Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1888-07-25
"Jesus, lover of my soul.
Let me to Thy bosom fly,
While the pillows near rae roll,
While the tempeSt still iS high ,

The heart right toward God and man, we
are happy. The heart wrong toward God
and man, we are unhappy.
Another reason why We should come to
this spirit inculcated In the text is the fact
that all the differences of earthly condition
are transitory. The houses you build, the
land you culture, the places in which you
barter, are soon to go into other hands.
However hard you may have it now, if you
are Christian the scene will soon end.
Pain, trial, persecution never knock at the
door of the grave. A coffia made out of
pine boards is just as good resting PLACE
as one made out of silver-nounted mahog-
any or rosewood. Go down among the
resting places of the dead and you will find
that, though people there had great differ
ence of worldly circumstances, now they are
all alike unconscious. The hand that greet
ed the senator, and the president and the
king is still as the hand that hardened on
the mechanics hammer or the manufacture
er's wheel. 1t does not make any difference
now whether there is plain stone above
them from which the traveller pulls aside
the weeds to read the name, or tall shaft
springing into the heavens as though to tell
their virtues to the skies.
In that silent land there are no titles for
great men, and there are no rumblings of
chariot wheels, and there is never heard the
foot of the dance. The Egyptian guano
which is thrown on the fields in the East
for the enrichment of the soil is the dust
rsked out from the sepulchres of kings and
lords and mighty men. 0 the chagrin OF
those msn if they had ever known that in
the after ages of the world they would have
been called Egyptian guano.
OF how much worth now is the crown of
Caesar? Who bids for it? Who cares now
anything about the Amphictyonic Council
or the laws of Lycurgus? Who trembles
now because XerXes crossed the Heliespont
on bridge Of boats? Who fears because
Nebuchaduessar thnnders at the gates of
Jerusalem? Who cares now whether OR not
Cleopatra marries Antony? Who crouches
before Ferdinand, or Boniface, or Alaric?
Can Cromwell dissolve the English Parlia.
ment now? Is William, Prince of Orange,
king of the Netherlands? No, no! How
ever much Elizabeth may love the Russian
crown, she must pass it to Peter, and Peter
to Catherine, and Catherine to Paul. and
Paul to Alexander, and Alexander to
Nicholas. Leopold puts the German scep-
tre into the hands of Joseph, and Philip
comes down off the Spanish throne to let
Ferdinand go on. House of Aragon, house
of Hapsburg, house of Stuart, house of
Bou, bon, quarrelling about everything else,
but agreeing in this: "The fashion of this
world passeth away" But have all these
dignitaries gone? Can they not be called
back? | have been in assemblages where I
have heard the roll called, and many dis
tinguished men have answered. If i should
call the roll to day of some of those mighty
ones who have gone, wonder if they would
not answer. will call the roll. will call
the roll of the kings first: Alfred the
Great! William the Conqueror! Frederick
H.! Louis XVI! No answer. I will call
. the roll Of the poets: Robert Southey
Thomas Campbell! John Keats! George
Crabbe! Robert Burns! No answer. l
call the roll of artists: Michael Angelo!
Paul Veronese! William Turnerl Chris
topher Wren! No answer. Eyes closed.
Ears deaf. Lips silent. Hands palsied.
Sceptre, pencil, pen, sword, put down for
ever. Why should we struggle for such
baubles.
Another reason why we should culture
this spirit of cheerfulness is the fact that
God knows what is best for his creatures
, You know what is best for your child. lie
thinks you are not as liberal with him as
you ought to be. He criticises your discip-
line, but you look over the whole field,
and you, loving that child, do what in your
deliberate judgment is best for him. Now,
, God is the best of fathers. Sometimes His
6 children think that he is hard on them, and
that He is not as liberal with them as He
might be. But children do not know as
much as father. 1 can tell you why you
! are not largely affluent, and why you have
: not been grandly successful. 1t is because
= you cannot stand the temptation. If youl
= path had been smooth you would have de
. pended on your own surefootedness; but
! God roughened that path, SO you have tc
: take hold of His hand. If the weather had
. been mild you would have loitered along
= the water courses; but at the first howl Of
a the storm you qulckened your pace heaven
= ward, and wrapped around you the warm
;, . robe Of Saviour's righteousness. "Whai
. have l done?" says the wheatsheaf to the
= farmer, 'fwhat have done, that you bea
h me so hard with your flail?" The farmer
= makes no answer, but the rake takes off thu
: straw, and the mill blows the chaff to tn,
. . wind, and the golden grain falls down a
- - the foot of the windmill. After awhile, tn,
% % straw looking down from the NOW upon th'
y !. golden grain banked up on either side tn
" " floor understands why the farmer beat tn
= wheatsheaf with the fail.
" Who are those before the throne2 Th
j j answer came: "These are they who, out Q