Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1890-02-27

tense scene for the artist, and they arr
to the ambassador of the sky all enthu
siasm. Complete pardon for direst
guilt. Sweetest comfort for ghastliest
ago1ies. Brightest hope for grimmesi
death. Grandest resurrection for dark
estsepulchers.
o, what Gospel to preach! Christ
over all in it. His birth, His suffering,
His miracles, His parallels, His sweat,
His tears, His blood. His atonement,
His intercession-what glorious themes!
Do we exercise faith? Christ is its OBJ
ject. Do we have love? 1t fastens on
Jesus. Have we a fondness for the
church? 1t is because Christ died for
it. Have we hope for Heaven? 1t is
because Jesus went ahead, the herald
and the forerunner.
The royal robe of Demetrius was so
costly, so beautiful, that after he had
put it off no one ever dared put it on;
but this robe of Christ, richer than that,
the poorest and the wannest and the
worst may wear. ''Where sin abounded
grace may much more abound"
go. my sins, my SINS" said Martin
Luther to Staupitz, my sins, my sins!'
The fact is that the brawny German stu
dent had found Latin Bible that made
him quake; and when he found how,
through Christ he was pardoned and
saved. he wrote to a friend, saying:
"Come over and join US great and awful
sinners saved by the grace OF God.
You seem to be only a slender sinner,
and you don't much extol the
mercy of God; but we that have
been such awful sinners praise His grace
the more now that we have been re-
deemed" Can it be that you are so des-
perately egotistical that you feel yourself
in tirst-rate spiritual trim, and that from
the root of the hair to the tip of the toe
you are scarless and immaculate? What
you need is looking glass and here it
is in the Bible. Poor and wretched and
miserable and blind and naked from the
crown of the head to the sole of the foot,
full of wounds and putrefying sores. No
health in us. And then take the fact
that Christ gathered up all the notes
against us and paid them, and then Of
fered us the receipt.
And how much we need him in our
sorrows! We are independent of cir
if we have His grace. Why,
He made Paul sing in the dungeon, and
under that grace st. John from desolate
Patmos heard the blast of the apocalyp-
tic trumpets. After all other candles
have been snuffed out, this is the light
tb bot rats hripb+or ond briob+or up+o +bo
perfect day; and after, under the hard
hoofs of calamity, all the pools of world
ly enjoyments have been trampled into
deep mire, at the foot of the eternal
rock the Christian, from cups of granite,
lily trimmed and vine covered, puts out
the thirst of his soul
Again remark that Christ is above
all in dying alleviations. 1 have not
any sympathy with the morbidity abroad
about our demise. The Emperor of
COnstantinople arranged that on the
day of his coronation the stonemason
should come and consult him about the
tombstone that after a while he would
need. And there are men who are
on the subject of depart
ure from this life by death, and the
more they think of it the less they are
to go. This is an unmanliness
not worthy of you, not worthy of me.
Saladin, the greatest conqueror of his
day, while dying, ordered that the tunic
he had on him be carried after his death
on his spear at the head of his army,
and that then the soldier, ever and anon,
should stop and say: "Behold, all that
is left of Salad;n, the Emperor and con-
querer! Of all the states he conquered,
of all the wealth he accumulated, moth
ing did he retain but this shroud."
have no sympathy with such behavior,
Or such absurd demonstration, or with
much that we hear uttered in regard to
departure from this life to the next
There is a commonsensical idea on this
subject that you and need to consider
that there are only two styles of de-
parture.
A thousand feet underground, by light
Of torch toiling in a miners shaft, a
ledge of rock may fall upon US, and we
may die a miners death. Far out at
sea, falling from the slippery ratlines
and broken on the halyards, we may die |
a sailors death. On mission of mercy |
in hospital, amid broken bones and |
reeking leprosies and raging fevers, we
may die a philanthropist's death. On |
the field of battle, serving God and our
country, slugs through the heart, the |
gun carriage may roll over us, and we
nay die a patriots death. But, after |
Ill, there are only two styles of depart
death of the righteous and the
leath of the wicked, and we all want to |
lie the former.
God grant that when that hour comes
you may be home. You want the hand
If your kindred in your hand. You
want your children to surround you.
You want the light on your pillow from
Eyes that have long reflected your love.
You want the room still. You do not
want any curious strangers standing
around watching you. You want your
from afar to hear your last
prayer. I think that is the wish of all
# us.
But is that all? Can earthly friends
lold us up when the pillows of death
ome up to the girdle? Can human
-oice-charm open Heavens gate? Can
human hand pilot US through the mar
ows of death into Heavens harbor?
AN any earthly friendship shield US
rom the arrows of death, and in the
lour when Satan shall practice upon US
lis internal archery? No, no, no, no!
Alas! poor soul, if that is all. Better
lie in the wilderness, far from tree
hadow and from fountain, alone, vul-
ures circling through the air waiting
or the body, unknown to men, and to
ave no burial, if only Christ could say
through the solitudes: Il will never
cave thee, will never forsake thee"