The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1888-03-22

worn SO long ard worn 50 well.
On some anniversary day YOU take up
that ring. and ycu repolish it until all
the old luster comes back, and you can
see in il the flash of eyes that long ago
ceased to weep. Oh, it is not an I'M
meaning thing wien l tell you that when
Christ receives a soul into his keeping he
puts on it marriage ring. He endows
you from that moment with all his
wealth You are one-Christ and the
soul-one in sympathy, one in affection,
one in hope.
There is no power in earth or he'll to
effect enforcement after Christ md the
soul are united. Other kings have
turned out their companions when they
got weary of them, and sent them adrift
from. the palace gate. Ahasuerus ban
ished Vashti, Napoleon forsook Josephine,
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 1i-
vorce Margaret, the Scotch girl, from
Jesus2 They said: You must give up
your religion She said: Il can't give
up my religion AND SO they took her
down to the beach n The sea, and they
drove in n stake at low water mark, and
they fastened her to it, expecting that rs
the tide came up her faith would fail.
The tide began to rise, and came up
higher end 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.
Oh, no, you cannot separate a soul
from Christ. 1t is an everlasting mar
riage. Battle and storm and darkness
cannot do it. 1t is too much exultation
for man, who is but dust and ashes,
like myself, to cry out today: 81 am
persuaded that neither height, nor depth,
nor principalities, 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 Lordr' Glory be to God that when
Christ and the soul are married they are
bound by a chain, a golden chain-if I
might say so-a chain with one link, and
| that one link the golden ring of God 8
everlasting love.
Igo a step further, and tell you that
when Christ receives soul into his love
he puts on him the ring of festivity.
You know that it has been the custom
in all ages to bestow rings on very happy
occasions. There is nothing! more APP
propriate for birthday gift than a ring.
You delight to bestow such a gift upon
| your children at such a 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
boys hunger, he commanded: 'tPut a
ring on his hand"
Oh, it is merry time when Christ
and the soul are united! Joy of forgive
ness! 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. Pollution all gone. Darkness all
| Illuminated. God reconciled. The prodi-
| gal home. ssPut ring on his hand. -
Every day I find happy Christian
| people. 1 find some of them with no
second coat some Of them in huts and
tenement houses, not one earthly COM
fort afforded them; and yet they are as
happy as happy can be. They sing
Crock of Ages as no other people in the
! world sing it. They never wore any
| jewelry in their life but one gold ring,
and that was the ring Of Gods undying
affection. Oh. how happy religion makes
US! Did it make you gloomy and
sad? Did you go with your head cast
down. l do not think you got religion,
my brother That is not the effect of
religion. True religion is joy. Her
| ways are ways of pleasantness, and all
her paths are peace"
| Why religion ightens all our burdens.
It smooths all our way. It interprets all
| our sorrows. 1t changes the jar of
| IL b. 81, % II
bells In front of the flaming furnace
of trial it sets the forge on which sccpters
are hammered out. Would you not Ike
today to come up from the swine feeding
and try this religion? All the joys OF
heaven would come out and meet you,
and God would cry from the throne
''Put ring On his hand"
You are not happy. I see it. There
is no peace, and sometimes you laugh
when you feel q great deal more like cry
ing The world is cheat. It first
wears you down with its foIlies, then il
kicks you out into darkness 1t comes
back from the massacre of q million souls
to attempt the destruction of your sou
today. No peace out of God, but here i:
the fountain that can Stake the thirst
Here is the harbor where you can droI
safe anchorage.
/ Would you not like, I ask you-no
perfunctorily. but as one brother NIGH
talk to another-would you not like t.
have a pillow of rest to put your heat
on2 And would you not like, when yor
retire at night, to feel that all is well
whether you wake up tomorrow morn
ing at o'clock, or sleep the sleep tha
knows no waking? Would you not ikt
! to exchange this awful uncertainty abou
1 the future for q glorious assurance o
heaven? Accept of the Lord Jesus to
| dav, and all is we'll If ON your wa,
home some peril should cross the stree
and dash your life out, it would not bur,
| you. You would rise up Immediately
You would stand in the celestial streets
You would be amid the great throns
| that forever worship and are forever
happy. If this day some sudden disease
should come upon you, it would no
brighten you. If you knew you were
going you could give calm farewell tt
your beautiful home on earth, and know
that you are going right into the com
[ panionship of those who have already
| got beyond the toiling and the weeping.
You feel on Saturday night differen
firm the way you feel any other night o
the week. You come home from tn,
bank, or the store, or the shop. and yot
say: "Well, now my week q work i
done, and tomorrow is Sunday Il i
a pleasant thought. There is refresh
nnent and reconstruction in the yer,
idea. Oh, how pleasant it will be, if
when we get through the day of our life
and we 60 and lie down in our bed o
dust, we can realize: We'll, now tn
work is all done, and tomorrow is Sun
day-an everlasting Sunday,s.
Oh, when, thou city of God,