Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1889-08-15

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the gifts are distributed, shall add NO
joy to the MANY Christmas" or the
Happy New Year," All, do not point
down to the hole in the ground, the
grave, and call il o beautiful place.
Unless there be some supernatural il
lumination shudder back from it. My
whole nature revolts at it. But now
this glorious lamp is lifted above the
grave, and all the darkness is gone, and
the way is clear. I look into it now
without . single shudder. Now my
anxiety 10 not about death; my anxiety
is that I may live Alright, for know tn at
If my life is consistent when l come tc
the last hour, and this voice is silent,
and these eyes are closed, and these
hands With which 1 beg for your eter-
nal salvation to- day are folded over the
still heart, that then shall only begin
to live. What power is there in any
thing to chill me in the last hour il
Christ wraps around me the skirt of his
own garment? What darkness can fall
upon my eyelids then amid the heavenly
daybreak? o Death, I will not fear thee
then. Back to thy cavern of darkness.
thou robber of all the earth. Fly! thou
despoiler of families. With this battle
az / hew thee in twain from helmet to
sandal, the voice of Christ sounding all
over the earth and through the Heav-
ems: 20 Death, will be thy plague. o
Grave, will be thy destruction
To be saved is to wake up in the pres
ence of Christ. You know when Jesus
was upon earth how happy he made
every house he went into, and when he
brings us up to his house in Heaven
how great shall be our glee. His voice
has more music in it than is to be heard
in all the oratorios of eternity.
Talk not about banks dashed with
efhOrescence. 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, want to stand in eternity with
Him. Toward that harbor l steer. To-
fed when l 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 bereave-
ments and losses into the loving ear of
Christ, and then have him explain why
it was best for you to be sick, and why
it was best for you to be widowed, and
why it was best for you to be prosecuted,
and why it was best for you to be tried,
and have him point to an elevation pro-
portiOnate to your disquietude here,
saying: You suffered with me on earth,
come up now and be glorified with me
in Heaven" Some one went into n
house where there had been a good deal
of trouble, and said to the woman there:
you seem to be lonely" YES" she
said. Il am lonely" How many in
the family?" Only myself" Have
you had any children" Il had seven
children" Where are they?" Gone.
All gomez" AL" All dead?" All. "
Then she breathed long sigh into the
loneliness, and said; "Oh, sir, 1 have
been q good mother to the grave" And
SO there are hearts here that are utterly
broken down by the bereavements of life.
point you to-day to the eternal balm
of Heaven: Are there any here that l
am missing this morning? Oh. you poor
waiting maid! 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 three score years and ten! will not
your decrepitude change for the leap of
o heart when you come to look face to
face upon him whom having not seen
you love? That will be the Good Shop
herd, not out in the night and watching
to keep off the wolves, but with the
lamp reclining on the sunlit hill. That
will be the captain of our salvation, not
amid the roar and crash and boom of
battle, but amid his disbanded troops
keeping victorious festivity. That will
be the Bridegroom of the Church COM
ing from afar, the bride leaning upon
his arm, while he looks down into her
face, and says: Behold, thou art fair,
my love! Behold, thou art fair!"