The Penn's Grove record., 1889-08-17

business ell day feeling that ali is right
between my heart and God. No acct
peril, no sword, can do me any per
manent damage. l am q forgiven child
by God, and He is
ROUND TO SEE ME THROUGH.
The mountains may depart. the earth
may burn, the light Of the stars NAV be
blown out by the blast Of the Judgment
hurricane; but life and death, things
present and things 10 come, are mine.
Yea, further than that-it means a
peaceful death. Mrs. Hemans. Mrs.
Sigourney, Dr.. Young, and almost ali
the poets have said handsome thing,
about death. There is nothing beauti-
full about it. When we stand by the
white and rigid features OF those whom
We love, and they give nc answering
pressure OF hand, and they give no
returning kiss OF the lip, we do not want
anybody poetizing around about us.
Death Is ioathsomeness, and midnight,
and the wringing Of the heart, until the
tendrils snap and curl in the torture,
unless Christ shall be with US. I CON
fess to you an infinite fear, a consum-
ing horror, of death unless Christ shall
be with me. l would rather go down
into a cave of wild beasts or q Jungle of
reptiles than into the grave, unless
Christ goes with me. viii you tell me
that l am to be carried out from my
bright home and put away in the dark
ness?
CANNOT BEAR DARKNESS.
At the first coming of the evening /
must have the gas lighted, and the
further on in life I get the more 1 like
to have my friends round about me.
And am 1 to be put off for thousands of
years into a dark place, with no n to
speak to? When the holidays come and
the gifts are distributed, shall 1 add no
joy to the "Merry Christmas" or the
Happy New Year"p All, do not point
down to the hole in the ground, the
grave, and call it q beautiful place.
Unless there is some supernatural illu-
mination / shudder back from it. My
whole nature revolts at it. But 10Y
this glorious lamp is lifted above the
grave, and all the darkness is gone, and
the way is clear. / look into it o
without a single shudder. Now my
anxiety is not about death; my anxiety
is that I may live Alright, for / know
that if my life is consistent, when l come
to the last hour, and this voice is silent,
and these eyes are closed, and these
hands with which l beg for your eternal
salvation to-day are folded over the still
heart, that then l shall only begin to
live. What power is there in anything
to chill me in the last hour, if Christ
wraps around me the skirt of His own
garment? What darkness car fall upon
my eyelids then, amid
THE HEAVENLY DAYBREAK?
o DEATH l will not fear thee then! Back
to thy cavern OF darkness, thou robber
of all the earth! Fly, thou despoiler of
familiesi With this battle-axe 1 hew
| thee in twain from hemlet TO sandal,
the voice of Christ sounding all over the
earth and through the heavens: 80
Death, I will be thy plague! o Grave, l
will be thy destructionP' To be saved
is to wake up in the presence Of Christ.
| You know when Jesus was upon earth
how happy He made every house Me
wentinto; and when He brings us up to
His house in heaven how great shall be
our gleel His voice has more music in
it than is to be heard in all the oratorios
of eternity! Talk not about banks
dashed with e~fiorescence. Jesus is the
chief bloom of heaven. We shall see
the very face that beamed sympathy in
Bethany, and take the very hand that
dropped its blood from the short beam
of the cross! Oh, I want to stand in
eternity with Him. Toward that harbor
1 steer. Toward that goal / run. l
shall be satisfied when 1 awake in His
likeness.
Oh, broken-hearted men and women,
how sweet it will be in that good land
to pour all of your hardships and be-
reayements and losses into the loving
ear of Christ, and then have Him ex-
plain why it was best for you to be
widowed, and why it was best for youto
be prosecuted, and why it was best for
you to be tried, and have Him point to
an elevation proportionate to your dis
quietude here, saying: "You have
suffered with Me on earth, come up now
and be glorifed with Me in heaven!"
Some one went into a house where there
had been a great deal of trouble, and
said to the woman there, .'You seem to
be lonely" ssYes," she said, 81 am
lonely.n Chow many in the family?"
"Only myself" "Have you had any
chlldren?s 81 had seven children"
Where are they?" "Gone;" al !,
gone?" Call" CAL dead?" GAIL"
Then she breathed a long sigh into the
loneliness, and said: ooh, sir, l have
been a good mother to the grave" And
SO there are hearts here that are utterly
broken down by the bereavements OF
life. Ipoint you to-day to
THE ETERNAL BALM
of heaven. Are there any here that
am missing thismorping? Oh youpoor
waiting maidl your hearts sorrow
poured in no human ear, lonely and
sad, how glad you will be when Christ
shall disband all your sorrows and
crown you queen unto God and the
Lamb forever! Aged men and women,
fed by His love and warmed by HIS
grace for threescore years and ten! will
not your decrepitude change for the
leap of a hart when you come to look
face to face upon Him whom, having
not seen, you love? That will be the
Good Shepherd, not out in the night
and watching to keep off the wolves,
but with the lamb reclining on the sun
lit hill. That will be the captain of oul
salvation. not amid the oar and crash
and boom of battle, but amid his dis
banded troops keeping victorious festiv.
ity. That will be the Bridegroom Of
the Church coming from afar, the bride
leaning upon His arm. while He ook
down into her face, and says: "Behold,
thou art fair, my love! Behold, thou
art fair!"
FOOD lOk THOUGHT