Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1892-08-29


Correction at our slow gait, for we only
crawl In the service when we ought to
hy at the divine bidding. Exhilaration
In the fact that the soul has wings as the
seraphs have wings What Is wingf
An instrument Of locomotion. They may
not be like seraph's wing, they may not
be like birds wing, but the soul has
wings. God says So "He shall mount
up on wings as eagles" We are made In
the divine image, and God has wings. The
Bible says So Healing in his wings"
"Under the shadow of his wings" "Un-
der whose wings thou hast come to trust. T"
We have folded wing now, wounded wing,
broken wing, bleeding wing, Gagged wing.
Ayel have 1t now. Gagged within bars
of bone and under curtains of flesh, but
one day to be free. / hear the rustic OF
pinions in Seagrave's poem which we
often sing:
Rise, my soul, and stretch thy wings.
hear the rustic of pinions in Alexander
Pope's stanza, which says:
Imount, I fly,
Death, where is thy victory
A dying Christian not long ago cried out,
Swings, wings, wingsp' The air is full of
them, coming and going, coming and go
ing. You have seen how the dull, slug
gish chrysalid becomes the bright butter
fly; the dull and the stupid and the leth-
argic turn into the alert and the beautiful.
Well, my friends, in this world we are in
q chrysalid state. Death will unfurl the
wings. On, If we could only realize what
grand thing it will be to get rid of this
old clod of the body and mount the
heavens, neither seagull nor lark nor alba
tross nor falcon nor condor pitching from
highest range Of Andes SO buoyant or SO
majestic of stroke.
STRUGGLE TOWARD GOD.
See that eagle in the mountain nest. It
looks 30 sick, SO ragged feathered, SO worn
out and SO half asleep Is that eagle dyingf
No. The ornithologist will tell You 1t is
melting season with that bird. Not dy-
ing, but melting. You see that Christian
sick and weary and worn out and seeming
about to expire on what Is called hi5 DEATH
bed. The world says he is dying. say
it is the molting season for his soul--the
body dropping away, the celestial pinions
coming on. Not dying, but melting. Molt-
| ing out of darkness and sin and struggle
| into glory and into God Why do you not
shoptp Why do you sit shivering at the
| thought of death and trying to hold back
and wishing you could stay here forever,
andspeak of departure as though the sub
| ject were filled with skeletons and the
| varnish of collins, and as though you pre-
| ferred lame foot to swift wingS
Opeople of God, let us stop playing the
fool and prepare for rapturous fight.
| When your soul stands on the verge Of
this life, and there are vast precipices be-
meath, and sapphired domes above, which
way will you fiyP Will you swoop or will
you SCARF Win you fly downward or will
you fly upwarda Everything on the wing
this morning bidding US aspire. Holy
Spirit on the wing. Angel Of the new
covenant on the wing. Time on the wing
flying away from u.s. Eternity on the
wing. flying toward u.s. Wings, wings
| wings
Live SO near to Christ that when you are
dead people standing by your lifeless body
will not soliloquize, saying, What dis
appointment life was to him; how averst
he was todeparture; what a pity it was hs
had to die; what an awful calamityp
Rather standing there may they see sigr
more vivid on your still face than the yes
tiges of pain, something that will indicate
that 1t was happy exit--the clearanc,
from oppressive quarantine, the castof
chrysalid, the melting of the faded ant
useless, and the ascent from malaria
valleys to bright, shining mountain tops
and be led to say, as they stand there con
te1nplating your humility and your rever
ence in life and your happiness in death
with twain he covered the feet, with
twain he covered the face, with twain h
did fly" Wingsl Wings Wingsi