Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1889-01-31

ana the noble heart stopped. and the
gentle hands folded, and you weep until
you have no more power to weep. Zikleg
in ashes!
A gentleman went to a friend of mine in
the city of Washington and asked that
through him he might get consulship to
soma foreign port Ny friend said to him:
What do you want TO 60 away from your
beautiful home for, into a foreign Dor; ?"
20" he replied, my home is gonei Ny
six children are deadl I must get away,
sir. can't stand Is In this country any
longer" Ziklag in sshesi
Why these long shadows of bereavement
across this audience! Why is it that in
almost every assemblage black is the pre-
dominant color of the apparel? Is it be-
cause you do not like saffron or brown or
violet! o, mol You say: "The world is
not so bright to US as it once was;" and
there is a story Of silent voices, and of
still feet, and of loved ones gone, and
when you look over the hills, expecting
only beauty and loneliness, you find only
devastation and woe. Ziklag in ashes!
In Ulster County, n. Y, the village
church was decorated until the fragrance
Of the flowers was almost bewildering.
The maidens of the village had emptied
the place of flowers upon one marriage
altar. One Of their own number was aft
anced to a minister of Christ who had
come to take her to his home. With hands
Joined, amidst a congratulatory audience,
the VOWS 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 flu
neral dirge. There were not enough flow
ers 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 had gone from them
less than a week before in his strength;
now he comes home lifeless. The whole
church bewailed him. The solemn pro-
cession moved around to look upon
the still face that once had beamed
with messages of salvation. Little chill
dren 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 emptied
of it's fowers-some of them put in the
shape of a cross to symbolic his hope,
others put in the shape Of a crown to SYM
bolize his triumph. A hundred lights
blown out in one strong gust from the open
door of a sepulchre. Ziklag in ashesl
Ipreach this sermon to-day, because 1
want to rally you as David rallied his men,
for the recovery Of the loved and the lost.
l want not only to win Heaven, but want
all this congregation to go along with me.
feel that somehow Ihave a responsibility
in your arriving at that great city. l have
on other Sabbaths used other inducements.
mean to-day, for the sake OF variety,
hoping to reach your heat 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 I am here, in
the name of God, to say that you may, and
to tell you how.
Iremark, 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
than he pointed the way the
captors and the captives 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
They prayed; we mustpra They trusted
in Christ; we must trust in Christ They
lived a religious life; we must live re-
ligious life. They were in some things
like ourselves. l 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, sometimes cast down. They
were far from being perfect. So l suppose
that when we have gone, some things in
us that are now only tolert BILE may be al
most Respondent. 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: Il am the
way" and they took it.
l have also to say to you that the path
that these captives trod was a troubled
path and that David and his men had to
go over the same difficult way. While
these captives were being taken off they
said: 80, we are so tired; we are so sick;
we are so hungryp But the men who
had charge of them said: ''Stop this cry
ing. Go on!" David and his men also
found it 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 STRUGGLED how their
Did hearts ached! how sometimes they had
q tussle for bread! In our childhood we
wondered why there were so many |
wrinkles on their faces. We did not know
tbot hot xuara m I1ad faaftv oy, |
their faces were the marks of the black |
Did people, seated by the evening
the accidents, the burials, the |
the empty -four barrel |
when there were so many hungry ones to |
iced, the sickness almost unto death, |
where the next dose of morphine decided |
between CHASTITY bereavement and an un-
broken home circle? o, yes, it was trouble |
hat whitened their hair. 1t was trouble |
hat washed the luster from their eyes
With the rain of tears until they needed |
Ipectacles. 1t was trouble that made the
;ane a necessity for their journey. IDo
you never remember seeing your old
mother sitting, on some rainy day, looking |
tut of the window, her elbow on the win
Iow-sill, her hand to her brow-looking
'ut not seeing the falling shower at all
you we'll know she was looking into the
Instant past), until the apron came up to
Ter eyes, because the memory was too
much for her?
loft the big. unbidden tear,
Stealing down the furroued cheek,
Told, in eloQuence 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 under the altarw the
uestion was asked, and the response