Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-01-23


manent damage. i am forgiven child
of God, and He is bound to see me
through. He has sworn He 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 q peaceful death.
Mrs. Hemans, Mrs. Sigourney, DR..
Young and almost all the poets have
said handsome things about death.
There is nothing beautiful about it.
When We stand by the white and rigid
features of those we love, and they give
no answering pressure of the hand, and
no returning kiss of the lip, We do not
want anybody poetizing around about
us. Death is loathsomeness, and mid
night, and the wringing of the heart
until the tendrils snap and curl in the
torture unless Christ bewith us. Icon
fess to you to an infinite fear, q consum-
ing horror, of death unless Christ shall
be with me. / would rather go down
into cave of wild beasts or q jungle of
reptiles than into the grave, unless
Christ goes with me. Will you tell me
that am to be carried out from my
bright home and put away in the dark
ness? / cannot bear darkness. At the
first coming of the evening l must have
the gas lit, and the further on in life I
get the more like to have my friends
around about me. And am to be put
off for thousands of years in dark
place, with no one to speak to? When
the holidays come, and the gifts are dis
tributed, shall l aud no joy to the
merry Christmas" or the Happy
New Year?" Alb, do not point down
to the hole in the ground, the grave,
and call it beautiful place; unless there
be some supernatural illumination, I
shudder back from it. My whole nature
revolts at it. But now this glorious
lamp is lifted above the grave, and all
the darkness is gone, and the way is
clear. l lock into it it now without a
single shudder. Now my anxiety is
not about death; my anxiety is that I
may live Alright, for I know that if my
life is consistent, when / come to the
last hour, and this voice is silent, and
these eyes are closed, and these hands
with which beg for your eternal saliva
tion to-day are folded over the still
heart, that then shall only begin to
live. What power is there in anything
to chill me in the last hour if Christ
wraps around me the skirt of his own
garment What darkness can fall upon
my eyelids then, amid the heavenly day
break? o death, Twill not fear thee
thenl Back to thy cavern of darkness,
thou robber of all the earth. Fly, thou
despoiler of families. With this battle
az hew thee in twain from helmet to SAN
dal, the voice of Christ sounding all
over the earth, and through the
Heavens: 20 death, / will be thy plague.
o grave, will be thy destruction"
To be saved is to wake up in the pres
ence of Christ. You know when Jesus
was upon the 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 oratorios
of eternity. Talk not about the banks
dashed with effiorescence. Jesus is the
chief bloom of Heaven. We shall see
the very face that beamed sympathy in
Bethany, and take the very hand that
dropped its blood from the short beam
of the Cross, o, I want to stand in
eternity with Him. Toward that harbor
I steer. Toward that goal / run. I
likeness. Oh, broken hearted men and
women, how sweet it will be in that
good land to pour all your hardships,
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
81 ka f,a4
to an elevation proportionate to your
disquietude here, saying: You suf-
fered with me on earth, come up now
and be glorified with me in Heaven"
= Some one went into a house where
there had been good deal of trouble
and said to the woman there: You seem
to be .lonely." "Yes," she said, Il am
lonely" How many in the family?'
only myself Have you had any
children?" Il had seven children.
where are they?" "Gone." "All gomez"
"All." "All dead?" "All." Then she
breathed long sigh into the loneli-
ness, and said: 20, sir, I have been a
good mother to the grave" And SO there
are hearts here that are utterly broken
down by the bereavements of life. ]
point 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 human ear, lonely and sad! how
glad you will be when Christ shall dis
band all your sorrows and
crown you queen unto God and
the Lamb forever! o, aged men and
women, fed by His love and warmed by
His grace for three score years. and ten
will not your decrepitude change forthe
leap of a hart when you come to lool
face to face upon him whom, having moi
seen, you love? O, that will be the
Good Shepherd, not out in the night
and watching to keep off the wolves. but
with the lambs reclining on the sun lii
hill. That will be the Captain of oul
salvation, not amid the roar, and crash
and boom of battle, but amid His dis
banded troops keeping victorious fes.
tivity. 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
thou art fair; my love! Behold, tho,
art fair"