The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-02-06

LIZ
so tired; we are SO sick; we are so hungry!"
But the men who had charge Of them said:
'Stop this crying. Go on" David and his
men also found it hard way. They bad 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 struggle! how their
old hearts ached! how sometimes they had
tassis for bread! In our childhood we
wondered why there were so many wrinkles
on their faces. We did not know that what
were called ''crows feet" on their faces were
the marks of the black raven Of trouble.
Did you never hear the old people,
seated BY the ever evening s sand, ,t?I talk
the accidents, the burials, the disap-
pointments, the empty -four barrel when
there we're so many hungry ones to feed, the
sickness almost unto death, where the next
dose of morphine decided between ghastly
bereavement and an untroken home circle!
Oh, yes it was trouble that whitened their
hair. 1t was trouble that shook the
cup in their hands It was trouble
with the rain of tears until they
needed spectacles. It was trouble that
made the cane necessity for their journey.
Do you never remember seeing your old
mother sitting, on some rainy day, looking
out of the window. her elbow on the window
sill, her hand to her brow-looking out, not
seeing the falling shower at all you well
past, until the apron came up to her eyes,
because the memory was too much for her!
loft the big, unbidden tear.
Stealing down the furrowed cheek,
Tod In elo1uence 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 altar the ques-
tion was asked; and the response came:
These are they which came out Of great
tribulation, and have washed their robes,
and made them white in the blood Of the
Lamb" Our friends went by path of tears
into glory. Be not surprised If we have to
travel the same pathway.
Iremark, again. if we want to win the So
cie.y of our friends in heaven, we will not
only have to travel path Of faith and
path of tribulation, but we will also have to
positively battle for their companionship.
David and his men never wanted sharp swords
and invulnerable shields and thick breast
plates so much as they wanted them on the day
when they came down upon the AmalekiteS.
If they had lost that baths, they never
would have got their families back. sup
pose that one glance at their loved ones in
ten-fold courage and energy. They said:
1--WE must win it Every thing depends upon
it. Let each one take man on point Of spear
or sword We must win it." And have to
tell you that between US and coming into the
companionship of our loved ones who are
departed there is an Austerlitz, there is
Gettysburg, there is Waterloo. War with
the world, war with the flesh, war with the
devil. We have either to conquer our troub-
les, or our troubles will conquer us. David
Will either slay the Amalekites, or the
Amalekites will slay David And yet is not
the fort to be taken worth all the pain,
all the peril, all the besiegement!
Look! who are they on the bright
hills of heaven yonder! There they
are, those who sat at your own table, the
chair now vacant There they are, those
whom you rocked in infancy in the cradle.
or hushed to sleep in your arms. There they
are, those in whose life your life was bound
up. There they are their brow more radiant
than ever before you saw it, their lips
waiting for the kiss of heavenly greeting.
their cheek roseate with the health Of eterna ]
summer, their hands beckoning you up the
Steep their feet bounding with Lne mirth of
heaven. The pallor of their last sickness
gone out OF their face, never more to be sick,
never more to cough, never more to limp,
never more to be old, never more 20 weep.
They are watching from those heights to see
il through Christ you can take that fort, and
whether You will rush in upon them-victors.
They know that upon this battle depends
whether you will ever join their society. Up
strike harder! Charge more bravely! Re-
member that every inch you gain puts you
so much further on toward that heavenly re-
union.
<df this morning while speak you could
Ssar thecannonade of a foreign navy coming
Arough the Narrows. which was to despoil
Sur city, and if they really shoul1 succeed in
carrying our families away from us, how
long would we take before we resolved to 60
after them2 Every weapon, whether fresh
from Springfield or old and rusty III the gar
ret, would ee brought out; and we would
urge on, and, coming III front Of the foe, we
would look at them, and then look at our
families, and the cry would be: Victory or
DEATH" and when the ammunition was
gone, we would take the captors on
the point of the bayonet or under the breech
of the gun. II you would make such a
struggle for the getting back of your earthly
friends, will you not make as much struggle
for the gaining of the eternal companionship
of your heavenly friends! Oh. yes! we must
join them. We must sit in their holy society
We must sing with them the song. We
must celebrate with them the triumph. Let
it never be told on earth or in heaven that
David and his men pushed out with braver
hearts for the getting back Of their earthly
friends for few years on earth than we to
get our departed!
You soy that all this implies that our de-
parted Christian friends are alive. Why, had
you any idea they were dead! They have
only Eaoved II you should go on the I'd Of
May to a house where one of your friends
lived, and found him gone, you would not
think that he was dead. You would
inquire next door where he had moved
to. Our departed Christian friends
have only taken another house. The secret
is that they are richer now than they
once were, and can afford better residence
They once drank out of earthenware they
now drink from the Kings chalice. "Joseph
is yet alive" and Jacob will go up and see
him. Living, are they! Why. if a man can
live in this damp, dark dungeon of earthly
captivity, can he not live where he breathes
the bracing atmosphere Of the mountains of
heaven! Oh, yes, they are living
Dc you think that Paul is so near dead
now as he was when he was living in the
Roman dungeon? Do you think that Fred