The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1889-02-01

amidst the desolation OF your Once happy
home. thinking of the bright eyes closed,
and the noble heart stopped, and the
GENTLE hands folded, and you weep until
YOU have no more power to weep. Ziklag
in ashes!
A gentleman went to q friend of mine in
the city of Washington and asked that
through him he might get consulship to
soma foreign port My friend said to him:
.sWhat do you want to go away from your
beautiful home for, into foreign port!"
.sO,n he replied, my home is gone! My
six children are dead! l must get away,
sir. can't stand it In this country any
longer" Ziklag in ashes!
why these long shadows OF bereavement
across this audience? Why is it that in
almost every assemblage black is the pre-
dominant color of the APPAREL Is it be-
cause YOU do not like saffron or brown or
violet? o, mol You say: "The world is
not so bright to us as it once was;" and
there is a story Of silent voices, and of
still feet and of loved ones gone, and
when YOU look over the hills, expecting
only beauty and loneliness, you find only
devastation and woe. Ziklag in ashes!
In Ulster County, N. Y, the village
church was decorated until the fragrance
of the flowers was almost bewildering.
The maidens of the village had emptied
the place of flowers upon one marriage
altar. One of their own number was affi-
anced to a minister of Christ, who had
come to take her to his home. With hands
Joined, amidst a congratulatory audience.
the vows were taken. In three days from
that time one of those who stood at the
altar exchanged earth for Heaven. The
wedding march broke down into the fu-
neral dirge. There were not enough flow.
ers now for the coffin lid, because they
had all been taken for the bridal hour.
The dead minister of Christ is brought to
another village. He had gone from them
less than a week before in his strength;
now he comes home lifeless. The whole
church bewailed him. The solemn pro.
cession moved around to look upon
the still face that once had beamed
with messages of salvation. Little chill
dren were lifted up to look at him. And
some of those whom he had comforted in
DAYS of sorrow, when they passed that
silent form. made the place dreadful with
| their weeping. Another village emptied
| of it's fiowers-some of them put in the
shape of a cross to symbolic his hope,
others put in the shape of q crown to SYM
| bolize his triumph. A hundred lights
blown out in one strong gust from the open
door of sepulchre. Ziklag in ashes!
Ipreach this sermon to-day, because /
want to rally you as David rallied his men,
for the recovery of the loved and the lost.
| I want not only to win Heaven, but want
all this congregation to 60 along with me.
| l feel that somehow Ihave responsibility
| in your arriving at that great city. have
on other Sabbaths used other inducements.
| lmean to-day, for the sake of variety,
hoping to reach your hea t. to try another
kind of inducement. Do you really want
| to Join the companionship OF your loved
ones who have gone? Are you as anxious
| to ioin them as David and his men were to
| ioin their families? Then I am here, in
the name of God, to say that you may, and
to tell you how.
remark, in the first place, II you want
to join your loved ones in glory, you must
travel the sane way they went. Nc
sooner had the half dead Egyptian been
resuscitated than he pointed the way the
captors and the captives had gone and
David and his men followed after. Sc
our Christian friends have gone into an.
other country, and if we want to reach
|
same road. They repented; we mustrepent
They prayed; we must pray. They trusted
in Christ; we must trust in Christ. They
lived religious life; we must live a re-
ligious life. They were in some thing
like ourselves. l know, now that they
are gone, there is a halo around thei
names; but they had their faults. They
said and did things they ought never t.
|
rebellious, sometimes cast down. They
were far from being perfect So suppose
that when we have gone, some things il
us that are now only toler, Bile may be al
most Respondent. But as they were lik'
us in deficiencies, we ought TO be like then
in taking a supernal Christ 10 make up TO
the deficits Had it not been for Jesus
they would have all persisted; but Chris
confronted them, and said: Il am tn
way" and they took it.
Ihave also to say to you that the patti
that these captives trod was troubled
path and that David and his men had t
go over the same difficult way. Whil
these captives were being taken off the,
said: 90. we are so tired; we are so sick
we are so hungry" But the men VIII
had charge of them said: ''Stop this cry
, |
found it hard way. They had to trave
it. Our friends have gone into glory, AM
it is through much tribulation that we art
to enter into the kingdom. How our love-
ones used to have to struggle! how thei
old hearts ached! how sometimes they ha'
a tussle for bread! In our childhood W
wondered why there were so man.
wrinkles on their faces. We did not know
| LII 3, oatO n
!, their faces were the marks of the blacl
raven of trouble. Did you never hear tn
old people, seated by the evening
stand, talk over their early trials, thei
hardships, the accidents, the burials, tn
disappointments, the empty flour barre
when there were so many hungry ones
feed, the sickness almost unto death
where the next dose Of morphine decide
, between CHASTITY bere avement and an un
broken home circle: O, yes, it was troubl
that whitened their hair. 1t was troubl
! that washed the luster from their eye
with the rain of tears until they needle
, spectacles. 1t was trouble that made tn
, cane a necessity for their journey. ~
, YOU never remember seeing your oil
, mother sitting, on some rainy day, lookin
, out of the window, her elbow ON the win
dow-sill, her hand to her brow-lookin
, out not seeing the falling shower at a
, (you we'll know she was looking into tn
, distant past), until the apron came up
her eyes, because the memory was to
, much for her?
loft the big unbidden tear,
, Stealing down the furrowed cheek,
= Told. in eloquence sincere,
Tales Of woe they could not speak.
|
"But, this scene Of weeping o'er
Past this scene Of toll and pain,
/ They shall feel distress no more,
Never never weep again"
, "Who are these under the altarH' th