The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-05-22


home. There WAS m additional interest willy
you should stay thoro and be faithful, anu
whom in fow months your house was filled
with the music of the childs laughter, you
were struck through with tho fact that you
had stupontlous mission.
HIVE you kept that vow9 unve you no-
elected any of these duties? Is your home as
much to you as it used to be3 Have those
anticipations been gratiGed? God help you
to-day In your solemn reminiscence, and let
His mercy fall upon your soul il your kind
ness has been i'll requited. God have mercy
on the parent on the wrinkles of whose
face is written the story Of q childs
sin. God have mercy on the mother
who, in addition to her other pnngs has the
pangs of a child's iniquity. Oh, there ore
many, many sad sounds in this sod world,
but tile saddest sound that is ever heard is
the breaking Of mothers heart. Are there
any here who remember that in that home
they were unfaithful? Are there those who
wandered off from that early home, and left
the mother to die with broken heart? Oh,
I stir that reminiscence to-day.
I find another point in your life history.
You found one day you were IN the wrong
road; you couldn't sleep at night; there was
Just one word that seemed to sob through
your banking house, OF through your office, or
through your shop, or your bedroom, and
that word was Eternity" You said: VI am
not ready forit. o God, have mercy" The
Lord heard. Peace came to your heart. In
the breath Of the hill and the waterfalls dash
YOU heard the voice of Gods love; the clouds
and the trees hailed you with gladness; you
came into the house of God.
You remember how your hand trembled as
you took up the cup of the Communion. You
remember the old minister who consecrated
it, and you remember the church officials
who carried it through the aisle; you re-
member the old people who at the close
of the service took your hand in
theirs in congratui4ating sympathy, as
lost prodigal;" and though those hands
are oil withercd away, that Communion
Sabbath is resllrrected this morning; it is re-
surrected with oil its prayers and songs and
tears, and sermons, and TRANSPORTATION.
Have you kept those vows9 Have you been
q 'iacksiider? God help you. This day l11eel
at the foot Of mercy and start again for
heaven. Start to-day as you started then.
rouse your soul by that rcminiscence.
In going over the advantages Of your life. /
just put them all in one great sheaf, and ]
wrap them up in your memory with one loud
harvest song, such as the reapers sing. Praise
the Lord, ye blood bought imn,ortals of earth
Praise the Lord, &c crowned spirits Of heavenl
But some of you have not always had
smooth life. Some Of you arc now
in tho shadow. Others had their troubles
years ago, you arc mere, wreck
OF what you once were. l must
gather up the sorrows Of your past Life: but
how shall I do it9 You say that is impossi-
ble as you have had so many troubles and
advorsities. Then I will just take two, the
first trouble and the last trouble. AS when
you ore walking along the street, and there
has been music in tho distance you uncon-
sciously find yourself keeping step to the
music, so when you started life your very life
was a musical timobeat. The air was full Of
joy and hilarity; with tho bright clear oar you
made tho boat skip; you went on and life
voice from heaven said: Halt" and quick MS
the sunshine you halted: you grew pale, you
confronted your first sorrow. You had no
idea that the flush on your child's check was
an unhealthy flush. You said it can't be any
thing serious. Death in slippered feet
walked round about the cradle. You did
not hear the tread; but after a while the
truth flashed on you. You walked tho floor.
Oh, if you could, with your. strong. stout
destroyer You went to your room and you
said: "God, save my child! God, save my
child" The world seemed going out in dark
ness. You said: Il can't bear it; l can't
bear it." You felt as if you could not put
the long lashes over the bright eyes, never
to see them again sparkle. Oh, if you could
have taken that little one in your arms and
with it leaped the grave, how gladly you
would have done it! Oh, if you could let
your property go, your houses go, your land
and Your storehouse go, how gladly you
would have allowed them to depart if you
could only have kept that one treasure!
But one day there arose from the heavens
a chill blast that swept over the bed
room, and instantly all the light went
out and there was darkness-thick,
murky, impenetrable, shuddering dark
ness But God didn't leave you there.
Mercy spoke. As you took up the cup
and was about to put it to- your Lips
God said: Let it pass" and forthwith, as by
into your hands; it vas the cup OF Gods
consolation. And as you have sometimes
lifted the head of wounded soldier, and
poured wine into his lips, so God put His left
arm under your head, and with His right
hand He poured into your lips the wine Of His
comfort and His consolation, and you looked
at the empty cradle and looked at your
broken heart and you looked at the Lords
chastisement, and you said: Even so,
Father, for so it seemeth good In Thy
sight"
Ah, it was your first trouble. How did you
get over it? God comforted you. You have
been better man ever since. You have been
a better woman ever since In the jar OF the
closing gate of the sepulcher you heard the
Changing of the opening gate OF heaven, and
YOU felt IN irresistible drawing heavenward.
You have been purer of mind ever since that
night when the little one for the last time put
its arms around your neck and said: Good
night, papa; goodnight, mamma. Meet me
heaven"
But must como on down to your latest
SORROW. What was it? Perhaps it was your
OWN sickness The child's tread Oh the stair,
or the ticl, of the watch OH the stand dis
twrbed you. Through tho long weary days
you counted the figures in the car
pet or the flowers in the wall paper.
Oh, the wcarincss, tho exhaustion! On,
the burning pangs Would God 1t
were morning, would God it We're night, were
perhaps even well. Have you thanked that
God to-day you can como out in the fresh nir;
that you are in this place to hear Gods name,
and to sing Gods praise, and imploro Gods
help, and to ask Gods forgiveness? Bless the
Lord who healeth all our diseases, and re-
decmeth our lives from destruction.
Perhaps your last sorrow was financial
embarrassment. congratulate some OF you
OH your lucrative profession or occupation,
on ornate apparel on commodious resi-
seems seems to turn too to gold. But there are others
of you who are like the ship on which Paul
sailed, where two seas met and you are
broken by the violence Of the waves. By an
llnadvised Endorsement, or by conjunction
of unforeseen events, or by fire, or storm 9r
a senseless panic, you have been flung head
long, and where you once . dispensed ed s greas
The two ends meet.
Have you forgotten to thank God for your
days of prosperity, and that through your