The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-04-29


We'll as any one knows 1t. have heard
the handclapping of it's applause, and l
nave heard the hiss Of its opposition, and
declare to you that the former is not
especially to be sought for, nor is the lat
ter to be feared. The world has given
me about all the comfort and prosperity
IL can give man, and have no worldly
ambition. l have an all consuming ambi-
ton to make full proof Of my ministry,
to get to heaven myself and to take a
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 AL
mighty God come down!
During these "a years there is hardly
family that has not been invaded by sor-
row or death. Where are those grand
old men, those glorious Christian women,
who used to worship with us2 Why, they
went away into the next world so grad
ually that they had concluded the second
stanza or the third stanza in heaven be-
fore you knew they were gone. They
had on the crown before you thought
they had dropped the staff of the earthly
pilgrimage. Il
And then the dear children. Oh, how
many have gone out of this church, You
could not keep them. You folded them
in your arms and said: 30 God, I can
not give them up! Take all else, take
my property, take my reputation, but
let me keep this treasure. Lord, I can
not bear this
THE LAND OF NO PARTING.
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
archant, and the waters a-glitter, and
then we could altogether hear the voice
of the good Shepherd and hand in hand
pass through the foodl No, no, no, no!
Oh, if we only had notice that we are all
to depart together, and 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
straighten out their limbs and say:
IAH'Now, sleep the last sleep. Good night
until it is good morning" And then: we
could go to our own couches and say:
Snow, altogether we are ready5to go.
Our children are gone; now let us de-
part
No, no! It is one by one. 1t may be
in the midnight. 1t may be in the win
ter and in the snow coming down 20
inches deep over our grave. 1t may be
in the strange hotel and our arm too
weak to pull the bell for help. It may
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. weeping may endure
for night, but joy cometh in the morn
ing" 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 living 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 I
could by argument, by illustration and
by caricature to fill you with disgust
with much of this modern religion which
people are trying now to substitute for
the religion of Jesus Christ and the re-
igion of the apostles.
l have tried to persuade you that the
worst of all can't is the cant of skepti-
cism, and instead of your apologizing for
Christianity it was high time that those
who do not believe in Christianity should
apologize to you, and I have tried to show
that the biggest villains in the universe
are those who would try to rob us of this
Bible, and that the grandest mission of
the church of Jesus Christ is that of
bringing souls to the Lord-a soul saving
church.
But now those years are gone. Ifyou
have neglected your duty, if have neg
lected my duty, it is neglected forever.
Each year has its work. If the work is
performed within the 10 months, it is
done forever. If neglected, it is neg
lected forever.
When woman was dying, she said,
'Call them back" They did not know
what she meant. She had been disciple
Of the world. She said, 'sOh, call them
backp 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 back!"
But you cannot call them back; you can
not call year back, or month back, or
week back, or an hour back, or second
back Gone once, it is gone forever.
When great battle was raging, mes
senger came up and said to the general,
who was talking with an officer, "Gen-
eral, we have taken standard from the
enemy" The general kept right on con-
versing with his fellow officer, and the
messenger said again, General, we have
taken standard from the enemy" Still
the general kept right on, and the mes
senger lost his patience, not having his
message seemingly appreciated, and said
again, General, we have taken stand
ard from the enemy" The general then
looked at him and said, "Take another"
All, forgetting the things that are be-
hind, let US look to those that are before.
Win another castle; take another stand
ard; gain another victory.
Roll on, sweet day of the worlds eman-