Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1891-07-03


man had lain And Suffered and del Bu.
one morning the hospital nurse saw a patient
| under the blanSet kissing the figure o. a leaf
! IN the quilt. and the nurse Supposed hs W Is
only wandering In his mind. But No: hs was
the SON o. toe mother who had made the
/ quilt and he recognized that fl cure OF a leaf
as part OF a gown his mother used to WAR.
and 1t reminded him OF home do Won know
| where this quilt came FROM ne asked Ths
| nurse answered I can find out, for there
! was card pinned fast TO il. AMI will dni
| that" Sure enough. it confirmed what he
thought. Then the nurse pointed TO a pasSa~e
OF Scripture IN the block o. the quilt che oas-
sage which says, when he was yet great
! ways OH MS ratoer saw him and ran and fell
on his neck and kissed him. Yes" said tina
dying Soldier, Il was great way off but
God has met me and had compassion on me-"
Shall write 80 your mother and tell her
that the lost one Is found and the dead is
alive again. He answered Il wish Won
would, if it would rot be too much trouble"
Do you suppose that woman who made that
quilt and filled it with scripture passages had
any trouble about who Melchizedek was. o.
how the doctrine OF Gods sovereignty can
be harmonlzed with mans free agency or
who wrote the Pentateuch or the inconsis-
tencles OF the Nicene creed? No. no; 90 10
work for God and suffering humanity and
all your doubts and fears and mysteries and
unbeiiefs put together will not be heavy
enough to stir the chemists scales, whicn
is accustomed to weighing oue-tiftie5h pars
of grain of chamOmile flowers. Why stop
moment to understand tho mysteries when
there are so many certitudes! Why spend
our time exploring the dark garrets ami coal
holes OF great palace which has aoUr@
ground one hundred rooms flooded with sun
shine? 1t takes all my time to absorb was.
has been revealed, that | have no time u
upturn and root out and drag forth VIVA
has not been revealed. The most of the et-
fort TO solve mysteries and explore the inez--
plicabie and harmonic things is an attempt
TO help the Lord out of theological difficu
ties. Good enough intention my brother
no doubt, but the Lord is not anxious to have
you help Him He will keep His throne with
out your assistance. Don't be afraid that
the Bible will fall apart from inconsistencies.
1t hung together many centuries before you
were born, and your funeral sermon will be
preached from text taken from its undis-
turbed authenticity.
Do you know that think that il s1l min
listers in all denominations would stop this
nonsense Of ecclesiastical strife and take hold
the word of God. the only question with each
OF us being how many souls We can bring to
Christ and in how short time, the Lord
would soon appear for the salvation of ali
nations' Why not all at once light all the
torches of Gospel invitation Why not ring
all the bills of welcome? Why not light up
the long night of the worlds sin and suffer-
ing with bonfires of victory? Why not un-
Timber all the Gospel batteries and let them
boom across the earth, and boom into
ready to land if are ready to receive
Him. Why cannot we who are now living
see His descent? Must it all be postponed |
to Later ages? Has not our poor world
groaned long enough in moral agonies?
have there not been martyrs enough, an1 ;
have not the lakes of tears and the rivers
of blood been deep enough? Why cannot |
the final glories roll in now? Why cannot !
this dying century feed the incoming tides |
OF the oceans OF heavenly mercy? Must !
orr SslnS in Haaf %oI-
on the deafness of the tomb. and these
hearts beat their last throb before the day
comes in? o Christ? Why tarriest Thou? !
Wilt Thou not, before we go the way of all
the earth, let US see Thy SCARED feet under
some monday cloud coming this way? Be-
fore We die let US behold Thy hands that
were spiked, spread out in benediction for
a lost race. And why not let u.s. with our
mortal ears, hear that voice which spoke
peace as Thou dldst go up, speak pardon
and emancipation and love and holiness
and JOY to all nations as Thou CONTEST down?
But the skies do not part. 1 hear rum
bling OF chariot wheels coming down over
the sapphire. There is no swoop Of wings.
see no flash Of angelic appearances. All is
still. l hear nothing but the tramp of my
own heart as I pause between these utter
ances. The King does not land because the
world is not ready and the church is not
ready. To clear the way for the Lords COM
ing let us devote all our energies of body,
mind and soul. A Russian general riding
over the battlefield his horse treading amid
the dying and dead, wounded soldier asked
him for water, but the officer did not UNDER
stand his language and knew not what
the poor fellow wanted Then the
soldier cried out "Christos," and that
word meant sympathy and help, and
The Russian officer dismounted and put to
2he lips OF the sufferer cooling draught.
Be that the charmed word with which we
90 forth to do our whole duty. In many
it has only little difference Of
Christos! 1t stands for SYM
oathy. It stands for help. It stands for
pardon, It stands FOR hope. 1t stands for
heaven. Christos! In that name we were
oaptised. In that name took our first
sacrament That will be the battle shout
hat will win the whole world for God!
ChrlstOs! Put it on our banners when we
march! Put it on our lips when we diel
Put in the funeral psalm at our obsequiesl
Tut it On the plain slab over our gravel
christos! Blessed be His glorious name for
avolI