The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-03-02

|
! comes back, and you can see in il the
! flash of eyes that long ago ceased 20
| weep. q, il is not an unmeaning thing
! when / tell you that when Christ re-
| ceiveS a soul into His keeping He nuts
on it a marriage ring. He pudOws you
| from that moment with all tiiS wealth.
| You are one. Christ and the -uu! -u;r i'm
| sympathy, one III affection Ou" iu hup'.
| There IL no power in earth uF he'll Ia
| effect a enforcement after Christ al.
| the soul are united. Other kings hay"
| turned Ou1 th'ir companions when thy
got weary of them, and sent them adritt
| from the palace gate. AhasueruS ban
ished Vashti; Napoleon fOrsOOk Jose
| phinp; but Christ is the husband that is
true for ever. Having loved you once,
| He loves you to the end. Did they not
| try to divorce Margaret, the Scotch girl,
| from Jesus? They said: You must
give up your religion" She said: 81
can't give up my religion" And so
they took her down to the beach of the
sea, and they drove in stake at low
water mark, and they fasten ed her to it,
| expecting that as the tide came up her
| faith would fail. The tide began to rise,
and came up higher and higher, and to
the girdle, and to the lip, and in the last
moment, just as the wave was washing
her soul into glory, she shouted the
| praises of Jesus. o, no. You cannot
separate a soul from Christ. 1t is an
| everlasting marriage. Battle and Storm
and darkness cannot do it. Is it too
much eXultatiOn for a man, who is but
dust and ashes like myself, to cry out
| this morning: 81 am persuaded that
neither height, nor depth, nor pTincipali-
ties, nor powers, nor things present, nor
| things to come, nor any other creature
| shall separate me from the love of God
| which is in Christ Jesus my LOTdT"
! Glory be to God that when Christ and
the soul are married they are bound by
a chain, golden chain, if | might say
| so, a chaiu with one link, and that one
| link the golden ring of Gods everlasting
love.
| go a step further, and tell you that
when Christ receives soul into His
love He puts on him the ring of festivity.
| You know it has been the custom in all
| ages to bestOw rings on very happy Oc-
casiOns. There is nothing more apprO-
pirate for a birthday gift than a ring.
| You delight to bestOw such gift upon
| your children at such time. 1t means
| joy, hilarity, festivity. Well, when this
old man of the text wanted to tell how
glad he was that his boy had got back,
| he expressed it in this way. Actually,
before he ordered sandals to be put on
his bare feet, before he ordered the
fatted calf to be killed to appease the
| DOy 8 munger, ne cOmldnueu. Ut
ring on his hand"
o, it is a merry time when Christ and
the soul are united. JOY of forgiveness.
| What a splendid thing it is to feel that
all is right between me and God. What
| a glorious thing it is to have God Just
take up all the sins of my life and put
them in one bundle, and then fling
them into the depths Of the sea, never to
rise again, never to be talked OF again.
II. npV n
mined. God TecOnciled. The prOdlgal
home. "Put ring on his hand" Every
day 1 find happy Christian people. |
find some of them with no second coat,
| some of them in huts and tenement
houses, not one earthly comfort afforded
them; and yet they are as happy as happy
can be. They sing: Rock of Ages as
no other people in the world sing 1t.
They never wore any jeWeiry in their
life but one gold ring, and that was the
ring of Gods undying affection. o, how
happy religion makes us. Did 1t make
J you gloomy and sad? Did you go with
3 your heart cast down? l do not think
r you got religion, my brother. That is
t not the effect of religion. True religion
A is joy. Her ways are the ways OF
= pleasantness, and all her paths art
= peace" Why, religion lightens all OuI
4 burdens. 1t SmOOthS all our way. II
A interpTets all our sorrows. 1t changes
4 the jar of earthly discOrd for the peal OF
, festal bells. In front of the flaming
/, furnace of trial it sets the forge OH
( which sceptres are hammered out
f Would you not like to-day to come uI
/, from the swine-feeding and try this re-
f ligiOn? All the joys of heaven would
. come out and meet you, and God would
V cry out from the throne: PUT ring
t on his hand" You are not happy. | see
it. There is no peace, and sometimes
3 you laugh when you feel a great deal
! more like crying. The world Is a cheat
3 1t first wears you down with its fOllles
3 then it kicks you out into darkness. 1t
, comes back from the massacre OF mil
lion souls to attempt the destruction of
, your soul to-dOy. No peace OUT OF GGd,
but here is the fountain that can slake
the thirst. Here is the haTbOr where
you can drop safe anchorage. Would
, you not like, L ask yOu-nOt perfume
= tOrily, but as one brother might talk to
, anOther-wOuld you not like to have a
pillow of rest to put your head on? And
! would you not like when you retire at
night to feel that all is well, whether
you wake up tomorrow morning at six
, o'clock, or sleep the sleep that knows nc
waking? Would you not like to eX'
change this awful uncertainty about
? the future for glorious assurance OF
heaven? Accept of the Lord Jesus to-
day, and all is well. If on your way
} home some peril should cross the street
and dash your life out, it will not hurt
you. You would rise up Immediately
You would stand in the celestial streets
You would be amid the great thrOng
that forever worship and are forever
happy. If this day some sudden disease
should come upon you, it would not
frighten you. If you knew you were
going you could give calm farewell to
your beautiful home on earth, and know
that you are going right into the com.
pani0nship of those who have already
; got beyond the tOiling and the weeping
You feel on Saturday night different
! from the way you feel any other nigh
of the week. You come home from tn,
bank, or the store, or the shop, and yOI
say: "Well, now my weeks work i
, done, and tomorrow is Sunday" 1t i
, a pleasant thought. There is refresh
! ! ment and reconstruction in the YER
. idea. o, how pleasant it will be il
when we get through the day o
, life, and we go and lie down in our be-
: of dust, we can realize: "Well, now tn
: work is all done, and tomorrow is Sun
! day-an everlasting Sunday"