Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1891-07-17

and was going into business, and the
Lord took him. Or your daughter had
| Just graduated from the young ladies'
seminary, and you thought she was
going to be useful woman and
| Of long life, but the Lord took
her, and you were tempted to
say, "All this culture of twenty years
| for nothing" Or the little child came
home from school with tho hot fever
that stopped not for the agonized pray
err or for the skillful physician, and the
| little child was taken. Or the babe
was lifted out of your arms by some
quick epidemic, and you stood wonder
| ing why God ever gave you that child
at all, if SO soon he was to take ii away.
| And vet you are not repining, you are
not fretful. you are not fighting
against God.
"Oh, yes" you say, 81 saw my
father and mother depart. There was
great difference in their death beds.
| Standing by the one we felt more vene-
ration. BY the other there was more
| tenderness" Before the one, YOU
| bowed, perhaps, IN awe. In the
other case you felt as if you would
like to go along with her. How did
they feel in that last hour? How did
they seem 10 act? Were they very
much frightened? Did they take hold
of this world with both hands as
though they did not want to
give it up? "Oh, no." you say;
ws2s remem sSe had ho9dqh or y
| for us ALL and there were a few me
mentoes distributed among the chill
| dren, and then she told us how kind
we must be to our father in his loneli-
ness, and then she kissed us good-by
aud went asleep as child in era
die" What made her SO composed?
| Natural courage? NO" you say;
mother was very nervous; when the
! carriage inclined to the side of the
road, she would cry out; she was al
ways rather weakly" What gave
her composure? Was it because
she did not care much for you,
and the pang of parting was not
great? "Oh," you say, ''she showered
upon us wealth of affection: no
| mother ever loved her children more
than mother loved us; she showed it by
the way she nursed us when we were
sick, and she toiled for us until her
strength gave out" What, then, was
it that gave her composure in the last
hour? DO not hide it. BE frank, and
let me know? "Oh," you say, lit was
because she was so good; she made the
Lord her portion, and she had faith
that she would go straight to glory,
and that we should all meet her ut last
at the foot of the throne"
Professor Henry, of Washington, dis
covered a new star, and the tidings
sped by submarine telegraph, and all
the observatCries of Europe were watch
ing for that new star oh, nearer,
looking out through the darkness of
thy soul, canst thou see bright light
beaming on thee? "Where?" you say,
where? How can I find it?" Look
along by the line of the Cross of the
Son of God. Do you not see it trembling
with all tenderness and beaming with
all hope? 1t is the Star of Bethlehem.
Deep horror then my vitals froze,
Death-struck l ceased the tide TO stem,
When suddenly a star arose
ii was the Star OF Bethlehem.
Oh, hearers, get your eye on it. It Is
easier for you now to become Christians
than it is to stay away from Christ and
heaven. When Madame Sontag began
her musical career she was Kissed off
the stage in Vienna by the friends of
her rival, Amelia Steininger, who had
already begun to decline through her
dissipation. Years passed on, and one
day Madame Sontag, in her glory, was
riding through the streets of Berlin
when she saw little child leading
a blind woman, and she said:
Come here, my little child, come
here. Who Is that you are leading
by the hand?" And the little child re- |
Piled That's my mother; that's
Amelia Steininger. She used to be a
great singer, but she lost her voice,
and she cried so much about it that
she lost her eyesight." "Give my love
to her." said Madame Sontag, land
tell her an old acquaintance will call
on her this afternoon" The next week
in Berlin vast assemblage gathered
at benefit for that poor blind woman,
and it was said that Sontag sang that
night as she had never sung before.
And she took a skilled oculist,
who in vain tried to give
eyesight to the poor blind
woman. Until the day of Amelia Stein
inger's death, Madame Sontsg took
care of her and her daughter after her.
That was what the queen of song did
for an enemy. But oh, hear a more thrill
ing story still. Blind, immortal, poor
and lost, thou who, when the world
and Christ were rivals for thy heart,
didst hiss thy Lord away-Christ comes
now to give thee sight, to give thee a
home, TO give thee heaven, With more
than Sontags generosity he comes
now to meet your nee1. With more
than Sontags music, he comes To
plead for thy deliverance.