Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1893-03-24

come too soon il he falls in defense of law
and the liberty or his country"
And so there Is, my friends, tug. tuS-
sic, trial, push, an anxiety, tnrou sh
which every man must go before he comes
to worldly success and worldly achievement
You admit it Now be wise enough TO ap
ply it in religion. Eminent Christian char
acter is only gained by the Jordanic
passage, no man just happened TO get good
Why does that man know SO much about
the Scriptures? He was studying the Bible
while you were reading novel. h> was on
fire with the sublimiries or the Bible while
you were sound asleep; by tug, tuSsle, push
ing and running in the Christian life that
man got so strong for God; IN hundred
Solferinos he learned how to Tight: In hun
dred shipwrecks he learned how TO swim
Tears over sin, tears over Zion's desolation,
tears over the impenitent, tears over the
graves made, are the Jordan which that
man had passed. Sorrow pales the cheek,
and fades the eye. and wrinkles the brow,
and withers the hands. There are mourn
ing garments in the wardrobe, and there are
deaths in every family record; all around are
the relics of the dead.
The Christian has passed the Red sea OF
trouble, and vet he thinks there is Jordan
Of ceath between him and heaven. He
comes down to that Jordan OF death and
thinks how many have been lost there.
When Molyneux was exploring the Jordan
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pieces in the rapids Of that river. And there
ire great many men who have gone down
n the river Of death; the Atlantic and
Pacific have not swallowed so many. &C is
an AWFUL thing to make shipwrecks on the
rock of ruin-masts falling. hurricanes
flying. death coming, groanlngs III Ine
water, meanings in the wind, thunder IN
the sky, while God, with the finger OF light
ming. writes all over the sky, IL VIII Tread
them in NY wrath, and will trample them
in My fury"
The Christian comes down to This raging
torrent and he knows he must pass out. and
as he comes toward the time his breath gets
shorter, and his last breath leaves him as he
steps into the stream, and no sooner does he
touch the stream than it is parted, and ne
goes through dry shod. while all the waters
wave their plumes, crying: 20 death, where
is thy sting? grave, where is thy victory"
God shall wipe away all tears from their
eyes, and there shall be no more weeping.
and there shall be no more death.
Some of your children have already gone
I'D the other bank. You let them down on
this side of the bank; they will be on the
other bank to help you up with supernat-
ural strength. The other morning at my
table, all my family present. L Thought 70
myself how pleasant it would be if L could
= put all in boat and then go in with them,
and we could pull across the river to the
next world and be there altogether. No
family parting, no gloomy obsequies. 1t
wouldn't take five minutes to 60 from bank
to bank. and then in that better world to be
together forever. Wouldn't it be pleasant
for you to take all your family into that
blessed country if you could all go togethers
remember my mother in her dying hour
said to my father, 'Father, wouldn't it be
pleasant if we could all go together? But
we cannot all go together. We must go one
by one and we must be grateful if we get
there at all. What heaven it will be If
have all our families there to look
around and see all the children PRESENT.
You would rather have them all tn ere and
you go with bare brow forever, han that
one should be missing to complete the gar
lands of heaven for your coronal. The Lord
God Of Joshua gave them a safe Jordanlc
passage.
Even children will go through dry shod.
Those of us who were brought up in the
country remember, when the sum mer was
coming on in our boyhood days, we always
1onged for the day when we were 20 go
barefooted, and after teasing our mothers
in regard to it for good while, and they
consented, we remember the delicious sensa-
ton Of the cool grass when we put our I'M
covered foot on it.
we wear now, lest we be cut of the sharp
places of this world, shall be taken off, and
with unsandled foot we will step into the
bed of the river: with feet untrammeled,
free from pain and fatigue, we will gain
that last journey, when, with one foot In
the bed of the river and the other foot on
the other bank, we struggle upward. That
will be heaven. Oh. pray for all my dear
people safe Jordanic passagei That is
what the dying Christian husband felt when
he said: How the candle fickers, Nelliei
Put it out I shall sleep we'll tonight and
One word or COMFORT on this subject for
all the bereaved. You see, our departed
friends have not been submerged, have not
been swamped in the waters. They have
only crossed over. These Israelites were
just as thoroughly alive the western
banks of the Jordan as they had been on the
eastern banks Of the Jordan, and our de-
DC rted Christian friends have only crossed
over-not SICK not dead, not exhausted, not
extingushed, not blotGed out, but with
healthier respiration, and stouter pulses, and
keener eyesght, aud better prospects,
crossed over, their sins, their physical and
mental disquiet, all left clear this side. an
eternallY flowing, impossible obstacle be-
tween them and all human and satanic pur-
suit. Crossed over! Oh, shake hands Of
congratulate with all the bereaved in the
consideration that our departed Christian
friends are safe!
Why was there so much Joy in certain |
circles in New York when people heard |
from the friends who were on board that |
belated steamer? 1t was feared that vessel |
had gone to the bottom of the sea, and when !
the friends on this side heard that the |
we not a right to congratulate the people in |
New ork that their friends had got safely |
across? And is it not right this morning |
that I congratulate you that your departed |
friends are safe on the shore of heavens |
Would you have them back again? Would |
you have those old parents back again? You |
know how hard it was sometimes for them to |
n