The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-05-10

l
my ministry, to get to heaven myself and
to take great crowd with me. Upon your
table and cradle and armchair and pillow
and lounge and nursery and drawing room
and kitchen may the blessing Of the
Almighty God come down!
During these "a years there is hardly a
| family that has not been invaded by sorrow
or death. Where are those grand, old men,
| those glorious Christian women. who used
to worship with us? Why. they went away
| into the next world 50 gradually that they
| had concluded the second stanZa or tho
third stapza in heaven before you knew they
were gone They had on the crown before
you thought they had dropped the staff of
the earthly pilgrimage.
And then the dear children. Oh, how
many have gone out OF this church! You
your arms and said: 20 God, cannot
give them upI Take all else, take my prop
erty, take my reputation, but let me keep
this treasure. Lord, I cannot bear this"
Oh, if we could all die together! If we
could keep all the sheep and the lambs OF
the family fold together until some bright
spring day, the birds a-chant, and the
waters a-glitter, and then we could alto
gether hear the voice of the good Shepherd
and hand in hand pass through the hoodl
No, no, no, mol Oh, If we only had notice
that we are ali to depart together, ami we
could say to our families: "The time has
come. The Lord bids us away" And then
we could take our little children to their
beds and straighted out their limbs and say:
..Now sleep the lsst sleep. Good night un.
til it is good morning." And then we could
90 to our own couches and say: "Now,
altogether we are ready to go. Our chill
dren are gone; now let us depart"
No, no! It is one by one. 1t may be in
the midnight. It may be in the winter and
in the snow coming down twenty inches
deep over our grave. 1t may be in the
strange hotel and our arm too weak to pull
the bell for help. Itluay be so suddenly we
have no time even to say goodby. Death Is
bitter, crushing tremendous curse.
play you three tunes on the gospel harp
Of comfort. sweeping may endure for q
night but Joy cometh in the morning"
That Is one. 'All things work together for
good to those who love God" That is the
second. "And the Lamb which is in the
midst Of the throne shall lead them to liv-
ing fountains OF water, and God shall wipe
all tears from their eyes," That is the
third. During these "a years have tried
as far as could by argument, by ulustra-
ton and by caricature TO fill you with dis
gust with much of this modern religion
which people are trying now to substitute
for the religion OF Jesus Christ and the .relig.
ion of the apostles.
have tried to persuade you that the worst
of all cant is the can't Of skepticism, and In
stead Of your apolo4izing for Christianity
it was high time that those who do not be-
lieve in Christianity should apologize to you,
and have tried to show that the biggest
Williams in the universe are those who would
try to rob US OF this Bible, and that the
erandest mission Of the church Of Jesus
Christ Is that Of bringing souls to the Lord
"a soul saving church.
But now those years ara gone. II you
have neglected your duty, II have neg
lected my duty, 1t Is neglected forever.
Each year has its work. If the work is
performed within the IL months, it Is done
forever. II neglected, it Is neglected. for.
ever.
When a woman was dying she said,
''Call them back" They did not know
what she meant. She had been disciple
of the world. She said, "Oh, call them
backr' They said, "Who do you want US
to call back?' ',oh," she said, ''call them
back, the days the months, the years have
wasted. Call them backr' But you cannot
call them back; you cannot call year back,
or q month back, or a week back, or an hour
back, or second back. Gone once, it is
gone forever.
When a great battle was raging, a mes-
senger came up and said to the general. who
was talking with an officer, "General we
have taken standard from the enemy"
The general kept right on conversing with
his fellow officer, and the messenger said
again, General we have taken standard
froA the ensmy." Still the general kept
right On, and the messenger lost mis- patience,
aot having his message seemingly apprecia-
ted, and said again, "General, we. have taken
a standard from the enemy" The general
then looked at him and said, Take another"
Alb, forgetting the things that are behind,
another castle; take another standard; gain
another victory.
Roll on, sweet day Of the worlds euanci-
patton, when 1.-THE mountains and the hills
shall break forth into singing, and all the
trees of the wood shall clap their hands,
and instead Of the thorn shall come up the
flr tree, and instead of the brier will come
up the myrtle tree, and 1t shall be unto the
Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign
that cannot be cut off,