The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1893-06-28
cents for this world, for tho enNire
world. as a0bul possession.

Genus rOr THIS WORTH, lot ING tnNro
world, as aUbul possession.
We thought that friendship was
grand thing. In school we used to
write compositions about friendship;
and perhaps we made our graduating
speech ON commencement day on friend
ship. Oh! it was charmed thing; but
does it mean as much to you as it used
to? You have gone on in life, and one
friend has betrayed you, and another
friend has misinterpreted you, and an
other friend has neglected you, and
friendship comes now sometimes to
mean to you merely anotherax to grind!
So with money. We thought if
man had competency he was safe for
all the future; but we have learned
that mortgage may be defeated by
an unknown previous incumbrance;
that signing your name on the back OF
a note may be your business death
warrant; that new tariff may change
the current of trade; that 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 He
sends over us the iron wheel of misfor-
tune; but we hold on.
There are men who keep their grip
on this world until the last moment,
who suggest to me the condition and
conduct of the poor Indian in the boat
in the Niagara rapids, coming on
toward .he fall. Seeing that he could
not escape, moment or two before he
got to the verge of the plunge he lifted
wine bottle and drunk it off and then
tossed the bottle in the air So there
are men who clutch the world and they
go down through the rapids of tempta-
ton and sin, and they hold on to the
very last moment Of life, drinking to
their eternal damnation as they go over
and go down.
O, let go! Let go! The best fortunes
are in Heaven. There are no abscond-
ing cashiers from that bank, no failing
in promises to pay. Set your affections
on things above, not on things on the
earth. Let go! Depend upon it that
God will keep upon you the staff or the
rod or the iron wheel until you do let
go.
Another thing my text teaches us is,
that Christian sorrow is going to have
a sure terminus. My text says: Bread
corn is bruised, because he will not be
ever threshing it." Blessed be God for
that! Pound away, o fail. Turn on,
O wheel! Your work will soon be done.
"He will not be ever threshing it. h"
Now the Christian has almost as much
uee in the organ for the stop tremu-
liant as he has for the trumpet. But
after awhile he will put the last dirge
into the portfolio forever. So much of
us as is wheat will be separated from
so much as is chaff, and there will be
no more need of pounding.
They never cry in Heaven, because
they have nothing to 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 saliva
ton, and free access to the wardrobe
where princes get their array. No tears
of sickness, for there are no pneu-
monias on the air, and no malarial ex-
halations from the rolling river of life,
and no crutch for the lame limb, and
no splint for the broken arm; but the
pulses throbbing with the health OF
the eternal God, in climate like ouI
June before the blossoms fall, or oui
gorgeous October before the leaves
scatter.
In that land the souls will talk ovel
the different modes of threshing. Oh
the story of the staff that struck the
fitches. and the rod that beat the cum
min, and the iron wheel that went over
the corn. Daniel will describe the lions
and Jonah the leviathan, and Paul the
elmwood whips with which he wal
scourged, and Eve will tell how arc
matte Eden was the day she left it
and John Rogers will tell of the smar
of the flame, and Elijah of the fiery
team that wheeled him up the SIX,
sleeps, and Christ of the numbness an(
paroxysm and hemorrhages of the awfu
crucifxion. There they are before The
, throne of God. On one elevation al
, those who were struck of the staff. Oh
: a higher elevation, and amid the high
est attitudes of Heaven, all those wh'
/ were nnder the wheel. He will no
: ever be threshing it.
5 Oh. my hearers, is there not enough
salve IN this text to make plaste
t large enough to heal all the wounds
= When a child is hurt, the mother i
| very apt to say to it: NOW, it will
| soon feel better" And that is wha
5 God says when he unbosoms all tn
l trouble in the hush of this grea
: promise: weeping may endure for
, night, but JOY cometh in .>e morning.
You may leave your pce6et handker
A., chief sopping wet with tears on you
: death pillow, but you will go up abso
lutely sorrowless. They will wea
l black; you will wear white. Espresso
for them; palms for you.
You will say: rs it possible that
. am here? Is this Heaven? Am / S
S pure now l will never do anything
1 wrong? Am 1 so well that l will neve
S again be sick? Are these companion
E ships so firm that they will never agai
e be broken? Is that Mary? Is tina
Y John? Is that my loved one l pu
1 away into darkness? Can it be tina
S these are the faces of those who la
1 so wan and emaciated in the back roor
1 on that awful night dying? o, hoy