Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1890-01-31

Shall try % tell you what IL Is 10 be avedp
| cannot tell YOU No man, no angel
can tell you But I can hint at IT, Por
my text brings me up to this point: Thou
shalt be saved" Itmeans a happy life here
and peaceful death and q hliSSful eternity.
It Is a grand thing 70 go 10 sleep at
to do business all day feeling that all
Is right between my heart and
God No accident no sickness, no
persecution, no peril no sword can do me
child Of God, and He is bound 10 SIC me
through he has sworn BE will see me
through The mountains may depart the
earth may burn, the light Of the stars may
be blown out by the blast Of the Judgment
hurricane; but life and death, things present
and things to come are mine. Yea, farther
than that-it means 9 peaceful death
Mrs HemAns, Mrs. SiGourney, DR. YOUNG
and almost all the poets have said handsome
things about death. There Is nothing bNau
tiful about it. When We stand by the whits
and rigid features Of those whom we love
and they give no answering pressure OF the
hand, and no returning kiss of the lip
we do not want anybody poetizinR around
about us Death Is loathsOmeuess and mid
night, and the wringing of the heart until the
tendrils snap and curl in the torture I'M
less Christ be with Us. | confess 10 YOU u
an infinite fear, consuming horror OF
death unless Christ shall be with me-
| would rather go down into a cave OF wild
beasts or n jungle OF reptiles than into the
grave, unless Christ goes with me VIII YOU
tell me that J. am 10 be carried out from nv
brlght nome, and put away IN the darkness
| cannot bear darkness At the first coming
OF the evening l must have the gas lat and
the further on in life l get the more like
10 have my friends around about me And
am To be put off for thousands Of years in
a dark place, with no one 10 speak to- When
the holidays come, and the gifts are dis
trlbuted, shall add joy t. the
Merry Chr stmas" or the Happy New
ear All, do not point down 10 the hole
in the ground, the g ave, AMI call ii beauti-
III place; unless there % some supernatural
illumination, | shu der back from NV
whole nature revolts q it. But row this
81 rious lamp is lifted above the grave, AMI
all the darkness is gone, AMI the way
single shudder Now my anXiety is
not about death: my anxiet i that |
NAV live Alright for l know that IL
my life is consistent when l come 10 the last
hour and this voice is silent, and these ewes
are closed, and these hands with which beg
for your eternal salvation to-day are folded
over the still heart, that then shall only be-
gin TO live. What power is there in anything
around me the skirt of of H.s
own garment? What darkness can
fall upon my eyeiids then, amfu
the heavenly daybreak? o death, | will not
fear thee then Back to thy cavern Of dark
ness thou robber of all the earth Fly. thou
despoiler Of families. With this battle axI
hew thee in twain from hemlet TO sandal the
voice of Christ sounding all over the earth,
and through the heavens; 80 death, | will
be thy plague grave, will be thy de-
struction."
To be saved Is TO wake up in the presence
or Christ! You know when JESUS was upon
earth how happy He made every house He
went into, and when He brings us up to His
house how great our glee. His voice has
more music in it than is TO be heard in all the
oratories of eternity. Talk not about banks
dashed with efflorescence. Jesus is the chief
bloom Of heaven. We shall see the very face
that beaIned sympathy in Bethany, and take
the very hand that dropped its blood from
the short beam Of the cross. o. l want to
stand in eternity with Him. Toward that
l run. l shall be satisfied when l
awake in His likeness. Oh. broken
hearted men and women, how sweet
it will be in that good land to pour all your
hardshlps, and bereavements, and losses into
the loving ear of Christ, and then have Him
explain why it was best for you to be sick.
and why it was best for you to be widowed,
and why it was best for you TO be prosecuted,
and why it was best for you TO be tried, and
have Him point to an elevation proportion
ate to your disquietude here, saying: you
suffered with Me on earth, come up now and
be glOrfied with Me in heaven"
Some one went into a house where there
had been good deal OF trouble and said to
Yes, she said, Il am lonely" How MANY
in thefamilyY' "Only myself" Have you
had any Children II had seven children"
Where are they" Gone" "AlI gomez
AL" "All dead?" "All" Then she
breathed long sigh into the loneliness, and
said: 20, sir, l have been a good mother to
the grave" And so there are hearts here that
are utterly broken down by the bereavements
of life Ipoint you to-day to the eternal balm
of heaven. Are there any here that am
missing this morning? o, you poor waiting
maid! your hearts sorrow poured in no hu-
man ear, lonely and sad how glad you will
be when Christ shall dsband all your sor-
rows and crown you queen unto God and
the Lamb forever! ., aged men and women,
fed by His love and warmed by His grace
for three-score- years and-t en- will not your
decrepitude change for the leap Of hart
when you come to look face to face upon
Him whom having not seen, you love? o,
that will be the Good Shep-
herd, not out in the night and watch
ing to keep off the wolves, but with the
lambs reclining on the sun lit hill That will
be the Captain Of our salvation, not amid the
roar, and crash, and boom of battle but
amid His disbanded troops keeping victoriOuS
festivity. That will be the Bridegroom Of the
Church coming from afar, the bride leaning
upon His arm while He looks down into her
face and says: "Behold, tnou art fair, my
Lowell Behold thou art fair"