The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-03-05

But the dreams depart, and the visions fall,
And the sleeper wakes on his pillow OF stone.e
What we ought not to do, we should
not ever think of doing.
Few persons live to-day, but are pre-
pairing to do so tomorrow.
'Tis mercy to have that taken from
us which takes US from God.
How much better is the love that is
ready to die than the zeal that is ready
to kill.
The more thou frequentest thy clos
ct, the more thou wilt like 1t the less
thou comest thereuuto, the more thou
wilt loathe it.
Will nations never devise more ra-
tional umpire Of differences than force ?
War is an instrument entirely ineffi-.
cient toward redressing wrong.
Some one has somewhere said, "a
NAH seldom or never regrets that step
which he has taken, after first praying
we'll over the question, and then acting
according to the best Of his judgment" !"
The sun meets not the springing
bud that stretches toward him with
half that certainty as God, the source
of all good, communicates Himself to
the soul that longs to partake of Him.
The consciousness Of being loved
softens the keenest pang, even at the
moment of parting; yea, even the
eternal farewell is robbed Of half it's
bitterness when uttered in accents that
breathe love to the last sigh.
Sympathy is one of the great secrets
of our lives. 1t can overcome evil
quicker than the harshest treatment.
1t strengthens good, bringing forth
more help to bear the hardest trials
that come 10 US all from time to time.
The revival is not an episode in
which the church turns for week
from its worldly methods and worldly
life to have little pastime with God:
The revival is the outflow of the vital
union of the church in its daily life
with Christ.
Will there have to be some great and
terrible discovery of the uselessness of
military defences before Christian ma
tions can believe that love is stronger
than hate that it is safer to trust In
God and goodness than in violence
and force?
After listening to thousands of pray
ers for pardon, I can hardly recall
case where I did not feel that I might
have fallen as my fellow-msn n has done,
if I had been subjected to the same de-
moralizing influences and pressed by
the same temptations.
The natural propensities of the heart
II for onncfont nQfahff1InlGo Satan
takes advantage of mans weakness
arouses his temper and provokes to
bad words. These in turn lead us to
sinful deeds, or provoke some one else
to wrath and vengeance. David said:
II will take heed to my ways that /
sin not with my tongue; will keep
my mouth with q bride while the
wicked is before me-"
Let us serve God in the sunshine
while He makes the sunshine. We
shall then serve Him all tho better in
the dark when He sends the darkness.
The darkness is sure to come. Only
let our light be Gods light, and our
darkness Gods darkness, and we shall
be safe at home when the great night
fall comes.
Therefore, come what may, hold fast
to love. Though men should rend
your heart, let them not embitter or
harden it. We win by tenderness we
conquer by forgiveness. Oh, strive to
enter into something of that large, ce-
lestial charity which is neek, endur-
ing, unretaliating, and which even the
overbearing world cannot Withstand
forever.
In speaking of that peace which
passeth understanding, we allude not
to those Examinations and raptures,
which, if God has in some instances
bestowed them, He has nowhere pledg.
ed Himself to bestow; but of that ra-
tional yet elevated hope which flows
from an assured persuasion Of the pa-
ternal love of our heavenly Father; of
that "secret love of the Lord" which
He Himself has assured us "is with
them that fear Him." of that life and
power of religion which are the privi-
iege of those "who abide under the
shadow of the Almighty of those
who "know in whom they have be-
lleved :" of those who "walk not after
the flesh, but after the spirit" OF
those "who endure, as seeing Him
who is invisible"