Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-05-29


rooms than you were in the two rooms 20
had iu house when you started? Hav
you not had more care and worriment sine
you won that fifty thousand dollars tina
you did before? Some of the poorest NE
L have ever known have been those of grea
fortune. A man of small means may b
put In great business straits, but the ghast
llest OF the embarrassments 10 that OF th
man who has large estates. The men VIII
commit suicide because of momentary loss
es are those who cannot bear the burdeI
any more, because they have only hun
dred thousand dollars left.
On Bowling Green, New York, there is
house where Talleyrand used to go. HI
was favorite man. All the world knew
him, and he had wealth almost unlimited
yet at the close of his life he says: "Behold
eighty-three years have passed without any
practical result, save fatigue of body and
fatigue of mind, great encouragement fol
the future and great disgust for the past. y
Oh, my friends, this is "a south land," and
it slopes off toward deserts of sorrows; and
the prayer which Achsah made to her faith
er Caleb, we make this day to our Father
God: "Thou hast given me south land;
give me also springs of water. And he
gave them the upper springs, and the meth
er springs"
Blessed be Godl We have more advan,
tages give US than We can really appreciate.
| We have spiritual blessings offered us in
this world which l shall call the neither
springs, and glories in the world to come
which shall call the upper springs.
Where shall find words enough thread
ed with light to set forth the pleasure of
religion? David, unable to describe it in
words, played it on harp. Mrs. Hemans,
not finding enough in prose, sings that
praise in canto. Christopher Wren, un-
able to describe it in language, sprung it
into the arches of st. Paul's. John Bun
yap, unable to present it in ordinary
phraseology, takes all the fascination of al
legory. Handel with ordinary mnsic una
BILE to reach the height of the theme, rouses
it up in an oratorio. o. there is no life on
earth so happy as really Christian life.
do not mean a sham Christian life, but a
real Christian life. Where there is thorn,
there is whole garland of roses. Where
there is one groap, there are three doxolo-
gies. Where there is one day of cloud, there
is a whole season of sunshine. Take the
humblest Christian man that you know
angels of God canopy him with their white
wings; the lightniugs of heaven are his arm
ed allies; the Lord is the Shepherd, picking
1 x
if he walk forth, heaven is his body-gusrd
if he lie down to sleep, ladders of light,
angel bl0s8oming, are leg into his dreams; if
he be thirsty, the potentates Of heaven are
his cu0- bearers; if he sit down to food, bis
plaiu taba blooms into the Kings banquet.
Men say: "LoOk at that old fellow with
the worD-out coat;" the angels of God cry:
Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates,
and let him come mp Fastidious people
cry: "Get off my front steps," the door
keepers of heaven cry: "Come ye blessed OF
my Father, inherit the kingdomp When
he comes to die, though he may be carried
cut in pine box to the potters field, te
that potter's field the chariots of Christ will
come down, and the eavalcade will crowd all
the boulevards of heaven.
l bless Christ for the present satisfaction
of religion. 1t N axes man all right with
reference to the past; it makes man al
right with reference to the future. Oh these
neither springs of comfort! They are peren-
NAL. The foundation of God standeth sure
having this seal, "The Lord knowoth them
that are his.'' "The mountains shall de-
part and the hills be removed, but my kind
ness shall not depart from thee, neither
shall the covenant of my peace be removed,
saith the Lord, who hath mercy upon
them" Oh, cluster of diamonds set il
FURNISHED gold Oh, neither springs of com
fort bursting through all the valleys of trial
aud tribulatiou! When yon see, you of the
world, what satisfaction there is On earth in
religion, do you not thirst after it as the
daughter of Caleb thiTsted after the watel
springs? II is no stagnant pond. scummeo
over with malaria, but springs of watel
leaping from the Rock of Ages! Take uF
one CUP of that spring water, and across ths
top of the chalice will float the delicate
shadows of the heavenly wall, the yellow ol
jasper, the green of emerald, the blue o.
sardonyx, the fire of jacinth.
I wish could make you understand the
Joy religion is to some of us. 1t makes 6
man happy while he lives, aud glad wheI
he dies. With two feet upon chair and
bursting with dropsies, heard an old ma
in the poor-house ely out: "Bless the Lord
oh my soulv' l looked around and said
"What has this man got to thank God forP
1t makes the lame man leap like the hart
and the dumb sing. They say that the OLE
Puritan religion is juiceless and joyless re
ligion; but 1 remember reading of DR.. Good
win, the celebrated Puritan, who in his las
moments said: SIS this dying? Why, m!
bow abides in strength! 1 am swallowed
up in God "Her ways are ways OF pleas
antness, and all her paths are paace." Oh
you who have been trying to satisfy your
selves with the ''south land' Of this world
do you not feel that you would, this morn
, ing, like to have access to the neither spring
f Of spiritual comfort2 Would you not lik
to have Jesus Christ bend over your cradl
and bless your table and heal your wounds
and ssrew flowers of consolation ell up ant
, down the graves of your dead?
'Tis religion that can give
Sweetest pleasures while we live;
, 'Tis religion can supply
Sweetest comfort when we die "
5 But have something better to tell you
3 suggested by this text. 1t seems that oil
, Father Caleb, on the wedding day of hi
3 daughter, wanted to make her as happy q