Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-05-15

and forthwith, as by the hands OF angels,
another cup was put into your hands. Ii
was the cup of Gods consolation. And as
you have sometimes lifted the head of a
wounded soldier and poured wine into his
lips so God put his left arm under your
head, and with his right hand he poured
into your lips the wine of his comfort and
his consolation, and you looked at the
empty cradle and looked at your broken
heart, and you looked at the Lords chss-
tisement, and you said, "Eyen SO, Father,
for so it seemeth good in Thy sight,"
All, it was your first trouble How did
you get over its God comforted you. You
have been better man ever since. In the
jar of the closing gate of the sepulchre you
heard the changing of the opening gate of
heaven, and you felt an irresistible draw
ing heavenward. You have been purer of
mind ever since that night when the little
one for the last Tina put its arms around
your neck and said, Goodnight, papa
goodnight, mamma. Meet me in heaven ~
But must come on down to your latest
sorrow. What WAS it2 Perhaps it was your
own sickness. The child's tread on the
stair, or the tick OF the watch on the stand
disturbed you. Through the long weary
days you counted the igures in the carpet
or ths flowers in the wall paper. Oh, the
WEAKNESS, the exhaustion! Oh, the burn
ing paugs! Would God it we're morning,
would God it were night, were your fire.
quent cry. But you are better, or perhaps
even we'll. Have you thanked God that
today you can come cut in the fresh air;
that you are in this place to hear God 8
name, and to sing Gods praise, and implore
Gods help, and to ask Gods forgiveness?
Bless the Lord who healeth all our dis
eases, and redeemeth our lives from destruc-
ton.
Perhaps your last sorrow was financial
embarrassment. congratulate some of
you on your lucrative profession or occupa-
tion, on ornate apparel. on commodious
resideuce-ey you put your hands
to seems to turn to gold. But there are
others of you who are like the ship on
which Paul sailed, where two seas met, and
YOU are broken by the violence of the
waves. By an unadvised Endorsement, or
bv conjunction of unforeseen events, or by
fire, or Storm, or a senseless panic, you
have been flung headlong, and where you
once dispensed great charities, now you
have hard work to make the two ends
meet.
Have you forgotten to thank God for
your days of prosperity, and that through
your trials some of you have made invest
ments which will continue after the last
bank of this world has exploded, and the
silver and gold are molten in the fires OF q
burning world? Have you, amid all your
losses and discouragements, forgot that
there was bread on your table this morning,
and that there shall be shelter for yonr
head from the storm and there is air for
vour lungs, and blood for your heart, and
light for your eye, and glad and glorious
and triumphant religion for your souls
Perhaps your last trouble was bereave-
ment. That heart which in childhood was
vorr refuge. the parental heart, and which
has been a source of the quickest sympathy
ever since, has suddenly become silent for
ever. and now somatimes, whenever in
sudden annoyance and without deliberatlon
YOU saw. 81 will 90 epd tell mother" the
thought flashes on you, II have no mother"
or the father, with voice less tender, but as
staunch and earnest and loving as ever,
watcnful OF all your ways, exuitaut over
your success without saying much, although
the old people do talk it over by themselves,
his trembling hand on that staff which you
now keep as family relic, his memory en-
bainued N grateful hearts, is taken away
forever.
Or. there was yonr companion in life,
sharer of your joys and sorrows, taken,
leaving the heart an old ruin, where the
chill winds blow over wide wilderness OF
desolation, the sands of the desert driving
across the place which once doomed like
the garden of God. Aud Abraham mourns
for Sarah at the cave Machpelah. Going
along your path iu life, suddenly. right be-
fore you was an open grave. People iock-
ed down and they saw it was only few
feet deep and few feet wide, but to you it
was a cavern down which went all your
hopes and all your expectations.
But cheer up in the name OF the LORD
Jesus Christ, the Comforter. He is not
going to forsake you. Did the Lord take
that child out of your arms? Why, he IS
going to shelter it better than you could
He is going to array it in white robe, aud
with palm branch it will be all ready to
greet YOU at your coming home. Blessed
the broken heart that Jesus heals. Blessed
the unfortunate cry that Jesus compass
sionates. Blessed the weeping eye from
which the soft hand of Jesus wipes away
the tear.
was sailing down the St. John river,
Canada. which is the Rhine and the Hud
son commingled in one scene of bsauty aso
grandeur, and while was on the deck oi
the steamer gentleman pointed out TO me
the places of interest, and he said, "Al
this is interval land. ard it IS the richest
land in sill the proyices of New Brunswics
aud Nova Scotia.
"What,' said l, edo you mean by inter
val land?'' 'sWeE," be said, 'sthis land If
submerged for part of the year; sprine
rreshets cpme down, and all these plains
are overfiowed with the water, and tht
water leaves a rich deposit, and when th'
waters are gone the harvest springs up, are
there ia the grandest harvest that was eve
reaped." Aud | instantly thought "lt Il
nos the heights of the church aud it is no
tl,e heights of this world that is the scen'
Of the greatest prosperity. but the soul owe
which the floods of sorrow have gone. th'
sonl over which the freshets of tribulatior
have torn their way, that yields the great
| est frnits of righteousness, and the lafges
harvest r time, and the richest harves
for eternity. Bless God that yonr soul i
| interval land.
Rnt these "reminiscences reach only tt
| this morning. There will yet be one mor'
point of tremendous reminiscance, and tina
| is the last hour of life, when we have t.
look over all our past existence. What {
moment that will be! / place Napoleon
diving reminiscspce on st. Helena beside
Mrs. Judscn's dying "reminiscences in th'
harbor of St. Helena, the same island trent.
years after. Napnleon's dying remiuis
cence was one of delirium, Head of thu
army,o Mrs. Judson's dying "reminiscences
as che came home from her missionary toi
and her life of self-sacrlfice for God, dyinG
in the cabin of the ship in the harbor OF st
Helena, was 81 always did love the Lore
Jesus Christ" Aud then, the historian
says, she fell into sound sleep for an hour
and woke amid the songs of angels.
! place the dying "Reminiscences OF Angus
tus Caesar against tae dying reminiscenc
of the Apostle Paul. The dying reminis
| cence of Augnstus Caesar was, addressing
his attendants: "Have played my par
we'll on the stage CT life?" and they answer
ed in the affirmative, and he said. "Why
then. don't you applaud meP" The dyin
"reminiscences of Papl the Apostle was, g
have fought good fight, | have kept th
faith; hencefyrth there is laid up for me
crown of righteousness, which the Lord
rho rinbtoons JudUa will rive me in tha