Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1892-08-11

est comfort for ghastliest agony. Bright
est hope for grimmest death. Grandest
resurrection for darkest sepulcher
Oh, what a Gospel to preach! Christ
over all in it. His birth, his suffering
his miracles, his parallels, his sweat, his
tears, his blood, his atonement, his inter
cession-what glorious themes Do we
exercise faithl Christ Is its object. Do
we have loVi 1t fastens on Jesus. Have
we fondness for the church! 1t is be-
cause Christ died for it, Have we hope
of heayen' 1t is because Jesus went
ahead, the herald and the forerunner.
The royal robe of Demetrius was so
costly, so beautiful that after he had put
it OFF no one ever dared put it on; but this
robe of Christ, richer than that, the poor
est, and the wanest, and the worst may
wear. Where sin abounded grace may
much more abound"
THE JOY OF THE CONVERTED.
"Oh, my sins, my SINS" said Martin
Luther to Staupitz; my sins. my sinsl'
The fact Is that the brawny German stu
dent had found Latin Bible that had
made him quake, and nothing else ever
! did make him quake; and when he found
how, through Christ, he was pardoned
and saved, he wrote to friend, saying:
Come over and join us great and awful
sinners saved by the grace of God. You
seem to be only slender sinner, and you
don't much extol the mercy of God; but
We who have been such very awful sin
ners praise his grace the more now that
we have been redeemed"
Can it be that you are so desperately
egotistical that you feel yourself in first
rate spiritual trim, and that from the root
of the hair to the tip of the toe you are
scarless and immaculateS What you need
is a looking glass, and here it is in the
Bible. Poor and wretched and miserable
and blind and naked from the crown of
the head to the sole of the foot, full of
wounds and putrefying sores. No health
in u.s. And then take the fact that Christ
gathered up all the notes against us and
paid them, and then offered us the receipt
And how much we need him in our sor-
rowsl We are independent of circum-
stances if we have his grace. Why, he
made Paul sing in the dungeon, and under
that grace st. John from desolate Patmos
heard the blast of the apocalyptic trum-
pets. After all other candles have been
snuffed out, this is the light that gets
brighter and brighter unto the perfect day.
and after, under the hard hoofs of calam-
ity, all the pools of worldly enjoyment
have been trampled into deep mire, at
the foot of the eternal rock the Chris
tian, from cups of granite, lily trimmed
and vine covered, puts out the thirst of his
soul
Again, remark that Christ is above all
in dying alleviations. have not any sym
pathy with the morbidity abroad about
our demise. The emperor of Constantine
pie arranged that on the day of his corona
tion the stonemason should come and con-
suit him about his tombstone that after
awhile he would need. And there are
men who are monomanical on the subject
of departure from this life by death, and
the more they think of it the less they are
prepared to go. This is an unmanliness
not worthy of you, not worthy of me.
THE HERo's DEATH.
Saladin, the greatest conqueror of his
day, while dying, ordered the tunic he had
on him to be carried after his death on a
spear at the head of his army, and then the
soldier ever and anon should stop and say:
Behold, all that is left of Saladin, the en-
peror and conqueror! OF all the states he
conquered, of all the wealth he accumu-
lated, nothing did he retain but this
shroudW / have no sympathy with such
behavior, or such absurd demonstration,
or with much that we hear uttered in re-
gard to departure from this life to the
next. There is a commonsensical idea on
this subject that you and l need to consd-
er-that there are only two styles of de-
parture.
A thousand feet underground, by light
of torch toiling in miners shaft, a ledge
of rock may fall upon us and we may die
miners death. Far out at sea, falling
from the slippery ratlines and broken on
the halyards we may die a sailors death.
On mission of mercy in hospital, amid
broken bones and reeking leprosies and
raging fevers we may die a philanthro-
phist's death. On the field of battle, serv-
ing God and our country, the gun carriage
may roll over us and we may die PATRIOTS
death. But after all there are only two
styles of departure-the death of the right
eous and the death of the wicked, and we
all want to die the former.
God grant that when that hour comes
you may be at home! You want the hand
of your kindred in your hand. You want
your children to surround you. You want
the light on your pillow from eyes that
have long reflected your love. You want
the room still. You do not want any curl
GUS strangers standing around watching
you. You want your kindred from afar to
hear your last prayer. think that is the
wish of all of us. But is that all? Can
earthly friends hold us when the pillows of
death come up to the girdle? Can human
voice charm open heavens gate? Can hui
man hands pilot us through the narrows of
death into heavens harbor? Can an earthly
friendship shield us from the arrows of
death and in the hour when satan shall
practice upon us his Internal archery?
No, no, no, no! Alas! poor soul, if that is
all. Better die in the wilderness, far from
tree shadow and from fountain, alone, /
vultures circling through the air waiting
for our body, unknown to men, and to have
no burial, if only Christ could say through
the solitudes, 81 will never leave thee,
will never forsake thee" From that pill
low of stone ladder would soar heaven
ward, angels coming and going; and
across the solitude and the barrenness
would come the sweet notes of heavenly
minstrelsy.
DEATH OF THE CHRISTIAN.
Gordon Hall, far from home, dying in
the door of a heather temple, said, GLORY
to thee, o God" What did dying Will
berforce say to his wife? "Come and sit
beside me, and let us talk of heaven. 1
never knew what happiness was until I
found Christ" What did dying Hannah
More say? "To go to heaven; think what
that isl To go to Christ who died that I
might live Oh, glorious gravel Oh, what
glorious thing it is to die Oh. the
love of Christ, the love of Christ" What
did Mr.. Toplady, the great hymn maker,
say in his last hour? "Who can measure
the depth of the third heaven? Oh, the
sunshine that fills my soul! / shall soon
be gone, for surely no one can live in this
world after such rlnriaS aS God has mani |