The Forrest City times., 1891-06-12

many bitter ant igoI ists as he had | adornments. The character some | times is so lustrous that the weak eyes l of envy and jealousy cannot bear to | look at it. It was their integrity that | put Joseph in tEe pit, and Daniel in | the den and Sharach in the fire, and
 sent John the Evangelist to desolate Patmos, and Calvin to the castle of per secution, and John Huss to the stake, and Korah after Moses, and Saul after David, and Herod after Christ. Be
 sure if you have anything to do for
 church or state, and you attempt it | with all your soul, the lightning will 1 strike you.
 The world always has had cross be- | tween two thieves for the one who
 C mes to save it. High and holy enter
 prise has always been followed by
 abuse. The most sublime tragedy of
 self-sacrifce has come to burlesque. The graceful gait of virtue is always l followed by grimace and travesty.
 The sweetest strain of poetry ever writ | ten has come to ridiculous parody. and
 as long as there arc virtue and right eousness in the world, there will be
 something for iniquity to grin at. All along the line of the ages, and in all linds, the cry has been: IN ot this man, !, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was
 a robber" And what makes
 the prosecutions of life worse, l is that they come from people whom you have helped, from those to
 whom you have loaned money
 or have started in business, or whom
 you rescued in some great crisis. I | think it has been the history of all our | lives-the most acrimonious assault l has come from those whom we have l benefited, whom we have helped, and | that makes it all the harder to bear A man is in danger of becoming cyn- | ical
 A prominent merchant of New York said to member of my family: My
 mother wants her case mentioned to MT. Talmage." This was the case. He said: My mother had a dreadful ab- scess, from which she had suffered un- | told agonies, and all surgery had been exhausted upon her, and worse and | worse she grew until we called in few Christian friends and proceeded to pray about it. We commended her case to God and the abseess began immediately to be cured She is entirety we'll now, and without knife and without any sur gerry" So that case has come to me, and there are score of other cases coming to our ears from all parts of the | earth. Oh, ye who are sick, go to Christi Oh, ye who are worn out with
 agonies of body, east thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee Another burden some have to carry is
 the burden of bereavement An. these
 are the troubles that wear us out. If
 we lose our property, by additional in-
 l estranged fortune; if we lose our good
 name, perhaps by reformation of mor-
 als we may achieve again reputation for
 integrity; but who will bring back the
 dear departed? Alas, me for these
 empty cradles and these trunks of child
 ish toys that will never be used again.
 Alas, me for the empty chair and the silence in the halls that will never echo
 again to those familiar footsteps. Alas for the cry of widowhood and orphan age. What bitter Marahs in the wilder
 ness, what cities of the dead, what long black shadow from the wing of death.
 what eyes sunken with grief, what hands tremulous with bereavement
 what instruments of music shut now because there are no fingers to play on
 them. Is there no relief for such souls?
 Then there are many who carry the burden of sin. An, we all carry it un- til in the appointed way that burden is lifted. We need no Bible to prove that
 the whole race is ruined. Sin, grim
 and dire, has put its clutch upon
 the immortal soul, and that clutch will
 never relax unless it be under the heel
 of him who came to destroy the works of the devil.
 Oh, to have a mountain of sin on the
 soull Is there no way to have the bur
 den moved? o, yes. Cast thy burden
 upon the Lord" The sinless One came
 to take the consequences of our sin!
 And l know he is in earnest. How do
 1 know it? By the streaming temples
 and the streaming hands as he says,
 Come unto me all ye who are weary
 and heavy laden and I will give you
 rest" Why will prodigals live on
 swines' husks when the robe and the
 ring and the fathers welcome are
 ready? Why go wandering over the
 great Sahara Desert of your sin when
 you are invited to the gardens of God.
 the trees of life, and the fountains of
 living water? Why be houselcss and
 homeless forever when you may become
 the sons and daughters of the Lord God
 Almighty?