Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1892-12-16


Wealth poured into the lap or the poor girl.
Visitors from all lands came to lcox on her
sweet face, and when soon after she
launched forth on e. dark sea, and Death
was the oarsnan, dukes and ducheSSes and
mighty men sat down in tears in Alnwick
castle TO think they never again might see
the face OF Grace Darling.
No such deeds Of daring will probably be
asked OF you, but hear you not the howl or
that awful storm o. trouble and sin that
hath tossed ten thousand shivered hulks into
thebreakers? Know you not that the whole
earth is strewn with tbs shipwrec ked-that
there are wounds TO be healed'and broken
hearts 70 be bound and drowning souls TO
be rescued? Some have gone down. and you
come too late, but others are clingIng % the
wreck. are shivering With the cold. are
strangling III the wave, are crying to you for
deliverance. Will you not, oar in hand, put
out to-day from the Lighthouse?
When the last ships timber shall have
been rent, and the last Longstone beacon
shall have been Numbered down in the hurri-
cane, and the last tempest shall have folded
its wings, and the sea itself shall have been
licked up by the tongue Of all consuming
fire, the crowns of eternal reward shall be
kindling into brighter glory on the brow OF
the faithful. And Christ pointing to the
inebriate that you reformed, and the dying
sinner whom you taught to pray, and the
outcast whom you pointed to God for shell
ter, will say: ''You did it to them! You
did 1t to Mer'
Again, the scene of the text impresses up
on us the strength OF maternal attachment.
Not many men would have had courage or
endurance for the awful mission of Rizpah.
To dare the rage of wild beasts. and sit from
May to October unsheltered, and to watch
the corpses Of unsheltered children, was a
work that nothing but the maternal heart
could have accomplished. it needed more
strength than to stand before opened batter
les or to walk in calmness the deck of a
laundering steamer.
There is no emotion so completely unset
fish as maternal affection. Conjugal love
expects the return of many kindnesses and
attentions. Filial love expects paternal care
or is helped by the memory of past watch
fulness. But the strength of mothers love
is entirely Independent of the past and the
future, and is, Of all emotions the purest
The child has dc-Ie nothing in the past to
earn kindness, and in the future it may
grow up to maltreat its parent but still
from the mothers heart there goes forth
inconsumable affection.
Abuse cannot offend it; neglect cannot
chill It, time cannot efface it; death cannot
destroy it. For harsh words it has gentle
Gliding; tor the blow it has beneficent min
istry; for neSlect it has increasing watch
fuiness. It weeps at the prison door over the
incarcerated prodigal, and pleads for pardon
at the governors feet and is forced away
by compassionate friends from witnessing
the struggles of the gallows. Other lights
go out, but this burns on without extinguish-
ment. as in a gloom-struck night you may
see single star, one of Gods pickets, with
cleaning bayonet of light guarding the out
posts Of heaven.
The Marchioness Of Spadara, when the
earthquake at Messina occurred, was car
ried out insensible from the falling houses.
On coming to her senses she found that her
infant had not been rescued. She went
back and persisted in the ruins. Illustration
nYNf kHNV1 oy1I 1I0
different ways have sacrificed themselves
for their children.
Oh, despise not a mothers love! If here
tofore you have been negligent of such a
one, and you have still opportunity for
make haste. If you could only
just look in for an hours visit to her, you
would rou;e up in the aged one whole
world Of blissful memories. What if she
does sit without talking much? She
watched you for many months when you
knew not how to talk at all. What it she
mas many ailments to tell about? During
fifteen years you ran to her with every lit
tie scratch and bruise, and she doctored
your little finger as carefully as surgeon
would bind the worst fracture.
You say she is childish now; l wonder if
she ever saw you when you were childish.
You have no patience t. wait with her on
the street, she moves SO slowly; I wonder If
she remembers the time when you were glad
enoughto go slowly. You complain at the
expense Of providing for her now; wonder
what your financial income was from one
year to ten years of age. Do not begrudge
what you do for the old folks. l care not
how much you did for them; they have done
more for you.
But from the weird text of the morning
comes the rushingin upon my soul thought
that overDowers me. This watching by
Rizpah was an after death watching. l
wonder il now there is an after death watch
ing. I think there is. There are Rizpahs
who have passed death and are still watch
ing. They look down from their supernal
and glorifed state upon u.s. and is not that
an after death watching? cannot believe
that those who before their death were in
terested IN US have since their death become
indifferent as to what happens to us,
Not one hour of the six months during
which Rizpah watched. seated upon the
rocks. was she more alert or diligent or
armed for Us than our mother, if glorified,
is alert and diigent and armed for us. It
is not now RiZpah on rock, but Rizpah on
a throne. How long has your mother been
dead? Do you think she has been dead long
enough to forget you? Ny mother has been
dead twenty-nine years. l believe she
knows more about me now than she did |
when stood in her presence and am no |
Spiritualist either. The Bible says, Are |
they not all ministering spirits sent forth TO
minister to them that shall BE- heirs of SAL |
vation."
Young man, better look out what you do |
and where you CO. for your giorified mother
is looking at you. You sometimes say to |
yourself, What would mother say if she
knew thisg" She does know You might |
cheat her once, but you cannot cheat her
now. Does it embarrass US to think she |
knows all about US now? If she had to put !
up with so much when she was here, surely |
she will not be the less patient or excusatory I
now.
Oh, this tremendous thought of my text
this after death watching! Wnat an up.