The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1891-10-14

,uur time, your eternity Tor God, feeling
in vonr soul: TO this end was | burn.'
1t mag be helpful 10 some if reelle my
o~n experience in this regard. 1started
;;;or the law without asking any divine d.
.'ection. | consulted my own tastes. |
liked lawyers aud court rooms and Judges
and lucies, and | rereled in hearing the
FreliughuSsens and the Brsdleys of the
New Jersey bar, and as assistant OF the
coHnty clerk, at Is years OF age, l
searched titles, naturalzed foreigners,
recorded deeds. received the confession
of judgments. swore witnesses and jurles
and grand juries. But after while felt
cal! to the Gospel minis ~ and entered
it, and l telt 81 satisfaction IN the
werk. But one summer, when l was
resting at Sharon Springs, and while
seated in the park of that village, | said
to m,.elt. ''it l have an especial work to
do in the world l ought to find it out
now" and with that determination l
prayed as l had never before prayed,
and got the divine direction, and wrote
it down in nv memorandum book, aud
l saw my liie-work then as plainly as l
see it now. Oh do not be satisfied with
general directions. Get specific direc-
tious. Do not shoot at random. Take
aim and fire. Concentrate. Napcleon's
success in battle came ;ro Il his theory
OF breaking through the enemy's ranks
at one point, not trying to meet the
whole line Of the enemy's force by a
similar force. One reason why he lost
Waterloo was because he did not work
his usual theory, and spread his force
out over a wide range. Oh Christian
man, oh Christian woman, break through
somewhere. Nota general engagement
tor God but particular engagement,
and make n answer to prayer. Ifthere
are sixteen hundred million people in
the world, then there are sixteen huu-
dred million different missions to fulfil,
different styles Of work to do, different
orbits in which 10 revolve, aud if you do
not get the divine direction there are at
least fifteen hundred and ninety-nine
million possibilities that you will make
a mistake. On your knees before God
get the matter settled 80 that you can
tirtnly say: ITO this end was l born"
And now l come to the climateric
consideration. AS near as | can tell,
you were built for a happy eternity, all
the disasters which have happened to
your nature to be overcome By tie blood
Of the Lamb il you will heartily accept
that Christly arrangement. We are ell
rejo,ced at the increase OF human long
evity. People live, as near as can
observe, about tea years longer than
they used to. The modern doctors do
not bleed their patients on all occasions
as did the former doctors. In those
times If man had fever, they bied him,
if he had consumption they bisd him, if
he had rheumatism they bled him, and
if they could not make out exactly what
was the matter they bled him. Oiden
time phlebotomy was Deaths coadjutor.
All this has changed. From the way I
see people skipping about at so years OF
age, I conclude that life insurance COM
,,anies Will have to change their table Of
risks and charge nan no more pre-
mum at 20 than they USED TO do when
be was 60. aud 40 more premium also
than when lie ives 10. By the advance
ment of medical science and the wider
acquainsan with the laws Of health and
the tact that people know better how TO
take care of themselves, human life is
prolonged. But do you realize what,
after all, is the brevity OF our earthly
state? In the time when people lived
seven and eight hundred years, the pa
triar :h Jacob said that his years were
few. Looking at the life Of the young
est person in this assembly and suppos-
ing he lived to be nonagenarian, how
short the time aad soon gone, while
banked up in front of US is an eternity
80 vast that arithmetic has not tlgzres
enough to express its lengs!, or breadth,
or depth, or height. For a happy eter-
nifty you were born unless you run your
self against the divine intentions. If
standing in your presence, my eye should
TALL upon the leeblcst soul here as that
soul will appear when the world lets it
up, and heaven entrances il, | suppose
| should be 50 cverpowered that should
crop down as one dead. You have eX-
arnined the family Bible and explored
the family records, and you may have
daguerrotypes Of SONS OF the kludred OF
previous generations. you have had pho
:osraphs taken What You were in boy
hood or Sirihood. and what you were
ten years later, and It IS very interest
ing to any one TO be able 10 look back
upon pictures Of wha. ne was ten. or
twenty or thirty years ago; but have you
ever had a picture taken Of what you
my be and what you will be il you
seek after Goa and feel the Spirits
reseneratiny power: Where shall
plant the camera TO take the PC
ture? l plant it on this platform. l
Directs it toward you. Sit still or stand
still while l take the picture. Is shall
be an instantaneous picture. There! l
have it. 1t is done. You can see the
picture IN Its imperfect state, acd get
some idea OF what it will be whom
thoroughly developed. There Is your
resurrected body, 80 brilliant that
tlC UooHooJ ooU 10 @ pdN.l VI ulIoliISLs
compared with it. There is your soul,
so pure that all the forces Of diabolisn
could not spotls with an imperieciion.
There Is your being 80 mighty and so
swift that fish. from heaven to Mercury
or Mars or Jupiter and back asain to
heaven would not weary you, aud a
world on each shoulder would net crush
you. An eye that shall never shed a
tear. An energy that shall never feel 3
fatigue. A brow that shall never throb
with pain. Ycu are youug again,
though you died OF decrepllude. You
are we'll again though you couyhcd
or shivered yourself into the tomb. Your
everyday associates are the apostles
and prophets and martyrs. and most
exalted souls, masculine and feminine,
OF all the centuries. The archangel TO
you no embarrassment. God hismself
your present and everlasting joy. that