The morning news., 1889-01-21

aboard the steamboat or rali car ana start
for homel You arrived. You went up
the street where your dwelling was, aud in
the night you put your hand on the door
bell, and, behold it was wrapped with the
signal of bereavement and you found that
Amalekitish death, which has devastated a
thousand other households, had blasted
yours You go about weeping amidst the
desolation of your once happy home, think
ing of the bright eyes closed, and the noble
hearts stopped, and the gentle hands folded
and you weep until you have no more power
to weep. Ziklag in ashes
gentleman went TO friend Of mine in
the city of Washington, and asked that
through him he might get consulship TO
some foreign port My friend said TO him ::
"What do you want to 60 away from your
beautiful home for. into d foreign portF
"Oh," he replied, my home is gonel My
six children are dead I must get away
sir. ] can't stand it in this country auy
longer" Ziklag ia ashes
Why these long shadows of bereavement
across this audience4 Why is it that in
almost every assemblage black is the pre-
dominant color of the apparell Is it be
cause you do not like saffron or brown or
veIvetl Oh, mol You say The world is
not so bright 10 us as it once was;n and
there is a story Of silent voices, and Of still
feet, and of loved ones gone, and when you
lOOh ONot VIC hlllSs bA pGNLthB Oui1 b9dubJ
and loveliness, You find only devastation
and woe. Ziklag in ashes
In Ulster county, New York, the village
church was decorated until the fragrance
of the flowers vas almost bewildering
The madeus of the village had emptied the
place Of flowers upon one marriage altar.
One of their own number was aifianced to n
minister of Christ, who had come to take
her to his home With hands joined,
10 l,a
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
funeral dirge. There were not enough
flowers 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 bad gone out from
them less than a week before in his strength
now he comes home lifeless The whole
church bewailed him. The solemn process
sion moved around to look upon the still
face that once had beamed with messages
of salvation. Little children were lifted
up to look at him. And some of tho o
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 its flowers
some of them put in the shape of cross to
symbolic his hope, others put in the shape
of q crown to symbolic his triumph. A
hundred lights blown out in one strong gust
from the open door of sepulcher. Ziklag
in ashesl
preach this sermon to-day because |
want to rally you as David rallied his men,
for the recovery of the loved and lost.
want not only to win heaven, but l want all
this congregation to 60 along with me. |
feel that somehow have "A responsibility in
your arriving at that great city have on
other Sabbaths used other inducements.
] mean to-day, for the sake Of variety, hop
ing to reach your heart, to try another
kind of inducement. Do you really want
TO join the companionship of your loved
ones who have gomez Are you as anxious
to join them as David and his men were to
join their families9 Then l am here, in the
name of God, to say that you may, and to
tell you how.
l remark, in the first place, if you want
to join your loved ones in glory, you must
travel the same way they went. No sooner
had the half-dead Egyptian been resusci-
tated than he pointed the way the caDtOrs
aud the captives had gone, and David and
his men followed after So our christia
friends have gone into another country,
and if we want to reach their companion
ship we must take the same road They
repented; we must repent. They prayed
we must pray. They trusted in Christ; we
must trust III Christ They lived religious
life; we must live a religious life They
were in some things like ourselves. | know,
now that they are gone, there is halo
around their names; but they had their
faults. They said and did things they
ought never to have said or done. They
were sometimes rebellious, sometimes cast
down. They we're far from being perfect
So | suppose that when we have gone, some
things in us that are now only tolerable
may be almost respendent But as they
were like US in deficiencies, we ought to be
like them in taking a supernal Christ TO
make up for the deficits. Had Il not been
for Jesus, they would have all perIshed
but Christ confronted them, and said: 81
am the way and they took it.
have also to say to you that the path
that these captives trod was a troWbled path
and that David and his men had to go over
the same difficult way While these cap
tives were being taken off they said: ooh,
we are so tired; we are so sick; We are so
hungryw But the men who had charge of
them said: stop this crying. Go onm
David and his men also found it a hard
way. They had to travel it. Our friends
have gone into glory and it is through much
tribulation that we are TO enter into the
kingdom. How our loved ones used to have
to struggle! how their old hearts ached
how sometimes they had tussle for bread
In our childhood we wondered why there
were 30 many wrinkles on their faces. We
did not know that what ere called "crov'S
feet" on their faces were the marks
Of the black raven of trouble. Did You
never hear the old people, seated by the
evening stand, talk over their early trials.
their hardships, the accidents, the burials,
the disappointments, the empty flour-bar-
rel when there we're so many hungry ones
TO feed, the sickness almost unto death
where the next dose Of morphine decided
between CHASTITY bereavement and an uu-
broken home circlei Oh, yesl it was trouble
that whitened their hair. 1t was trouble
that shook the cup in their hands Ii was
trouble that washed the luster from their
eyes with the rain of tears until they needed
spectacles. II was trouble that made the
cane necessity for tgeir journey. DO YOU
never remember seeiug your Old mother sit
ting, on some rainy day, looking out of the
window, her elbow on the window sill. her
hand TO her brow-lo3king out, not seeing
the falling shower at all you well knew She
was looking into the distant past, until the
apron came up 10 her eyes, because the
memory was too much for herl
"Oft the big, unbidden tear
Stealing down the furOwed cheek
Told in eoquence sincere
Tales Of woe they could not speak.
But this scene OF weeping DER
Past this scene OF toll and pain.
They shall feel distress no more,
Never, never weep again"
who are these undor the altarYn the
question was asked, and the response came:
These are they which came out OF Rreat
and have washed their robes