Caracas wen
down more completely. Cathedrals anC
palaces and prisons that have been stan
ding thousand years will topple like 6
Child's blockhouse; the seas in one surge
submerge the land. Atlantic and Pacific
oceans joining hands above the Allegha
nies and the Alps and the Himalaye
What then shall doP What then will
you do2 l wonder not at the Jail keep
er's personal anxiety, for he was moi
guarding only against the falling Of that
prison, but the falling of a world.
Again, the question Of the text was one
Incompatible importance. Perhaps be
may have been anxious to have his sal.
ary raised by the Government. Perhaps
he may have been about to institute 8
prison reform on the subject of light, OF
warmth, or cleanliness, or medical treat
ment or discipline. Men are wonderfully
alike, aud suppose, like ourselves, he
had many subj acts under discussion.
And yet all the questions Of his life are
hushed up, submerged, forgotten, ami.
hilated in the outcry: "Whar must l do
to be saved2" My hearer, what question
have you comparable in importance
with this? Is it a business question? But
your earthly business will soon come to
an end. You will 60 ont of the partner
ship. Beyond certain point of all the
millions of dollars OF goods which are
sold in New York, you will not handle a
yard of cloth, or pound of sugar, or a
pennyworth. A fire might start in Cen
tral Park and burn down to the Battery,
it would not co you any damage, Every
cashier might absCond, and every bank
suspend payment, and every insurance
company fail, and you would not be af
feCted by it. What is any business that
stops this side of the grave to be COIL.
pared in importance with that which
reaches beyond it? What purchases
have you made for eternity2 What los
ses will you incur that are everlasting2
What is beyond the store and the shop2
What are your unfailing securities? Are
you jobbing for time, when YOU might
be doing wholesale business for unend
ing ages? Is there in your store any
question of business 30 broad at the base,
80 altitudinous, so oVershadowing, as
what must l do to be savedP" In your
domestic affairs is there any question
comparable with this2 Something abont
father or mother, husband or wife, son
or daughter? But in short while this
relation, by inevitable and universal law
will be broken up. Father will be gone,
mother will be gone, your children will
be gone, you will be gone, But the su
pernatural question of the text will then
just begin to harvest it's gains or dsplore
its losses, to roll up its magnitudes and
sweep its circles; question that decides
whether you will live ages unConverted
with God, the blest, or with demons lost.
Whether you will take wings and fly, or
chains and drop; whether you snail be
forever built up or pulled down; whether
God shall be your father or your foe;
whether your future shall be spent prais-
ing or blaspheming, chanting or groan-
ing, living the life that always lives, or
dying the death that always dies. What
difference now to Napoleon III whether
he triumphed or surrendered at Sedan;
lived at the Tuilleries or at Chiselhurst;
was an Emperor or an exile2 Laid cut
in his coffin in the dress of Field Mar.
shal, did that in the future world give
him any better chance than if he had
slept in the plainest shroud? What to
you in few day will be the difference
on earth you rode or walked,
we're bowed to or maltreated, applauded |
or hissed, welcomed in or asked out,
while laying hold Of every moment of
the great future, burning in every splen.
dor and grief, overarching and under.
yirding all time and eternity is the liv-
ng, plain, infinite, startling, stupendous,
overwhelming question of the text
What shall | do to be saved2"
Again I remark, the question of the
all supervisor was pressed out by crush
ng misfortune. The penitentiary down,
he keeper lost his occupation. But
worse, the flight Of the prisoner was or.
linarily the death of the jailor. Had |
he wall stood quiet, and the inCarcerat.
I'd lain still in their stocks, and the NOR.
hing sunlight dropped calmly on the pill.
ow Of the supervisor, suppose you he
would have flung the agitated words OF |
ny text into the Apostles ear? No; it
vas the earthquake that reused up his
.nxieties. Did not your troubles start
n your own soul the same question:
The colors of your dress are not as bright
.s once. Why have you chosen the
more subdued garb2 Do you not like
atfron or crimson as we'll as once? Yes;
)ut that which was once in harmony
With your feeling when you were young
md gay and prosperous, would be a dis.
ord now, and 30 you have pleated up
he shadows into your apparel. There
lave been dark days in your dwelling; it
loes not seem any more like home; once
'ou thought if you could only have It
Iuiet-now it is too quiet. Others say
Il the departed, they would not call
hem back if they could, to this troubled
world. But if you had the power you
would call them back, and the voices
would again be sounding, and the feet
ay, and the faces kindling. And it
would be as once on Thanksgiving or
christmas days, that long ago fed, never
o come again with their hilarites. An
has rocked down your do
nestle eDjoyments, and some of you,
ambeau in hand, are staggering among
he falling walls Of your earthly hopes,
rying, What must l do to be sayed?"
me half the Christians have been start.
d Christward by their bereavements.
)h, the grave is 80 CrIel, 80 devouring,
o relentless, that when our loved ones
re swallowed up by it we must have
ONE one to go to with our torn and
leeding hearts. We must have bal
am better than any that exudes from
arthly tree to stop the pann. Friends