Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-11-23

NANohAAS Nn bue IOChb.
Now compare some OF these goings out
of life with the departure OF men and
women, who in the drama of life took the
part that God assigned them and then
went away honored OF men and applauded
Of the Lord Almighty.
II IS about 80 years ago that, in CON-
paratively small apartment OF the city,
newly married pair set up home. The
first guest that was invited In that resi-
dence was the Lord Jesus Christ, and the
Bible given the bride on the day of her es-
pousals was the guide of that household.
Days OF sunshine were followed by days
of shadow. Did you ever know a home
that for 90 years had no vicssitudep The
young woman who left her father's house
for her young husbend's home, started
out with parental benediction
forget. Her mother said 10 her the day
before the marriage: "Now, my child,
you are going away from us. OF course,
as long as your father and | live you Will
feel that you can come to us at any time.
Bdt your home will be elsewhere. From
long experience l find 1t is best TO serve
God. 1t is very bright with you now, my
child, and you may think you can get
along without religion, but the days will
come when you will want God. and my
advice is establish a family altar, and, II
need be, conduct the worship yourself"
The counsel was taken, and that young
wife consecrated every room in the house
to God.
Years passed on, and there were in
that home hilarities, but they were good
and healthtul, and sorrows, but they were
comforted. Marriages as bright as orange
blossoms could make them, and burials
in which all hearts were riven. They
have family lot in the cemetery, but all
the place is illuminated with stories Of
resurrection and reunion. The children
Of the household that lived have grown
up, and they are all Christians, the father
and mother leading the way and the
children followed. What care the mother
took of wardrobe and education aud char
acter and mannersl How hard she some-
times worked When the head OF the
household was unfortunate In business,
she sewed until her fingers were numb
and bleeding at the tips. And what close
calculation OF economies, and what in
genuity in rehttIng the garments of the
elder children for the younger, and only
God kept account of that mothers side
aches and headaches and heartaches, and
the tremulOus prayers by the side of the
sick child's cradle and by the couch of
this one fully grown. The neighbors
often noticed how tired she looked, and
old acquaintances hardly knew her In the
street, but without complaint she waited
and toiled and endured and accomplished
all these years.
The children are out In the world, an
honor TO themselves and their parents.
After awhile the mothers last sickness
comes. Children and grandchildren,
summoned from afar, come softly into the
! room one by one, for she is too weak to see
more than one at time. She runs her
dying fingers lovingly through their hair
and tells them not to cry, and that she Is
going now, but they will all meet again in
a little while IN a better world, and then
kisses them goodbye, and ''God bless and
keep you, my dear chlldp The day of
the obsequies comes and the officiating
clergyman tells the story of wifely and
mOtherly endurance, and many hearts ON
earth and in heaven echo the sentiment,
and as she is carried of the stage of this
mortal life there are cries OF ''faithful
unto death, she hath done what she
could" while OYerpowering all the voices
of earth and heaven is the plaudit OF the
God who watched her, from first TO last,
saying: "Well done, good and faithful
servant, thou hast been faithful over a
few things, l will make thee ruler over
many things. Enter thou into the joy of
thy LOrd.'
But what became OF the father Of that
househOldp He started out as a Young
man in business and had small income,
and having got little ahead, sickness in
the family swept IL all way. He went
through all the business panics Of forty
years, met many losses and suffered many
betrayals, but kept right on trusting IN
God, whether business was good or poor,
setting his children a good example, Civ
ing them the best OF counsel: and never a
prayer did he offer for all those years but
they were mentioned In IL. He Is old now
and realizes II cannot be long before be
must quit all these scenes: but he Is going
TO leave his children an Inheritance Of
prayer and Christian principles which all
the defaicatiOns Of earth can never touch
and, as he goes out Of the world, the
Church Of God Dlesses bin, and the poor
ring his dOor-bell TO see il he
is any better, and his grave is sur
rounded by n multitude who went
on foot, and stood there before the pro-
cession Of carriages came up, as some
say there will be no one to take his place,
and others say, "WbO will pity me noWv
and others remark, He shall be held in
everlasting remembrance" And as the
drama OF bis life closes, all the vOcifer-
atiOns and braYOs and encOres that ever
shook the ampitteatres, and the Drury
Lanes, and the CoYent Gardens, and the
Haymarkets. and the COliseums Of earthly
spectacle. were tame and feeble com pared
with the long, loud thunders Of approval
that shall break from the cloud Of wit
nesses IN the piied-up gallery Of the
heavens. Choose ye between the life that
shall close by being hissed "a the stage,
and the lie that shall close amid the nc
clsmatiOns supernal ana archangelic.
%, men and women on the stage Of life,
many OF you In the first act OF the drama,
and others In the second, and some OF you
In the third, and few in the fourth, and
here and there one in the fifth, but all OF
you between entrance and exit, | quote
TO you, as the perOratiOn Of this sermon,
the most suggestive passage that Shake
spere ever wrote, although you never
heard II recited. The author has often
been claimed as in6del and atheistic, 40
the quotation shall be not only religiOusly
helpful 10 ourselves, but grandly vindica-
tory Of the great dramRtist. quote from
bis last will and testament:
"In tho name OF God, Amen. /, Will
liam Shnkspere, Of Stratford-upOn. A won,
in the county OF Warwick, gentleman, I'm
perfect health and memory (GOd be
praised) do make this my last will and
testament la manner and form following:
First, ! commend my soul into the hands
Of God, my Creator, hoping and assur-
edly believing through the only merits OF
Jesus Christ, my Saviour, 20 be made par
taker OF life everlasting" Then follow
the bequeets and the signature, "BY me,
William Shakspere." "Witnesses 10 the
publishing hereof: II. COllyns, Jesse
Shaw, John Robinson, Hammet Sadler,
Robert Whattcott.p