Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1890-01-08
Another Of the lessons wa learn from The

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prize for which the soul has contended
} "As for man, his davs are as grass. HI
cometh forth like flower; 10 the morning
!, it groweth up and hourishetb; in the even
ing it is cut down and withereth. Surely
man at his best estate is altogether vanity
Wealth, honor, power, military renown,
popularity, the constituent elements oi
what men call glory, how evanescent they
are, and how unsatisfactory while they cor
tinue! What is earthly glory? It is the
favor of the tickle multitude, the transient
homage of the hour, the applause of the
populace, dying away with the breath tina,
fills the air with it's empty clamor. Often.
times it's most impressive emblem is the
bloHdy banner whose tattered folds hear
mournful evidence of the price at which
victory is won. It's the Wondering hatch.
msnt which hangs above tba tomb Of the
dead WARRIOR. It is the posthnmous reuowo
which stirs DO. one sweet emotion ia the
heart which lies still and chill in the coffin,
and whose music never penetrates the dull
cold ear of death. What is earthly gtorys
| Listen; ''All flesh is as grass, ald all the
glory Of man IS the flower of the grass; tbs
arass withersth, and the hower thereof
fslleth away" "the wind passeth over it
and it is gone"
We are told that when Mass;llon pro.
nonpced one of those wonderful discourses
which placed him in the first rank of pulpit
orators he found himself in a church sur
rounded by the trappings and pageants OF
a royal funeral. The churchiwas not only
hung with black drapery, but the light of
day was excluded, and only few dim ia
pers burned on the altar The beauty and
chivalry of the land were spread out before
him. The members of the royal family sat
beneath him. clothed in tue habiliments of
mourning. There was silence-a breathless
suspense. No sound broke the awful still
ness. Massillon arose. His hands were
folded on his bosom; his eyes were lifted to
heaven; utterance seemed impossible. Pre-
sentlY his fixed look was unbsni, his eye
roVed over the scene where every pomp
was displayed, where every trophy was ex-
hibited. That eye found no resting place
amid all this idle parade and mockiDg van
ity. At length it settled on the bier on
which lay dead royalty, covered with pail.
A sense of the indescribable nothingness Of
man at his beat estate, overcame him. His
eyes once more closed; his very breath
seemed suspended, until, in scarce audi
Bile voics, he startled the deep silence with
the words:
'.THERE Is NOTHING GREAT BUT GoD. ="
To-day, my hearers, we are warned that
Ipallid death knocks with impartial hand at
all doors. He enters, with equal freedom
the dwelling of the humblest citizen and
the mansion of senator, sage and chieftain.
Hs lays peasant and president side by side,
to repose in the silent, ,all-summoniag ceme-
terry.
1.-THE boast of heraldry. the pomp of power,
And all that beauty all that wealth e'er
y gave.
| Await elk the inevitable hour;
The path of glory leads but to the grave"
''There is nothing great bat God; there lie
nothing solemn but death; there is nothing
momeptous but judgmeIt."
Finally .eUerytife 1hich IS not made a pre-
pardtion for the eternal future is comedy,
in fOuy-d tragedy, in fact. No matter
how splendid its success, She life itself and
ali its possessions are temporary. They
are like the dissolving views of the panor-
ANA. Pietro de Medici commanded Michael
| Angelo to fashion statue of snow. Think
of such man spending his time and splen-
did talents in shaping snow image! But
men " no devote all their time and talents
to temporal things, no matter how noble.
are modelling and moulding with snow.
"He bnilds too low who builds beneath the
skies' He who expects an enduring por-
tion from anything lower than the skies,
from anything less stable than the heavens,
from anything less suficie.-t than God, is
doomed to dsappointment. The man with
a mortal body inhabited by an immortal
spirit, drifting to tha eternal future with
out preparation for it. is like richly
an open sea, bound to no port. and which,
1 NV nd hu in Hav nd
storm.
Very different was the course aud COIL
duct of the man for whom these Southern
States sre to day paying the last sad rites
of respect and affection. His life was one
of intense occupation. Much of it was ab-
sorbed with exciting, exactiug earthly
duties; but in the midst OF the pressure and
distraction to which he was subjected, he
remembered what time was made for; he
remembered the endless life that follows
this transient life. Very beautiful was the
testimony of one of the most eminent of
/ our Southern statesmen, whose own depar-
ture from the earth was both tragedy and
a triumph, when he said: II knew Jeffsr-
son Davis as knew few men have been
near him in his public dnties; have seen
him by his private frsside;I have witnessed
his humble, Christian dsvotions, and chal.
lenge history when say no people were
ever led through q stormy struggle by a
purer patriot, and the trials Of public life
never revealed purer or more beautiful
Christian character
OIL great is the contrast between the
hopes aud prospects of the worldling and
those of the humble believer. The Ike
of Marlborough, in his last illness, was car
ried to an apartment which contained . pic
ture of one of his great battles. He gazsd
at it awhile, then exclaimed: "Ah! the
Duke was something then, but now he is q
diving mau." The Christian is something
sghen he is dying. "His life is hid With
Christ in God"
| The closing scenes in the life of Mr.
D avis were marked by fortitude, by the
gentle courtesy which never forsook him,
and, above all, by sublime though simple
trust in the all-sufficient Saviour. While
the outward man was pc perishing, the inward
man was renewed day by day.
As the sculptor chips off the fragments
of marble out of which be is chiseling a
statue, the decrease of the marble only
marks the development of the statue.
| "The more the marble wastes,
| The more the statue grows"
SO it is with the spirit preparing to take
it's flight from the decaying vesture Of the
flesh to the place where it shall be both
clothed and crowned.
Suoh are some of the impressive lessons
of the hour, and if duly needed, this solem.
nifty INSTEAD of being mere decorous com
plisnce vito an executive summons, will be
preparation for the time when we shall
follow our departed chief, and take our
places among those who nobly fought and
graudly triumphed. And then, as now,
will we sing, Glory be to the Father, and
to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost AS it
was in the begiuuing, is now, aud ever
shall be. world without end. Amen.
The Rev. Mr. Cannon then gave out The
hymn commencing. ''Servsnt of God, well
done" and the venerable DR.. Read pro-
nounced the bensdiction.
"a Roaring Farce"
ia the term we often hear applied to the