Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1890-02-14

! working, against five thousand nero theorists
on the subject of charity. There arc a great
many who have fine IDEAS about church archi-
lecture who never i'll their life helped to
| build church There are mon who can
give you tho history of Buddhism and Mo-
hammedanism, who mover sent farthinr
| for thoir evangelization. There are wome,,
| who talk beautifully about the suffering of
tho world, who never had the courage like
| Dorcas to take the needle and assault it.
| am glad that there is not page of tho
worlds history which is not n record of To-
male benevolence. God says to all lands and
! people, Come now and hear the widows mite
rattle down into the poor box. The Princes,
| of Cont sold all her jewels that she might
help tho famine stricken. Queen Blanche
| the wife of Louis VIII, OF France, hearing
! that there were some persons unjustly in
! generated in the prisons, went out amidst
! tho rabblc and took stick and struck the
door MS signal that they might all strike it,
! and down went the prison door and out
came tho prisoners. Queen Maud, tho
| wife of Henry l., went down amidst tho
poor and washed their sores and adj
ministeied to them cordias. Mrs. Retson,
! ut Matagorda, appeared on the battlefield
| while the missiles of death wcrc flying
/ around, and cared for the wounded. Is
| there man OF woman who has ever heard
| of the Civil War in America who has not
| heard of tho women of the Sanitary and
| Christian commissioners, or the fact that, be-
fore the smoke had gone up from Gettysburg
and South Mountain, tho women of the
| North met tho women of tho South on tho
battlefield, forgetting all their animosities
! while they bound up the wounded and closed
| the eyes OF the slain! Dorcas the benefac-
| treSS.
como now to speak of Dorcas tho
| lamcnted. When death struck down that
good woman, oh, how much sorrow there
was in this town of Joppal / suppose there
were women hero with larger fortunes;
women, perhaps with hnnlsomer faces; but
there was no grief at their departure like this
at the death Of Dorcas. There was not more
turmoil and upturnns in tho Mediterrnn-
can Sea, tashing against the wlarvcs Of this
seaport, than There were sur9ings to and fro
of grief because Dorcas was dead There
are Il great many who 90 out OF life and nre
unmssod There may DO very large
::neral; there may be u great many carriages
and II pluned hcarsc: there may he high
sounding oulogiums; the bell may toll Mt tho
cemetery gate; there may be very ilno
marble shaft reared over the resting place:
but the whole thing may he n faschood aud
n sham. The church of God has lost nothing,
inc world has lost nothing. II is only
nuisance abatcd;i is only grumbler ccas-
ing TO find fault; it is only an ller stopped
yawninS; IL is only dissipnted fashionable
parted from his wine cellar; while, OIL
the other hand, no useful Christian leaves
TINS world without being missed. Tho church
OF God cries out like the prophet: Howl,
fir tree, for the cedar has faienr Widow
the departed had made. Orphans arc lifted
up To look into tho calm face Of tito sleeping
! nehrinctrcss Reclaimed vagrancy comes
ana KISSES the cold brow of her who charmed
ltaway from sin, and all through the streets
OF Joppi there is Notwithstanding be-
cause Dorcas isdcad
When Josephine of France was carried
out to her grave, there were Il great many
men and women Of pomp and pride and posi-
ilon that went out after her; but am most
affected by the story Of history that OH that
day there were ten thousand of tho poor of
France who followed her coffin, weeping and
walilng until the mir rang again, because,
t when they lost Josephine. thcy lost
Their last earthly friend. Oh. who
would not rather have such obse-
quics thnn all the tears that were
over poured i'll the lachrymals that have
been exhumed from ancient cities There
may be no mnss for the dead; there may be
no costly sarcophagus; there may be no
elaborate mousolcum; but in the damp eel
lars of tho city, and through the lonely huts
of the mountain glen, there will be mourn
ing 1Ig, mourning .p,g mourning, because Dorcas is
dead. blessed arc the dead who die i'll the
Lord; they rest from their labors, and their
works do follow thcm.n
speak to You of Dorcas the rosurrccted
The apostle came to whero sha was and said:
"Ariso; and sho sat mpm in what short
compass tho great writer put that-'Sho sat
up" Oh, whntu time there must have been
around this town, when tho apostle brought
her out among her old friends How tho
tears OF Joy must have started! What clap.
ping OF hands there must have been! What
singingl What laughter! Sound it all
through that lanel Shout it down that dark
alley Let all JopPa hear it, Dorcas is res
urrected!
You and have seen tho same thing many
time; not n dead body res,isctated, but
the deceased coming up again after death in
tho good accomplished II n man labors up
10 fifty years of aSe, serving God, and then
lies, we are apt to think that his earthly
work is done. No. His influence on earth
VIII continue till the world ceases. Services
rendered for Christ never stop. a Christian
woman tolls for tho upbuiding OF n church
through many nuxictics. through
many self dcninls, with prayers
and tears and then She dies. 1t is fifteen
years since she went away. Now tho spirit
of God descends upon that church; hundreds
of souls stand up and confess the faith If
Christ. Has that Christian women, who
went away fifteen years ago, nothing to do
with these thinSsS see tho towering ont of
her noble heart. hear the echo of her foot
steps i'll all the songs over sins forgiven in
| oil tho prosperity of tho church. The good
that seemed to be buried has come up again
| Dorcas is rcsurrccted.
| After q while all these womanly friends
of Christ will put down their needle forever
After making garments for others, some ora
| will make n garment for them; the last robe
! we ever wcar-the robe for the grave. You
will have heard tho last cry of pain. You
will havo witnessed the last orphanage You
will havo come in worn out from your last
round of mercy. 1 do not know where you
will sleep, nor what your ep;taph will be;
I but there will be n lamp burning mt that tomb
| and an angel OF God guardingit it, and through
all the long night no rude foot will disturb
| the dust Sleep on. sleep on Soft bed,
pleasant shadows, unClistarbed rcpose! Sleep
| onl
Asleep In Jesus! Blessed sisepl
From which none ever wake 10 weep
Incn one day mere VIII he n sky rcndins,
and whirl of wi,c,' and the flash of
| pageant; armies marching. ,.,aims c,"nking
banners waving, thunders booming, aud that
/ Christian woman will arise from the dust
and she will be suddenly surrount!td-sur-
] rounded by the wanderers of the street whom
| she reclaimed, surrounded by tho wounded
souls to whom she administered Daughter
of God, SO strangely surrounded what means
this! II means that reward has come that
the victory is won, that the crown is ready,
that tho banquet is spread. Shout it through
all tho crumbling earth. Sing it through
all the flying heavens. Dorcas is resuIrected
| In tri,n, of L.. III