Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1888-11-08

ment. 1t Is easy Tor him to be cheerful.
But suppose his fortune goes to pieces, and
his house goes down under the sheriff's
hammer, and the banks will not have any
thing to do with his paper. Suppose those
people who were once elegantly enter
tanned at his table get SO short sighted
that they can not recognize him upon the
street. How then: Is it SO easy to be
cheerful.
1t is easy to be cheerful in the home,
after the days work is done, and the gas
is turned on, and the house is full of romp.
ing little ones. But suppose the piano is
shut because the fingers that played on it
will no more touch the keys, and the
childish voice that asked SO many ques.
tons will ask no more. Then is il
SO easy? When a man wakes up
and finds that his resources are all gone, he
begins to rebel, and he says: "God is hard;
God is outrageous. He had no business to
do this to me-" My friends, those of rs
who have been through trouble know what
a sinful and rebellious heart we have, and
how much God has to put up with, and
how much we need pardon. 1t is only in
the light of a flaming furnace that we can
learn our own weakness and our own lack
of moral resource.
There is also great deal of comfort in
the fact that there will be a family recon-
struction in a better place. From Scot
land, or England, or Ireland, a child emil
CRATES to this country. 1t is very hard
parting, but he comes, after awhile writ.
ing home as to what good land it is.
Another brother comes, a sister comes,
and another, and after awhile the mother
comes, and after awhile the father
comes, and now they are all here,
and they have a time of great con-
graduation and very pleasant reunion.
Well, it is just SO with our families-they
are emigrating to better land. Now, one
goes out. o, how hard it is to part with
him! Another goes. o, how hard it is to
part with her! And another, and another,
and we ourselves will after awhile go over,
and then we will be together. o, what
reunion! Do you you believe that? EYES,"
you say. You do not. You do not be-
lieve it as you believe other things. If
you did, and with the same emphasis, why
it would take nine-tenths of your trouble
off your heart. The fact is, Heaven to
many of us is great fog. 1t is away of
somewhere filed with an uncertain and
indefinite population. That is the kind of
Heaven that many of us dream about; but
it is the most tremendous fact in all the
universe-this Heaven of the Gospel.
Our departed friends are not afloat. The
residence in which you live is not so real
as the residence in which they stay. You
are ahOat, you who do not know in the
morning what will happen before night.
They are housed and safe forever. Do
not, therefore, pity your departed friends
who have died in Christ. They do not
need any of yourpity. You might as well
send letter of coincidence to Queen Vic
toria on her obscurity, or to the Roth
schilds on their poverty, as to pity those
who have won the palm. Do not say Of
those who are departed: Poor childw
"Poor father!" "Poor motherw They
are not poor. You are poor-you
whose homes have been shattered
not they. You do not dwell much with
your families in this world. All day long
you are off to business. VIII it not be
pleasant when you can be together all the
while: If you have had four children and
one is gone, and anybody asks how many
children you have, do not be so infidel as
to say three. Say four-one in Heaven.
Do not think that the grave is unfriendly.
You go into your room, and dress for some
grand entertainment, and you come forth |
beautifully appareled; and the grave is
only the place where we go to dress for |
the glorious resurrection, and we will |
come out radiant, radia st, mortality hav-
ing become Immortality. o, how much |
there is in this thought |
1 expect to see my kindred in |
Heaven; expect to see them as certainly |
as l expect to go home to-day. Aye, I |
shall more certainly see them. Eight or
ten will come up from the graveyard back |
of Somerville; and one will come up from |
the mountains back of Annoy, China; and |
another will come up from the sea off Cape |
Hatteras; and thirty will come up from |
and shall know them better |
than ever knew them here. And your |
may be across the sea, but |
the trumpet that sounds here will sound |
there. You will come up on just the |
same day.
Some morning you have oversight your.
self, and you open your eyes and see that |
the sun Is high in the heavens, and you
say: 81 have oversight and must be up
and off," So you will open your eyes on
the morning of the resurrection, in the full
blaze of Gods light, and you will say: ~
must be up and away" 0. yes, you will
come up and there will be q reunion, re-
of your family. like what
think it was-good old Mr..
in his last moments: ~
thank God that l ever lived, and that I |
have father in Heaven, and mother in
Heaven, and brothers in Heaven, and sis
ters in Heaven, and am now going to see
HEM"
remark once more, our troubles in this
world are preparative for glory. What
it was for Paul-from the Slip
perry deck of a laundering ship to the calm
presence of Jesus! What a transition it
vas for Latimer-from the stake to q
,hrone! What a transition it was for
Robert Hall-from insanity to gloryi
What a transition it was for Richard
the dropsy to the saints
rest!" And what a transition
t will be for you-from a world
If sorrow to a world of joy! John
Holland, when he was dying, said:
What means this brightness in the room?
Have you lighted the candles:" 'sNo,"
hey replied, 1--WE have not lighted any
Then said he, Welcome,
the light already beamed upon
lis pillow. O We who are prosecuted in
his world! your enemies will get off the
rack after awhile and all will speak well
# you among the thrones. Ho! ye who
ire sick now, no medicines to take there.
)ne breath of the eternal hills will thrill
-ou with immortal vigor. And ye who
re lonesome now, there will be q
spirits to welcome you into
heir companionship. o We, bereft
ouls there will be no grave-digger's
pade that will cleave the side of that