Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-01-21

| VOWS were taken. In three days from that Time
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 an
other village. He had gone out from them less
than week before in his strength; now he
comes home lifeless. The whole church be-
walled him. The solemn procession 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 those whom he had comforted in days
| of sorrow, when they passed that silent form,
made the place dreadful with their weeping.
Another village emptled of its flowers-some
| of them put in the shape of cross to symbolic
his hope, others put in the shape of crown to
symbolic his triumph. A hundred lights blown
out in one strong gust from tie open door of a
sepulchre. Ziklag in ashes!
RALLY FOR THE FIGHT.
lpreach this sermon to-day because want to
rally you, as David rallied his men, for the re-
covery of the loved and the lost. want not
only to win heaven, but want all this congre-
| cation to go along with me. 1 feel that some
how have responsibility in your arriving at
that great city. l have on other Sabbaths
used other inducements. Imean, to-day, for
the sake of variety, hoping to reach your heart,
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 join them as David and his men were to join
their families? Then | am here, in the name
of God, to say that you may, and to tell you
how
remark, in the first place, if you want to
join your loved ones in glory, you must travel
the way they went. No sooner had the half
dead Egyptian been resuscitated than he point
ed the way the captors and the captiyes had
gone, and David and his men followed after.
So our Christian friends have gone into an
other country, and if we want to reach their
companionship we must take the same road.
They repented; we must repent They prayed;
we must pray. They trusted in Christ: we
must trust in Christ. They lived religious
life; we must live religious life. They were
in some things like ourselves. know. now
that they are gone, there is a 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; some
times 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 resplendent. 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 it not been for Jesus they would
have all perished; but Christ confronted them
and said: II am the way" and they took 1t.
A TROUBLED PATH.
have also to say to you that the path that
these captives trod was troubled path, and
that David and his men had to 60 over the same
difficult way. While these captives were being |
taken off, they said: 'oh, we are so tired; we
are so sick; we are SO hungryI' But the
men who had charge Of them said: 'Stop this
crying. Go on!" David and his men also found |
it hard way They had to tlavel 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 achedl how |
CnT1l fIrfanc fhnrh h0d fnr In
childhood we wondered why there were SO
many wrinkles on their faces. We did not know
that what were called "crow'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
burlals, the disappointments, the empty -four
barrel when there were so many hungry ones to
feed the sickness almost unto death, where the
next dose of morphine decided between CHASTITY
bereavement and an unbroken home circle?
oh, yes! it was trouble that whitened their hair.
1t was trouble that shook the cup
in their hands.lpt was trouble that washed
the lustre from their eyes with the rain Of tears
until they needed spectacles 1t was trouble
that made the cane necessity for their jour-
ney. Do you never remember seing your old
mother sitting, on some rainy day, looking out
of the window, her elbow on the window-sill,
her hand to her brow-looking out, not seeing
the falling shower at all (you well knew she
was looking into the distant past), until the
apron came up to her eyes, because the mem-
ory was too much for her?
Oft 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 altar?' the question was asked; and
the response came: These are they which
came out of great tribulation and have washed /;
their robes and made them white in the blood
Of the Lamb" Our friends went by a path of
tears into glory. Be not surprised if we have |
TO travel the same pathway.
l remark, again. if we want to win the socie.
~ of our friends in heaven, we will not only
have to travel path of faith and a path of
but we will also have to positively
battle for their companionship. David and his
men never wanted sharp swords and invulper-
able shields and thick breastplates so much as
they wanted them on the day when they came
1own upon the Amalekites If they had lost |
that battle they never would have got their
families back. L suppose that one glance at
their loved ones in captivity hurled them into
,he battle with ten-fold courage and energy
They said: "We must win it. Everything de-
bends upon il. Let each one take man
H.
And / have to tell you that between us and !
coming into the companionship of our loved
,nes who are departed there is an Austerlitz {
here is Gettysburg, there is a Waterloo i
War with the world, war with the f1esh war
With the devil. We have either to conquer our
or our troubles will conquer us
David will either slay the Amalekites or the
Amalekites will slay David. And yet is not the G
,eril, all the besiegement? Look! who are they I
N the bright hills of heaven yonder3 There
hey are, those who sat at your own table, the
hair now vacant. There they are, those whom
o sleep in your arms. There they are those in
whose life your life was bound up. There they ,
re- their brows more radiant than ever before !
ou saw them, their lips waiting for the kiss of e
eavenly greeting, their cheeks roseate with the
ealth OF
ETERNAL SUMMER, l
heir hands beckoning you up the steep, their
eet bounding with the mirth of heaven. The
allor of their last sickness gone out of their
aces, never more to be sick, never more to
ough, never more to limp, never more to be
Id. never more to weep. They are watching
rom those heights to see if through Christ you
an take that fort, and whether you will rush !
a upon them-victors. They know that upon =
his battle depends whether you will ever Join
heir society. p!strike harderl Charge more
ravely! Remember that every inch you gain
uts you SO much farther on toward that heav-
My reunion.
If this morning while 1 speak you could hear
be cannonade of foreign navy, coming
hrough the "Narrows," which was to despoil
ur city, and if they really should succeed in
arryng our families away from US, how long
'ould We take before we resolved to go after
hem? Every weapon, whether fresh from
pringfeld or old and rusty in the garrett would
e brought out and we would urge on, and, |
oming in front of the foe, we would look at
hem, and then look at our families and the
ry would be: Victory death % and when
he ammunition was gone, we would take the
aptors on the point of the bayonet or under
ne breech of the gun, If you would make
1ch struggle for the getting back of your
arthly friends, will you not make as much
.ruggle for the gaining of the eternal compan-
,nship of your heavenly friends? Oh, yesi we
lust join them. We must sit in their holy So
ety. We must sing with them the song. We
lahr ta tlnorn +ri,, l.