Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-01-22

"Au things work together for good to
them who love God" Is there not rest in
that? Is there not tonic in that? Is thore
not longevity in that?
Suppose a man is all the time worried
about his reputation? One man says he
lies, another says he is stupid, another
says he is dishonest, and half a dozen
printing establishments attack him, and
he is in a great state of excitement and
worry and fume, and can not sleep; but
religion comes to him and says: "Man,
God is on your side; he will take care of
your reputation. If God DO for you who
can be against you?" How much should
tnat man worry about his reputation? Not
much. II that broker who a few yeurs ago
IN all street, after he had losthis money,
SAT down and wrote a farewell letter to his
VIE before he blew his brains out, if,
instead of taking out of his pocket q
pistol, he had taken out q well-read
New Testament, there would have
oeen one less suicide. o nervous nd fe-
verish people of the world, try this AL
mighty sedative; you will live twenty
i've years longer under its soothing
power. 1t is not choral that you want,
or more time that you want, it is the Cos
pei of Jesus Christ.
Again, practical religion is a friend of
long life, In the fact that it removes all
corrodlng care about a future existence,
Every man wants to know what is
to become of him. II you get on
board a railroad train you want to know
at what depot it is going to stop; if you
get on board a ship you want to know
into what harbor it is going to run; and
II you should tell me you lave no interest
Ill what is to be your future destiny, I
would, in aspolite way as 1 know how,
tell you did not believe you. Before
l had this matter settled with refer.
ence to my future existence, the
question almost worried me into ruined
health. The anxieties men have upon this
subject, if put together, would make a
martyrdom. This is a state of awful un.
healthlnesss. There are people who fret
themselves to death for fear Of dying. I
want this morning to take the strain or
your nerves and the depression off your
soul, and l will make two or three expert
ments.
Experiment the first: When you go out
of the world it does not make any differ.
ence whether you have been good or bad,
or whether you believed truth or error, YOU
will go straight to glory. "Impossible,"
you say; my common sense, as well as
my religion, teaches me the bad and the
good can not live together forever. You
give me no comfort in that experiment.
Experiment the second-When you leave
this world you will go into an intermediate
state, where you can get converted and
prepared for heaven. "Impossible," YOU
say; "as the tree falleth so it must lie. and
can not postpone to an intermediate state
that reformation which ought to have been
effected in this state.,
Experiment the third-There is no fu.
ture world; when a man dies that is the
last OF him. Do not worry about what you
are to do in another state of being; YOU
will not do anything. Impossible" you
say; "there is something that tells me that
death is not the appendix but the preface;
there is something that tells me thai on this
SIDE OF the grave l only get started, and that
shall go on forever. My power to think
says 'Forever;' my affections say 'Forev-
err my capacity to enjoy or suffer says
Forever"
wen, you defeat me in my three expert
mcnts. have only one more to make, and
If you defeat me in that I an exhausted,
A Mighty One on a knoll back of Jeru-
salem one day, the sky Glled with forked
il2htnlngs and the earth filed with vol
canlc disturbances, turned his palo and
agonized face toward the heavens, and
said: II TAX the sins and sorrows of the
ages into my own heart. an the expia-
ton. Witness earth and heaven and he'll,
l am the expiation." And the hammer
struck him, and the spears punctured him,
and heaven thundered: ''The wages of
sin is death - "The soul that sinneth it
shall die;" ~ will by no means clear the
guilty" Then there was silence for half
an hour, and the lightnings were drawn
back into the scabbard of the sky, and the
earth ceased to CULVER, and all the colors
of the sky began to shift themselves
falling tears of Jesus, and there was
red as of tee blood shedding, and
there was blue as Of the b%ruising, and there
was green as Of the heavenly foliage, and
there was orange as of the day dawn, and
along the kne of the blue l saw the words,
II was bruised for their iniquities;" and
along the line of the red l saw the words.
"Tho blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from
all sin;" and along the line of the green
saw the words, "The leaves of the tree of
AAhS oAS ASd11AS VI Gue u~dttOuS," n
along the line of the orange 1 saw the
words, ''The day spring from on high hath
visited u.s." And thenI saw the storm was
over, and the rainbow rose higher and
higher, until it seemed retreating to anoth-
err heaven, and planting one column of it's
colors on one side the eternal hill, and
planting the other column of it's colors on
the other side the eternal hill, it rose up
ward and upward, and behold! there was
a rainbow round about the throne.
Accept that sacrifice and quit worrying.
Take the tonic, the inspiration, the longev-
ity of this truth. Religion is sunshine;
that is healthy. Religion is fresh air and
pure water; they are healthy. Ask all the |
doctors and they will tell you that a quiet |
conscience and pleasant a~nticipations are
hygienic. l offer you perfect peace now
and hereafter. What do you want in the
future world? Tell me and you shall have
it. Orchards? There are the trees with
twelve manner of fruits, yielding fruit
every month. Water? Scenery? There
is the River of Life from under the throne