Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-03-19

Me In righteousness, ana IN 1uog menti
and in loving kindness, and in mercies."
At the wedding altar the bridegroom puts
ring upon
THE HAND OF TIE BRIDE,
signiiying love and fsithfulness. Trouble
may come upon the household, and the
carpets may go, the pictures may go, the
pisno may go, everything else msy go
the last thing tnat goes lis that marriage
RUG, for it is considered sacred. In the
burial hour it is Withdrawn from the hand
and kept In q casket, and sometimes the
box Is opened on an anniversary day, and
as you look at that ring you see under its
arch long procession of precious memo
ries. Within the golden circle Of that
ring there is room for thousand sweet
recollections to reyolve, and you think OF
the great contrast between the hour
when, at the close Of the "Wedding
March," under the flashing lights
and amid the aroma of orsrge-
blossom, you set that ring on the round
finger of the plump hand, and that other
hour when, at the close of the exhaust
i've watching, when you knew that the
soul had fed, you took from the hand,
which gave back no responsive clasp,
from that emacisted finger, the ring
that she had worn so long and worn so
well.
On some anniversary day you take up
that ring and you repolish it until the old
lustre comes back, and you can see in it
the fash of eyes that long ago ceased to
weep. Ga, ii is not an unmeaning thing
when tell you that when Christ receives
s soul into His keeping He puts on it B
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 hell to
eff 4ct q enforcement after Christ and
tue soul are united. Other kings have
turaed out their companions when they
got weary Of them, and sent them adrift
iron the palace gate. Ahasuerus ban
ished Vashti;
NAPOLEON FORsoOK JOSEPHINE
out Christ is the husband that is true for
ever Having loved you once, he loves
you to the end. Did they not try to di-
varce Margaret, the Scotch girl, from
Jesus? They said: "You must give up
your religion" She said: 81 can't give
up my religion" And so they took her
down to the beech of the sea, and they
drove IN stake at loW-wster mark, and
they fastened her to it, expecting ihat as
the tide came up her faith would fsil
The tide began to rise, and came up
higher and higher, and to the girole, 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 soul from
Christ. 1t Is an everlasting marriags.
Battle and storm and darkness cannot
do it. Is it too much ex-
ultstion for man, who is but dust and
ashes like myself, to cry out to-day 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 Lord" Glory be to God that when
Christ and the soullsre married they are
bound by a chain, q golden chain-if
might say so-a chain with one link, and
that one link the golden ring of Gods eV-
erlasting love.
Igo step further, Snd tell you that
when Christ receives 8 soul into His love
He puts on him the ring Of festiYity. You
know that it has been the custom in all
| sges to bestoW rings on very happy coca
sions. There is nothing more approprl-
ate for birthday gift than ring. ToI
delight to bestoW such gift upon your
children at such time. It means
JOY, hilsrity, fsstivity. Well, when
this old man of the text wanted
to tell how glad he wss 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 appesse the boys hunger, he
commanded: "Put ring on his hand"
Oh, it is q merry time when Christ and
he soul are united Joy Of forgiveness
What splendid thing 1t is to feel thai ali
is right between me and God. What a
glorious thing it is to have God Just take
up all the sins of my life aud put them in
one bundle, and then fling them into the
depths of the ses, never to rise again,
never to be talked of again. Pollution all
gone. Darkness all illuminated. God
reconciled. The prodigsl home. "Put a
ring on his finger"
Every day find happy Christian peo-
pie. find SINE of them with no second
coat, some Of them in huts ami tenement
houses; not one earthly comfort Afforded
them; and yet they are as happy as happy
can be. They sing "Rock of Ages" as no
other people in the world sing it. They
never wore any jewelry in theil life but
one gold ring, and that was the ring Of
Gods undying affection. On, how happy
religion makes usi Did it make you
gloomy and ssd2 Did you go with your
head cast down? do not think you got
religion, my brother. That is not the
effect of religion. True religion is Joy.
"Her ways are ways OF pleassntness, and
all her paths are peace"
Why, religion lightens all our burdens.
1t smooths all our way. 1t iuterprets all
our SORROWS. 1t changes the isr of earthly
discord for the peal of festive bells. In
front Of the flaming furnace of trial it
sets the forge on which seeptres are
hammered out. Would you not like to-
day to come up from the swine-ieeding
and try this rellgion2 All the JOYS of
heaven would come out and meet you,
and God would cry from the throne !:
"Pus ring on mis- hand"
You are not happy. sec 1t. There is
no peace, and sometimes you laugh when
you feel great deal more like crying.
THE WORLD is A CHEAT.
1t first wears you down with its follies,
then it kicks you out into darkness II
comes from the massacre Of 1000, 900
souls to attempt the destruction of your
aoul fO-dsu No paann ont NJ Odd huf