Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1892-01-15

! feet health now, it does not take God one
| week TO bring down the strongest physical
| constitution. do not want to die this year.
! We have plans and projects on foot that l
want to see completed: but God knows best,
| and He has thousand better men than to
| do the work yet undone. / have a hope
| that notwithstanding all nv sins and
wauderings, I shall. through the in
| finite mercy Of my Saviour come out at the
right place 1 have nothing to Drag of
| by way of Christian experiences: but two
| things have learned-my utter helplessness
before God and the all Astounding grace of
the Lord Jesus. If the text means some Of
you. nv hearers I do not want you to be
caught unprepared. l would like to have
you, either through money you had laid up
or life insurance" be able TO leave the
world feeling that your family need not be-
come paupers But if you have done your
best and YOU leave not one dollars worth OF
estate YOU may confidently trust the Lord
who hath promised TO care for the widow
and fatherless. I would like To have your
soul fitted out for eternity, SO that II any
morning or noon or evening or night OF
these three hundred and sixty-fve days.
death should look in and ask, Are you
ready? you might, with an outburst OF
Christian triumph, answer, AYE, aye! all
ready
know not what our last words may be.
Lord Chesterfield prided himself on his po-
likeness, and said in his last moment, Give
Dayrolles a chair" DR.. Adam, a dying
schoolmaster, said: 1T grows dark. The
boys may dismiss" Lord Tenterden, sup
posing himself on the bench of courtroom,
said in his last moment, ''Gentlen,en OF the
jury, you will now consider your verdict"
A diving play actor said: drop the curtain.
The farce is played out" l would rather
have for my dying words those OF one greater
than Chesterfield or DR.. Adam or Lord Ten
terden: II am now ready to be offered, and
the time of my departure is at hand. have
fought a good fight, l have finished my
course, l have kept the faith; henceforth
there is laid up for me crown of righteous
ness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge,
shall give me-"
The sooner the last hour comes the better
if we are fitted for entrance in the celestial
world. There is no clock in heaven, because
it is an everlasting day; yet they keep an
account Of the passing years, because they
are all the time hearing from our world.
The angels flying through heaven report
how many times the earth has turned on its
axis, and in that way the angels can keep
diary; and they say it is almost time now
for father to come up, or for mother to come
up. Some day they see a cohoft leaving
heaven and they say, 'Whither bound?'
and the answer is ''To bring up soul from
EARTH" and the question is asked, Nv hat
soul?' And a family circle IN heaven lind
that it is one of theif own number that is to
be brought up, and they come out to watch,
as on the beach we now watch for ship
that is to bring our friends home. After
while the cohort will heave in sight, flying
nearer and nearer. until with a great clang
the gates hoist and with an embrace, wild
with the ecstacy of heaven, old friends
meet again. Away with your stiff, formal
heavenl l want none Of it. Give me a
place of infinite and eternal sociality. My
feet free from the clods of earth, l shall
bound the hills with gladness and break forth
in laugh of triumph. Aha! aha! We weep
now, but then we shall laugh. "Abraham's
bosom" means that heaven has open arms to
take us in. Now we fold our arms over our
heart, and tell the world to stand back, as
though our bosom was a two barred gate to
keep the world out. Heaven stands not
with folded arms, but with heart open. 1t
is ''Abraham's bosom" [ see a mother and
her child meeting at the foot of the throne
after some years absence. The child died
twenty years ago but it is a child yet.
think the little ones who die will remain
children through all eternity. 1t would be
no heaven without the little dariings. do
not want those that are in heaven to grow
I'D We need their infant voices in the great
song. And when we walk out in the fields
of light, we want them TO run ahead and
clap their hands and pick out the brightest
of the field flowers. Yes. here is child and
its mother meeting. The cnIl0 long IN glory,
the mother just arrived. How changed
7'Yes," says the child, ''this is such happy
place. and Jesus has taken such care of me,
and heaven is so kind, l got right over the
fever with which I died. The skies are so
fair, mother The flowers are so sweet,
mother! The temple is SO beautiful,
mother! Cone. take me up in your arms as
YOU used to-" Oh. [ do not know how we
shall stand the first day in heaven. Do you
not think we will break down in the song
from overdelight? l once gave out in church
the hymn:
There is land of pure delight,
Where saints immortal reign,
and an aged man standing in front of the
pulpit sang heartily the first verse and then
he sat down weeping. said TO him AFTER
ward, Father Linton. what made you cry
over that hymn?' He said, 81 could not
stand 1.-THE joys that are coming" When
heaven rises for the doxology l cannot see
how we can rise with it if all these waves of
everlasting delight come upon the soul-bil-
low of Joy after billow of joy. Methinks
Jesus would be enough for the first day in
heaven, yet here He approaches with all
heaven at His back!
But must close this sermon. This is the
last January to some who are present. You
have entered the year. but you will not close
it. Within these twelve months your eyes
will shut for the last sleep. Other hands
will plant the Christmas tree and give the
New Years congratulations. AS a procla-
1lation of joy to some and as warning to
others, leave in your ears these five words
of one svIlahIe each This wear thou shalt