The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-12-14

which hin iers your souls liberation, doing
gradually for you what for many or us in
robust health perhaps He will do in one fell
blow at the last. At the closs OF every ill
ness at the close OF every paroxysm you
ougat to say: Thank God, that is all p.s5
now. thank God. I will never nave to suffer
that again; thank God, I au so much nearer
the hour Of liberation"
You win never suffer the same pain twice.
You may have new pain IN an oid psacs,
but never the same pain twics. The pain
does it's work and then it dies. just 80 many
plunges of the crowbar to free the quarry
stone for the building. just SC many strokes
of the chisel to complete the statute JUST
80 many pangs to separate the soul from tne
body. You who have chronic ailments ana
disorders are only paying in 1nstalimen1s
that which some Of us will have to pay IN
one payment when we pay the DEBT OF
nature. Thank God, therefore, ye wao have
chronic disorders, that you have so much
less suffering at the last ThanE Goa tnae
you will have so much less to feel in the way
of pain at the hands Of the Heavenly Hus-
bandman when ''the shock Of corn cometn
in in his season."
Perhaps now this may be an answer to
question which asked one Sabbath morn
ing, but did not answer, Why Is 1t that so
many really good people have 80 drsadtu!iy
to suffer: You often find good man with
enough pains and aches and distresses, you
would think, to discipline a whole colony,
while you will find man who Is perfectly,
useless going about with easy digestion and
steady nerves and shining health, aud ms
exit from the world Is comparativel pain.
Iess How do you explain that! well, 1
noticed in the huskiug time that the husk-
inc neg was trust into the corn. and then
there must be stout pull bsfore the swata-
ing was taken of the ear and the tull roCnd'
healthy, luxuriant corn was developed.
while, on the other hand, there was corn
that hardly seemed worth husking.
We threw that into place all py itself,
and we called it nubbins- Some OF It was
mildewed, and some Of it was mice nibbled,
and some of it was great promises and no
fnlilment. All cobs and no corn. Nubbinsl
After the good corn had been driven up to
the barn we cane around with the corn
basket and we picked up these nuooins
They were worth saving, but not Wortn
much. So all around us there are people
who amount to comparatively noIning.
They are nibbled on one side by che world,
and nibbled on the other side bY the devil,
and mildewe6 all over. Great promise aod
no fulflme2t, All cobs aud no corn. Nub-
bins! They are worth saving. suppose
many Of than will get to heaven, but they
are not worthy to be mentioned in the same
day with those who went through great
tribulation into the kingdom of our God. =.
Who would not rather have the pains OF
this life, the misfortunes Of this hfe-who
would not rather be torn and wounded and
lacerated and wrenched and husked ana l as
last 20 in amid the very bast grain OF tbs
granery-than to be pronounced not worth
husking at alp Nubbins? In other words,
want to say to you people " 40 have distress
of body and distress in business and distress
of al sorts the Lord has not any grudge
against you. 1t is not dsrogatory; it Is
Complimentary. "Whom the Lord loveth
He chasteneth," and it is proof positive that
there is something valuable in you, or the
Lord would not have husked you.
You remember also that In the time OF
husking it was neighborhood reunion. BY
the great fireplace in the winter, the fires
roaring around the glorihed backlogs on an
old fashioned hearth, of which the modern
stoves and registers are only the degenerate
descendants, the farmers used to gather and
spend the evening. and there would be much
sociality: but it was not anything like the
joy of the husEinSs :;u,e, Tor then oil the
farmers came ana Jney came IN the very
best humor, and they came from beyond the
meadow and they came from beyond the
brook, and they came from regions two and
three miles around.
Good spirits reignei supreme. AMI there
were great handshakings, and there was
carnival and there was the recital of the
brightest experience in all their lives, and
there was neighborhood reunion the msm-
ory Of which makes all tho nerves Of my
body tremble with emotion as the strings OF
q harp when the fingers OF the player have
swept the chords. The husking time was the
time of neighborhood reunion and so
heaven will b. just that. There they come
up' They slept in the old village church
yard There they come up! They reclined
amid the fountains and the sculpture and the
parterres of city cemetery. There they
come up! They went down when the ship
roundered Off Cape Hatteras. They come up
from all sides-from pottsr's field and out
of the solid masonry Of Westminster Abbsy.
They come up! They come upl
Ali the hindrance to their bstter nature
husked of. ALI their spiritual dsspond-
encies husked of. ALI their hlndrancss to
usefulness husked of. The grain, the
golden grain, the God fashioned grain,
Visible and conspicuous. Some Of them on
earth were such disagreeable Christians
you could hardly stand It IN their presence.
Now in heaven they are 50 radiant you
hardly know them. The fact is all their
imperfections have been husked Of. They
They meant we'll enough, but they told
you how sick you looked, and they told you
how many hard thi.gs they had heard about
you, and they told you how often they had
TO stand up for you In some battles until
you wished almost that they had been slain
In some Of the battles. Good. pious, con-
csntrated, woll meaning disagreeables. Now
in heaven all their ohensiveness has been
husksd OF. Each one is as happy as he can
be. Every one he meets as happy as he can
be.
Hsaven-ons great tnsighborhood reunion.
All kings and qusens all songsters, all mil
lionsires. all banquetsrs. God the Father M
with His children all around Him. No
'.goodby' in an the air. No grave cut in
all the hills. River Of crystal rolling over
bed Of pearl, under arch Of chrysoprase, in
to seas of glass mingled with fire. Stand at
the gate OF the granary and see thu grain
come ins out Of the frosts into the sunshine,
out Of the darkness into the light, out OF the
tearing, and the ripping, and the twisting,
aud the wrenching and lacerating, and tho
husking time Of earth into the wide open
door Of the Kings grauary 'like as shock
Of corn cometh in in his season."
Yes, heaven is great sociable, with joy
like the joy Of husking time. No one there
feeling so big he declines to speak to some
one that il not so large. Archaugel willing
to listen to smallest cherub No boiling Of
the door Of caste at one heavenly mansion
to keep out the citizen of a smaller mansion
No clique in one corner whispering about q
clique IN another corner. David taking none
of the airs of giant killer; Joshua making
no one halt until he passes, because he made
the sun and moon halt; Paul making no as.
sumption over the most ordinary preacher
OF Righteousness: Naamap, captain Of tho
Syrian host, no more honored than the cap
tive maid who told him where he could get
good doctor. Oh. my soul, what a coun