The Forrest City times., 1888-09-08

| your petnway, ana somebody comes aud cOY-
 CTS It all over with flowers, it is grave yet.
 Those who have not had grief themselves
 know not the mystery of a broken heart
 They know not the meaning ot childlessness,
 and the having no one to put 10 hed al night
 or the standing in a room where etery book
 and picture and dout Ia fuI of memories
 the doot inat where she sat, the cup out Of
 which she drank=the plece where she stood
 at the door and elappei her hands--the odd
 hgures that shc striobled-the blocks she
 beilt Into house. Ah no, you
 must have trouble yourself before t6ii
 can comfort trouble fin others. But come
 all ye who have been bereft and ye who have
 been comfofted in your sorrows, and stand
 around these afflicted souls, and say to them,
 II bad tbat very sorrow myself, God com
 forted me and he Will comfort you;" and
 that VIII go right tc the srot In other
 words, tu comfort others, We mdst have faith
 h tod, practical experience, and good, l sound common sense,
 thst will hrIrs this morning to those who l sie sofrowful and distressed, and that we l gan alRays bring 10 them, knowing that they | VIII effect cure. And the first considerA-
 tiOn Is, that God sends onr troubles fin love. | often hear people in their troubles say,
 Why, l wonder what God has against me l''
 They seem to think God has some grudge | against them because trouble and misfortune
 bsye come. Oh nu Do you not remember
 that passage of Scripture "Nhom the Lord n
 with tery bad splinter iu its hand, and you | tty 10 eStfaet it. IL Is a Vefy bainltil opera.
 ton. The child draws back from you, but I you persist You are going to take that l splinter out, so you take the child with gen tie but firm graspi for although tbere may be | pain in it, the splinter must como out. And | It i5 luye that dietstes it, and makes you pre-. sist My. friends, teallv think that nearly | all our sortows In tlils world arc ouly the band cf our Fathet exttaetigg some thorn. | uaf Eaut hV atfa I would say arm yourselves against them, and, l as in tropical climes, when tiger comes down from the mountains and carries of | child from the village, the neighbors band to- | gether and go into the forest and hunt the monster, so I would have you, fl thought l these misfortunes were sent by an enemy, go l out and battle against them. But no, they come | from a father SC kird; 60 loving, 90 gentle, that the prophet, speaking of His tenderness and mercy, drops the ideas of father and says, "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will comfort voun
 Again l remark, there Is comfort in the thought that God, by all this process, is going 10 make you useful. Do you know that those who accomplish the most for God and heaven have all been under the harrow. show me man that has dcue anything for Christ in this day tn phblic ot private place. who has had no trouble and whose Iath has bean | smooth. An, no.
 Again there is comfort in the thought that all our trouble Is revelation. Have you never thought of it in that connecticut The man wbo has never been through chastlse- ment Is ignorant about thousand things in his soul he ought 10 know. For instance, here is a man who brides himself on his cheer fullness, of character He has no patience with anybody who Is depressed in spirits. Oh, 1t Is easy for him 10 be cheerful, with his fine house, his filled wardrobe, and well strung instruments of music and tapestried parlor, and plenty of money in the bank waiting for safe investment It is easy for him tu be cheerful. But suppose his fortune goes to pieces, and his house goes down under the sheriff's hammer, and the bank will have nothing i'd d5 with hls paper Suppose those reople who were once elegantly entertained at his table get so hort-slghted tbat they can not recognize him upon the street. How thens Is tt so easy 10 be cheerful It Is easy to be cheerful in the home, after the days work is donc and the gas is turned on, and the house Is full of romplng little ones. But suppose the plano is shut because the fingers that played on it will no more touch the keys and the childish voice that asked so many uuestous will nsk no more Then Is 1t so easyi When man wakes up and finds that his resources are all gone, he begins to rebel, and le says, God is hard: God is outrageous. He had no business to to this to me" My friends, those of us who have been through trouble know what a sinful and re- ebell!ous heart VIC have, and how much God has to put up with, and how much We need pardon. It Is only in ihe ligbt of flaming furnace that we can learn our own weakness and our own lack of moral re- source.
 There fs also great deal of comfort in the fact that there will h. family reeonstruc- ton in a better place. From Scotland, or England or Ireland child emigrates to this country. It is very hard parting, but he comes, after a while writing home as to what 6 good land 1t Is. Another brother comes, a sister comes, and another, and after a while the mother comes, and after while the father comes, and now they are sl here, and they have Q time of great congra ulaton and a very pleasant reunion. We'll 1t Is just so with our families: they are emigraling to bet ter land. Now, one goes out. Oh, how hard 1t Is to part with him Another goes. Oh. how hard to part with her. And anothe-, aud another, and we ourselves will after . while go over, and then we will be together Oh what a reunio Do you believe thatf Yes" you say. You do not! You do not believe 1t as you believe other things. If you did and with the same emphasis, why, 1t trouble of your heart. The fact is heaven to many of us is a great fog. It is away of some here, filled with an uncertain and indefinite population. That is the kind of heaven that many of us dream about; but 1t Is the most tremendous fact in all the uni- verse-this heaven Of the Gospel Our de- parted friends are not afioat The residence in which you live is not so real as the resi- in which they stay, You are afloat, you who uO nor know III the fnOrUluE Nntt Will uappcu before night. They are housed and safe for ever Do not, therefore. pity your departed friends who have died in Christ. They do not need any of your pity. You might as well send letter of coincidence to Queen Victoria on her obecurity. or to the Rothschilds on their poverty, as to pity those who have won the palm. Do not Say of those who are de- parted, Poor childl' ''Poor fsther!' Poor motherp They are not poor. You are poor you whose homes have been shattered-nnt Xrp dfN pnfd drat Sh It for flies in this world. All day long you are of to business. Win 1t not be pleasant when yoC can be together all the while. If you have had four children and one is gone. and any body asks how many children you have do not be so infdel as to Say three. Say four one in heaven. Do not think that the grave Is unfriendly. You go into your room, dress Tor some grand entertainment and you come forth beautifully sppareled; and the grave is only the place where We go to dress for the glorious resurrection, and VIC W Il come out radiant radiant mortality having become immortality. Oh, how much condoence there Is in this thought 1 expect to see my kin dred in heaven; expect to sec them as eer tainly as l expect to go home to-day. Ay, l shall more certainly see them. Eight or ten will come up from the grave-yard back of Somerville; and one will come up from the mountains back of Annoy, China; aud another will come up from the off Cape Hatteras; and thirty will come up from Greenwood; and l shall know them better than l ever knew them here. And your friends-they may Dc across the sea, but Inc trumpet that sounds here will sound there. You will come up on just the same day. Some morning you have overslept yourself, and you open your eTes, and see that the sun Is high in the heavens, and you say, T have overslept and l must be up and of" So you will open your eyes on the morning of the resurrection, in the full blaze of Gods light and you will say Il must be up and away" ~Oh res you will come up and there will be . reunion, n reconstruction of your family. l like what Halburton, I think 1t was--good old MT. Hsiburto9-said in his lived, and that have father in heaven, and mother in heaven, and brothers in heaven. and sisters in heaven, and am now going up to see them"
 remark once more: our troubles in this world are preparative for glory. What a transition 1t was for Paul-from the slippery deck of laundering ship 10 the calm pres euce of Jesusl What transition 1t was for Latimer--from the stake to a thronel What a transition 1t was for Robert lial-from in sanity to glory! What q transition it was ! 4l- A. A.. ek,