Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1893-06-16

the grain and the grain is thoroughly
thrashed. SO God. Shifting rod and turn
ing wheel both cease as soon as VIC let go.
We hold on to this world with its pleasures
and riches and emoluments, and our knueKles
are so firmly set that It seems as If we could
hold on forever. God comes along with
some thrashing trouble and beats US loose.
We started under the delusion that this was
/ great world. We learned out OF our geog-
raphy that it was so many thousand miles
in diameter and so many thousand miles In
circumference, and we said, "Oh, my, what
a world - Troubles came in after life. ana
/ this trouble sliced of one part of the world,
and that trouble sliced of another part OF the
/ world, and it has got to be a smaller world,
and in some OF your estimatons n very IN
significant world, and it is depreciating all
the time as spiritual property. Zen per
] cent. of fifty per cent. OIL, and there are
| those here who would not give ten cents for
! this world-for the entire world-as soul
possession.
We thought that friendship was grand
/ thing. In school we used to write compost
/ tons about friendship, and perhaps we
made our graduating speech on commence
ment day on friendship. Oh, it was charmed
thing. But does it mean as much to you rs
II used to? You have gone on in life, and
one friend has betrayed you, and another
friend has misinterpreted you, and another
friend has neglected you, and friendship
comes now sometimes to mean to you merely
another AK to grind
SO with money. We thought II u man mad
a competency he was safe for all the future,
but we have learned that a mortgage may be
defeated by an unknown previous incum-
brance that signing your name on the back
OF note may be your business death war
rant that a new tariff may change the cur
rent of trade that a man may be rich to-day
and poor tomorrow. And God, by all these
misfortunes, is trying to loosen our grip, but
still we hold on. God smites us with staff,
but we hold on. And He strikes us with
rod. but we hold on. And Hesends over us
the iron wheel of misfortune, but we hold on,
There are men who keep their grip on TINS
world until the last moment who suggest 10
me the condition and conduct OF the poor In
dian in the boat in the Niagara rapids com
ing on toward the fall. Seeingthat he could
not eseape. a moment or two before he got
to the verge OF the plunge he lifted wine
bottle and drank it of and then tossed the
bottle into the air. SO there are men who
clutch the world and they 90 down through
the RAPIDS Of temptation and sin, and they
hold on to the very last moment OF life, drink
ing to their eternal damnation as they so
over and go down.
Oh. let 90 Let go The best fortunes are
in heaven. There are no Ascending cashiers
from that bank. no failing in promises to pay.
Set your affections on things above, not on
thing on the earth. Let 60. Depend upon
it that God will keep upon you the stan, or
the rod. or the iron wheel until you do letgo.
Another thing my text teaches us IS that
Christian sorrow is going to have a sure
terminus. Ny text says Bread corn Is
bruised because he will not be ever thrashlng
il" Blessed be God for that. Pound away.
0 fail. Turn on. wheel? Your work VIII
soon be done. He will not be ever thrash
ing IT," Now the Christian has almost as
much use III the organ for the stop tremulant
as he has for .he trumpet. But after awhile
he will put the last dirge into the portiolo
forever. so much OF Us as IS wheat Will be
separated from so much as Is chaii, ana there
will be no need OF pounding.
They never cry in heaven because they
have nothing 10 cry about. There are no
tears Of bereavement, for you shall have your
friends all round about you. There are no
tears OF poverty because each one sits at the
Kings table and has his own chariot OF sal
walton and free access 10 the wardrobe where
princes get their array. No tears OF sickness,
Tor there are no pneumOnias on the air, and
no malarial exhalatiOns from the rolling
river Of life. and no crutch for the lame limb.
and no splint for the broken arm, but the
pulses throbbing wthth health OF the eternal
God in a climate like our June before the
blossoms fall or our gorgeous October be-
fore the leaves scatter.
In that land the souls will talk over tho
different modes ofthrashing. Oh, the story
Of the staff that struck the iltches, ana the
rod that beat the cummin. and the IRON
wheet that went over the corn. Daniel VIII
describe the lions. and Jonah leyiathans,
and Paul the elmwoO1 wnips with Which
he was scourged. and Eve will tel how
aromatic Eden was the day she left it. AMI
John Rogers will tell OF the smart Of flame,
and Elijah OF the fiery team that wheeled
him up the sky sleeps, and Christ OF the
numbness and paroXysm and hemOrrnageS
OF the awful crucihxiOn. There they are be-
fore the throne Of God. On one elevation
all those who were struck Of the stan On
higher elevation all those who were struck
OF the rod On a highest elevation, and
amid the highest attitudes OF heaven. all
those who were under the wheel. He will
not ever be thrashing il.
Oh, my hearers is there not enough salye
in this text to make plaster large enough
to hea: all your wounds When child Is
hurt, the mother is very apt to say to II,
"Now. it will soon feel better And this IS
what God says when He unbosoms all the
trouble IN the hush OF this great promise.
weeping may endure for a night, but JOY
cometh in the morning You may leave
your pocket handkerchief sopping wet with
tears on your death pillow, but you will so
up absolutely sorrOwless. They will wear
black you will wear white. Expresses for
them. palms for you.
You will say rs it possible that l am
here2 Is this heaven? Am so pure now
will never do anything wrong? Am l so well
th.t will never again be sicky Are these
companionships so firm that they will never
again be broken? Is that Mary? Is that
John? Is that my loved one put away into
darkness Can it be that these are the faces
Of those who lay so wan and emaciated inthe
back room on that awful night dying1 Oh.
how radiant they are Look at them How
radiant they are,
''Why. how unlike this place is from what
Thought when l left the world below. Min
isters drew pictures Ct his land, hut how
tame compared with the reality They told
me on earth that death was sunset. No, no!
It Is sunrise? Glorious sunrise | see the
light now purpling the hills. and the clouds
flame with the coming day.
Then the gates Of heaven will be opened.
md the entranced GOIl. with the acuteness
and power OF the celestial vision. will look
ten thousands OF miles down upon the ban
nered procession river OF shimmering
splendor-and will cry out "Who are they?'
And the angel OF God standing close by will
say, Don't You know who they are?' mo"
saws the entranced soul. "I cannot guess who
they are The angel will say 81 will tell
you, then, who they are. These are they
who came out Of great tribulation, or
thrashing and had their robes washed and
made white in the blood OF the Lamb.
Oh, that I could administer some OF these
drops OF celestial anodyne to those nervous
and excited souls. Ifyou would take enough
OF it. il would cure all your pangs. The
thought that you are going to get through
with this after awhile-all this sorrow and
all this trouble. We shall have n great many
grand davs in heaven. but / will tell you
which will be the grandest day Of all the mil
lion ages Of heaven. You say, "Arey you sure
You can tell meY' Yes, can. II will bethe
day we get there. Some say heaven IS grow
ing more glorious. ! suppose il Is, but / do
not care much about that. Heaven now Is
good enough for me.
History has no more gratulatory ccene
than the breaking in Of the English army
upon Lucknow India. A few weeks before
a massacre had occurred at Cawnpore, and