West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1888-07-19

fnero were years that passed along before
| your family circle was invaded by death
put the moment the charmed circle was
broken, everything seemed TO dissolve. Hard
| ~ have you put tho black apparel In the
wardrobe, before you have again TO take it
out 9,u, Great aud rapid changes in your
and rejoiced In it, but the charm
was gone rs soon as the Grape hung on the
door.bell. The one upon whom you most de-
pended was taken away from you. A cold
marble slab lies on your heart today Once
as the children romped through the house
you put your hand over your aching head,
and said: "Oh, II could only have it still. -
Oh, it IL too still now. You lost your
patience when the tops, and the strings and
the shells were left amid floor; but oh, you
would DO willing 70 have the trinkets scat
tered all over the floor again, II they were
scattered by the same hands With what a
ruthless ploughshare Bereavement rips up the
heart. But Jesus knows all about that. You
cannot tell him anything new in regard
TO bereavement He had only few friends,
and when He lost one IL brought tears to His
eyes Lazarus had often entertained Him at
his house. Now Lazarus Is dead aud buried.
ana christ breaks down with emotion-the
CONFUSION OF grief shuddering through all
the ages OF bereavement. Christ knows what
10 Is 10 go throughthe house missing a familiar
inmate. Christ knows what IL Is TO see an
a ne place at the table. We're there
aot four OF them-Mary and Martha, and
Christ and LAzarusi Lonely and afflicted
Christ, His great loving eyes filed with
tears, which drop from eye TO cheek, and
from cheek TO beard aud from beard 10
robe, and from robe to floor. Oh, yes, yes,
He knows all about tho loneliness and the
heartbreak. He took the vineRarl
Then there is the sourness OF the death
hour Whatever else we may escape, that
acid-sponge win be pressed to our lips. 1
sometimes have a euriOsity ~ know how I
viii behave when i come TO die. Whether
will be calm or oxcited-whether will be
filled with "Reminiscences or anticipation.
cannot say But 4 come to the point.
must and you must In the six thousand
years that have passed, only two persons have
got into the eternal world without death and
l do not suppose that God Is going to send n
carriage for us with horses Of flame, todraw
us up the sleeps OF heaven; but suppose we
will have to go like the preceding genera
tions An officer from the future world
will knock at the door of our heart and
serve on us the writ Of ejectment, and we
will have to surrender. And we win wake
up after these artumnal, and wintry, and
from our vision-we will wake up into
realm which has only one season, and
that the season OF everlasting love.
But you say; ~ don't want TO break
out from my present associations IL is
so chilly and 80 damp TO 90 down
the stairs of that vault don't want any
thing drawn 20 tightly over my eyes. II
there were only some way OF breaking
through tue partltlon between worlds with
out tearing this body all to shreds.
wonder IL the surgeons and the doctors can
not compound a mixture by which this body
and soul can all the time be kept to-
getherf Is there no escape from
none. SO look over this audience to-day
the vast majority of you seeming in good
health and spirits--and yet | realize that in a
short time all of US will be gone-gone from
earth, and gone for ever. A great many men
tumble through the gates of the future, as it
were, and we do not know where
they have goce, and they only add
gloom and mystery to the passage;
but Jesus Christ 80 nightly stormed
the gates OF that future world, that they have
never since been closely shut. Christ knows
what IL Is TO leave this world, of the beauty
OF which He was more appreciative than we
ever could be. He knows the 0xquisiteness
or the phosphoresenoe OF the sea: He trod it.
He knows the glories Of the midnight heav-
ems; for they were the spangled canopy of
bis wilderness pillow. He knows about
the lilies. He twisted them into His sermon.
lie knows about the fowls of the air; they
whirred their way through his discourse.
do knows about the sorrows of leaving this
beautiful world. Not a taper was kindled in
the darkaess. he died physicianless. He
died In cold sweat and dizziness, and hemor-
rhage, and agony that have put Him in sym
PATTY with all the dying. He goes through
Christendom, and He gathers up the stinaS
out OF all the death pillows, and He puts
thcth uuucE Hlb own ncCk ana mead. lie
gathers on His own tongue the burning
thirsts or many generations, The sponge is
soaked in the sorrows Of all those who per-
ished In icy or fiery martyrdom. While
heaven was plying, and earth was hooking.
and hell was deriding, He took the vinegarl
To all those Ira this audience TO whom life
has been an acerbity-a dose they could not
swallow, draught that set their teeth ON
edge and a-rasping-I preach the omnipo-
tent sympathy Of Jesus Christ The sister
OF Herschel, the astronomer, used to
help him in his work. He got all the
credit; she got none She used to
spend much OF her time polishing the
telescopes through which he brought
the distant worlds nigh, and IL Is my am
bition now, this hour, to clear the lens OF
your spiritual vision, so that looking through
the dark night OF your earthly troubles you
may behold the glorious constellation OF a
friends, do not try to carry all your ilfs
alone. Do not put your poor shoulder under
the Apennines when the Almighty Christ Is
ready 20 lift up all your burdens. When you
have burden Of any kind, you rush this
way and that way; and you wonder what
this man will say about Il, and what that
man will say about It; and you try this pre-
scription, and that prescription, and the
other prescription o., why do you not 90
straight to the heart OF Christ, knowing that
for our own SHINING and suffering race, He
took the vinegar.
=
the seas for a great many weeks, and been
disabled, and the supply Of water gave out,
and the crew we're dying Of thirst. After
many days, they saw a sail against the sky.
They siRnaled Il. When the vessel came
nearer, the people on the suffering ship cried
70 the captain OF the other vessel: Send
Us some water. We are dying for lack Of
water" And the captain on the vessel that
was hailed responded: dip your buckets
where YOU are. You are In the mouth Of the
Amazon. and there are scores Of miles of fresh
water all around about you, and hundreds
OF feet deep And then they dropped their
buckets over the side Of the vessel, and
brought up the clear, bright, fresh water
aud put out the fire Of their thirst SO hail
you to-day, after long and perilous voyage
thirsting as you arc for pardon,
and thirstinR for comfort, and thirst.ng
FOR eternal life; and ask you what is the use
Of your going in that death-struck state.
while all around you Is the deep clear, wide
sparkling food Of Gods sympathetic mercy
y, dip your buckets and drink and live for
ever. whatsoever viii, let him come and
take Of tho water Of life freely
Yet my utterance e. almost choked at the
thought that there are people here who will
refuse this divine sympathy: and they will
try % fight their own battles, and drink
their own vinegar and carry their own
burdens; and their life. instead Of being
q triumphal march from victory 20 victory
VIII bo q hobbliuR-ou from defeat 70 defeat,
until they make final surrender 70 rotributive
disaster. o. ] wish ] could to-day gather up
my arms All the woes % men and women