The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-11-16

every astronomer to his observatory, and
drew all the telescopes heaYenward, so
this eclipse of this effulgent nature
ought to bring us to the watch-tower Of
the church, to seat us like the men OF
Galilee, gazing into heaven. III you
have any idea this man Of God lies lac
Grated in Greenwood Cemetery | want
none of your Wretched agnOSticism.-
Alas, for a sepulcher with a knob on the
outside of the door by which we shall
be let in, but no latch on the inside of
the door by which we may come Outl-
He has gone, but he has moved up. He
went out of the air heavy with anO-
dynes into atmOspheres eXhileTant, and
out of body painstruck into conditions
Fubieund with health immortal one of
the celestial athletes, as deathless as
God is deathleSS, never to know sickness
or pain, except as reminiseence. Now
his mission Widens Outl Now he gets
grander appointment, not to this church
or that church, this city or that city,
this denomination or that denOmina-
tiOn, this world or that world.
What velOcityl What circuits! What
orbits for the star that rolls on as sill
very as before the OccultatiOns, for the
sun that radiates as grandly as befOTe
the eclipsel Hard to estimate what
Thomas Guard was here; who shall estl-
mate what Thomas Guard Is thereP Not
SO UluCu ulubTtuC6 D6bWb6h buC SukAO III
iron cage and the eagle pitching from
ChimbOraZO toward the sun. This mans
work is not done, nor half done, nor a
thOusandth part done. 1t has begun on
a larger scale. Are these not all minis
tering spirits sent forth to minister to
them that shall be heirs of salyat1onr"
Not so many lines of telegraphy or rail
tracks between any two cities as be-
tween earth and heaven. Did Thomas
Guard, after he came to America, go
back to South Africa to get his house
hold and bring them here 10 this better
land; and shall he not come down to his
bereaVed household now and watch to
see them all as well, and at the right
time take them up with him to his new
home. Yea, he shall not come alOne.-
The twain together, they who were side
by side on earth so many years watch
ing the same cradle, and bending over
the same graves, now in flight earth
ward, side by side, wing and wing, how
ering over their childTen's pillows
when they sleep, and esc0rtlng their
children heaVenward when they die
Father and mother will come down and
watch, come down and comfort, come
down and defend. These autumnel
days, when the long line of tlocks dar-
ken the sky on their way southwark to
SUMMER climeS, are not so many as the
spirits blessed, coming, going, coming,
going. The air is full of them. AN
gels are lowering round" FlOckS OF
immOrtals sweeping this way and that,
earth no more orphaned is only the sub
urb of heaven. Blessed is that home
where loving earthly parents preside,
but mightier defense hath that home
which a glOrified ancestry canOpies
with their benedictiOn. Elisha saw the
mountains full of chariOts and horses of
supernatural help. Which way. are they
driving? The horses head this way
How the chariOts rumble down the sky
hillsl Sent forth to minister! Is yOn-
der a case of eXcruciating anguish that
needs more than mortal helpp Thomas
Guard will not refuse the ministry, for
he knows what it is to suffer. Is there
a soul awfully beTeftP Thomas Guard
will not refuse the ministry, for he
knows what it is to be bereft. Shall
there be great revival in Onr churches
and he not join in the hallelujah?
there come great armageddOn, and all
the good be on one side, and all the evil
on the other side-eaTths hell and heav-
en- in battle arTay-aud the gallant
spirit Just ascended not mingle in the |
fight, not draw his sword, not spur on |
his war charger, not ring out the battle |
cry.
Passed on to fatigueless service! Per-
haps to some other world that may need |
a Savior; perhaps to carry quick dis
patch from the throne of God to some |
empire of which our strongest telescope |
hath made no revelation; perhaps to |
take some special part in the chOrals be- |
fore the Throne; perhaps help to COM |
pose some new dOxOlgy for the blessed; |
perhaps telling, while all the galleries |
listen, of the grace that cOmfOrted him |
through all the earthly struggle, the |
closing words of his recital drowned in |
the burst of minstrelsy that can no Ion
ger halt, its surges dashing to the top |
of the Thrones, while the archangel |
beats time with his scepter. One of the
English martyrs, dying, thought he saw
on the sky the letter Y three times writ
ten. Some one asked him what he thO't
those letters meant. He said each one
stood for victory. All over this prOvi
dence read cOngratulatiOn for the de-
parted, comfort for the troubled, encOur
agement for us all. Three VS.: Victory! |
Victory! Victory! Three HIS: Heaven!
Heaven! Heaven! On a catafalque of |
flowers. Thomas Guard lay under ar
chitectural grandeurs hung with SYM
with the Dead March in SAUL" and the
beautiful and queenly city of Balti-
more broke its richest box of alabaster
and poured it upon those weary feet as
they quit the journey, and the American
church, North, South, East, West, sob
Oe0 OUT us SympaJnleS over tne great
loving heart silenced forever. But l
open on all sides these doors of cOnsola-
tiOn, doors of hope, doors of resurrection,
doors of reunion, for his sons and daugh
teTs, Reginald and William, Percy and
Porter, James and Charlotte and Jessie,
for the Mount Vernon church, which
twice stood with him on the mount of
his TRANSPORTATION, for the denomina-
tiOn which still Vibrates with his mag
netic utteTances, and for the church
universal, who now sits watching this
amazing sunset. Until we meet again,
farewell, my brOtherl Very pleasant
hast thou been to me. Thy message of
love to me arrived after thou vast gone,
and so today [ throw thee this kiss of |
WaTmest affection. HOnOred in lifel-
Triumphant in deathl / could not be
present to put one flower on thy casket,
but now sprinkle on thy new made
grave this handful of heather from the
Scottish Highlands in the quantity
beautiful hymn which the neighbors
sung in that land of Andrew Melville |
and John Knox, when they carry to his |
last resting place one greatly beloved: