The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1892-08-03

Brighter than the light, fresher than
the fountains, deeper than the seas are
all these gospel themes Song has no
melody, flowers have no sweetness, sun
set sky has no color compared with
these glorious themes These harvests
of grace spring up quicker than we can
sickle them. Kindling pulpits with
their fire, and producing revolutions
with their power, lighting up dying
beds with their glory, they are the
sweetest thought for the poet, and they
are the most thrilling illustration for
the orator, and they offer the most in
tense scene for the artist, and they are
to the ambassador of the sky all enthu-
siasm. Complete pardon for direst
guilt Sweetest comfort for ghastli-
est agony. Brightest hope for
grimmest death. Grandest resurrec-
tion for darkest sepulcher. Oh,
what gospel to preachl His birth, His
suffering, His miracles, His parallels,
His sweat His tears, His blood, His
atonement His tercession-what glo-
rious themes! Do we exercise faith2
Christ is its object Do we have love2
1t fastens on Jesus. Have we fond
ness for the churchp 1t is because Christ
died for it Have we hope of heaven2
1t is because Jesus went ahead the her
aid 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 poorest and the wannest and the
worst may wear "Whore sin abounded
grace may much more abound"
20, my sins, my sins" said Martin
Luther to Staupitz, my sins, my sins!"
The fact Is that the brawny German
student had found a Latin Bible that
had made him quake, and nothing else
ever did make him quake; and when he
found how, through Christ, he was par
doned 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 sinners praise His
grace the more now that we have been
redeemed" Cannot II be that you are
30 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 immacu-
late? What you need is looking glass,
and here II 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 us.
And then take the fact that Christ gath.
cred up all the notes against US and paid
them, and then offered US the receipt
And how much we need Him In our
sorrows. We are independent OF cir
oumstances II we have His grace Why,
He made St Paul sing in the dungeon,
and under that grace St John from
desolate Patmos heard the blast of the
apocalyptic trumpets After all other
candles have been snuffed out this is
the light that gets brighter and brighter
unto the perfect day, and after, under
tho 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 Christian, 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 sympathy with the morbidity
abroad about our demise The emperor
OF Constantinople arranged that ON the
day of his coronation the stonemason
should come and consult him about his
that after while he would
need. And there are men who are mon.
on the subject of departure
from this life by death, and the more
they think of II the less they are pre-
pared to go This is an unmanliness
unworthy of you, not worthy OF me.
Saladin, tho greatest conqueror of his
lay, while dying, ordered the tunic he
had on him to be carried after his death
IN a spear at the head of his army, and
then the soldier ever and anon should
stop and say: Behold, all thut is left
of Saladin, the emperor and conqueror!
)f all the states he conquered, Of all the
wealth he accumulated, nothing did he
stain but this shroud." have no sym-
oathy with such behavior or such alb
'urd demonstration, or with much that |
ye hear uttered in regard to departure
rom this life TO the next There is n |
,ommonsensical idea on this subject |
hat you and | need to consider-that
here are only two types OF departure.
A thousand feet underground, by
light Of torch toiling in miners shaft, |
! ledge Of rock may fall upon us, and |
We may die a miners death. Far out
It sea, falling from the slippery rat
Ines and broken on the halyards, we
nay die sailors death. On mission OF
mercy in hospital, amid broken bones
Ind reeking leprosies and raging fevers,
We may die a philanthropist's death.
On the field of battle, serving God and
'ur country, slugs through the heart.
he gun carriage may roll over us and
We may die patriots death. But,
Ifter all, there are only two styles of
departure. the death Of the righteous
Ind the death of the wicked, and we
al want to die the former.
God grant that when that hour comes
'ou may be at home! You want the
land OF your kindred in your hand.
fou want your children TO surrou nd
'ou You want the light on your pill.
ow from eyes that have long reflected
'our love. You want the room still.
You do not want any curious strangers
tanding around watching you. You
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