The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1889-05-30

uencitsl Wnht are our pertlsf What our
hopes Lot each one say TO himself: "whers
viii be Shall range in summery fields
or grind In the mills Of great night wherei
Some winter morning you 90 out and see q
snow bank In graceful drifts as though by
some heavenly compass IL had been curved
and as the sun glints IL the luster Is almost
insnfferable, and II seems as n God hal
wrapped the earth In n shroud with white
plaits woven in looms celestial
And you say: was there eve,
anything so pure as the snow. sc
beautiful as the snowi" But YOU brought
pail OF that snow and put it upon the Stove
ana melted IL; and you found that there was
sediment at the bottom. and every drop OF
that snow water was riled; and Won found
that the snow bank had gathered up the
impurity OF the field. and that after
all II was not fit TO wash in. And so saw n
will be IL you try TO gather up these contrasts
and comparisons with others. and with these
apologies attempt TO wash out the sins Of
your heart and life. IL will he an unsuccess
ful ablution. Such snow water will never
wash away single stain OF an immortal
soul.
But hear some one say: III will try some
thing better than that. I will trv the force
or n good resolution That will be more
pungent, more caustic more extirpatinp
more cleansing. The snow water has failed
and now | will try the alkali of the good,
strong resolution" My dear brother, have
the future viii liquidate the past9 Sup
pose 1 owed you five thousand dollars
and | should come to you tomorrow and
say: Sir, / will never run in debt to Won
again; II | should live thirty years. I will
never run in debt to you again." will Won
turn TO me and say: "If YOU will not
run in debt i'm the future will forgive
you the fiye thousand dollars" viii you dc
that MOI Nor will God We have been
running upa long score OF indebtedness with
God. II for the future we should abstain
from sin, that would be- no defrayment of mast
indebtedness Though you should live from
this time forth pure as an archangel befor,
the throne that would not redeem the
past. God, in the Bible distinctly
declares that he ''will require that which
IS past'--paSt opportunities, past neg.
lects, past wicked words. past impure inn
iginations, past everything The past is u
great cemetery, and every day is buried in
It. And here is long row Of three hundred
and siXty-five graves They are the
lead days of lSSS. Here is long row of
three hundred and sixty-nve more graves
md they are the dead days of 1887. And
1ere Is a long row OF three hundred and six.
.y-hVe more graves, and they are the dead
lays Of 1856. IL is a vast cemetery Of the
oast But God will rouse them all up with
reSurrectionary blast, and as the prisoner
stands face to face with Juror and Judge. Sc
fou and | will have 10 come up and look
ipon those departed days face to face, exult.
ng in their smile or covering in their frowu
Murder will out is n proverh that
stops too short. Every SIM however small.
IS well as great, will out. In hard times
N England, years ago, IL is authenticallv
tated that a manufacturer was on the way.
With n bag Of money. To pay Off his hands 4
nan infuriated with hunger met him ON tho
'oad, and took n rail with n nail in IL from
onlng fence and struck him down. and tho
lali entering the skull instantly slew him
Thirty years after that the murderer
went back TO that place. He passed into the
grave yard, where the sexton was digging .
crave. and while he stood there the spade o;
The sexton turned up IA skull and, 10 tho
murderer saw n nail protruding from tho
back part Of the skull: and as the sex
on turned the skull il seemed with hol-
ow eyes To glare on the murderer;
and he first petrified with horror. stood
n silence, but soon cried out. Guilty!
milty! God"' The mystery Of the
rhine was over The man was tried
and executed My friends all the un.
pardoned sins of our lives though We
may think they are buried out Of sight
and gone into d mere skeleton Of
memory, will turn up in the cemetery
II the past and glover upon us with
their misdoings. | say all our unpardoned
sins Oh have you done the preposterous
thing of supposing that good resolutions for
the future will wipe out the past' Good re
solutions though they may be pungent and
,austic rs alkali, have no power To
neutralize sin, have no power 10
wash away n transgresson. IL wants some
thing more than earthly chemistry 10 do
this Yea, yea. though ~ wash myself with
snow water, and should | cleanse my hands
in alkali, yet shalt thou plunge me in the
Hitch unI nina p1ptbac hall al
You see from the last part OF this text that
Jobs idea Of sin was very different from that
II Eugene Sue, or George Sand, or NJ. j.
Michelet, orof any Of the hundreds of writers
who have done up iniquity in mczzotint,
and garlanded the wine cup with eg.
lantine and rosemary, and made the
path of the libertine end in bowers of
ease instead of ON the hot tagging of cterna'
torture. You see that job thinks that sin i,
not tiowery parterre; that il is not a table
land of fine prospects, that it is not
music, dulcimcr, violonCellO. CaStanpt
and Pandean pipes, all making music
together. No. He says IL is n ditch, long.
ieep, loathSoms, stcnchful, and we are al
plunged into 1t, aud there we wnllow and sink
and struggle, not able to get out. Our robe,
If proprety and robes of worldly profession
are saturated in the slime and abominatiou
and our soul, covered over with transgreSsiOn
hates its covering, and the covering hates tn,
"ui uiith we uIe DluHStti INTO tnc ullcO, ullC
)ur own clothes abhor MS.
know that some modern reiigionsts carl.
cature sorrow for sin, and they make ont az
easier path than the pilgrims progress
that John Bunyan dreamed of The roaC
they travel does not stop where Johns did al
the city of Destruction, but at the gate OF
che university; and | am very certain
that IL will not come out where Johns did
nnder the shining ramparts of the ccestia
,lty. No repentance, no pardon. II YOU dc
not, my brother, feel that you are down IL
the ditch, what do YOU want of Christ to lifi
you out' II you have no appreciation o'
the fact that you are astray, what do yoI
want of himwho came Ia seek and save that
which was lost? Yonder Is the City OF
Paris, the swiftest of the Inmans coming
across the Atlantic The wind is ahaft.
so that she has not only her engine,
at work, but all sails up am on
board the Umbria Of the Cunard
line. The boat davits are swung around
The boat is lowered | get into il with a
red flag and cross over To where the City Of
Paris is coming and | wave the flag The
,aptain looks off from the bridge and says
A" What do you wanty' | reply " | come
10 take somc Of your passengers across
to the other vessel; think they will be safer
and happier there" The captain would look
1own with Indignation and say: "Get ont of
the way, or viii run you down" And then
would back oars, amidst the ieering of