Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1893-08-18

| or your shop, or your Delroo'n, auu 'naI
word was eternity" You SAID Il am I nor
ready for it. O God, have mercy Ine
f,ori heard. Peace came to your heart. You
remember how YOUR hand trembled as you
tool the cup of the holy communion. You
1smember the old minister who consecrated
If and YOU remember the church officials
| who carried it through the aisle. You re-
! member the old people who at the close OF
the service took your hand In theirs In con-
graduating sympathy, rs zach as TO say,
"Welcome home. you lost prodgal, ana
though those hands have all withered away
that communion Sabbath is r5surrected to-
dav. It is resurrected with all its prayers
, apd songs and tears and sermons and trans
nquration. Have yoa kepr thoas vows2
Have you been a backslider? God help you
This day knee at the foos of mercy and start
again for heaven. Start to-day as you
started then. l rouse your soul by tnaI
Renaissance.
But must not spend any moro OF my time
In going over the advantages Of your life. |
lust put them all in one great sheaf, and
bind them up in your memory With one loud
harvest song, such as reapers sing. Praise
the Lord, We blood bought mortas on earth
Praise the Lord, We crowned spirits OF heay-
en-
Bat some OF you have not always had
smooth life. Some of you are now in the
shadow. Others had their troubles years ago
you ara mere wreck Of what you once were.
/ must gather up the SORROWS of your past
life but how shall do it? You say that is
impossible, as you have had so manytrouoies
and adversties Then will just take two,
the first trouble and the last trouble.
And when you are walking along the street
and there has been music in the distance
you unconsciously find yourselves keeping
step to the music, so when you started lie
your very life was musical timebeat. Inc
air was full Of joy and hilarity. With the
bright, clear oar, you made the boat SKIP.
You went on, and life grew brighter until
after awhile suddenly voice from heaven
said, "Hat p And you halted. You grew
pale. You confronted your first sorrow.
You had no idea that the ffush on your
child's cheek was an unhealthy flush. You
said it cannot be anything serious. Death
in slippered feet walked roun1 about tho
cradle. You did not hear the tread, but
after awhile the truth flashed on you. You
walked tire floor Oh, it you could, with
your strong, stout hand, have wren2ne1 the
child from the destroyer
You went to your room, and you said:
"God, save my child God, save my child :"
The world seemed going out in darkness,
You said. ~ cannot bear it, 1 cannot bear
lashes over the bright eyes never to see them
again sparkle. Oh, if you could have taken
that little one in your arms and with 1t
leaped into the grave, how gladly you would
have done it On, il you could lot your
property 90, your houses, your land and
your storehouse go, hctg gladly you would
have allowed them to depart il you could
only have kept that one treasure
But one day there arose from the heavens
a chill blast that swept over the bedroom,
and instantly all the light went out and
there was darknsss-thick, murky impene-
trable, shudderlng darkness. But God did
not leave you there. Mercy spoke. AS you
were about to put that cup to your lips God
said, "Let it pass" and forthwith as By tho
hand OF angels, another cup was put into
YOUR hands. 1t was the cup Of Gods conso'
lation. And as you have sometimes lifted
the head OF wounded soldier and poured
wine into his lips, 80 God puts His LETT arm
under your head, and with His right hand
He ponrs into your lips the wine OF HIS CON.
fort and His consolation, and you looked at
the empty cradle and looked at your brokeD
heart, and you looked at the Lords chas'
tisement. and you said, Even so, Father,
for so it seemeth good in Thy sight"
All. it is your first trouble How did you
get over it? God comforted you. You have
been better man ever since. You have been
q better woman ever since. In the jar OF the
closing gate of the sepulcher you heard the
changing of the opening gate OF heaven and
you felt an irresistible drawing heayenward.
You have been purer and holier OF heart ever
since that night when the little one for the
last time put its arms around your neck and
said "Good night, papa. Good night,
mamma. Meet me in heaven"
But must come on down to your later
sorrow What was it? Perhaps it was sick
ness. The child's tread on the stair or the
tick ofthe watch on the stand disturbs you.
Through the long, weary days you counted |
the figures on the carpet or the fowers IN |
the wall paper. Oh, the wsariness and ex-
haustionl On. the burning pangs Would |
God it were morning, would God 1t Wero |
night, were your frequent cry. But you are |
better-perhaps even well. Have you thanked |
God that to-day you can come out in the ires1 |
air that YOU are in this place to hear Gods
name, and to sing Gods prais1 and to I'M
plore Gods help, and to ask Gods forgive
ness? Bless the Lord who hcaleth all our
diseases and redeemeth our lives from de-
structon.
Perhaps your last sorrow was financial
embarrassment. / congratulate some OF you
on your lucrative profession or occupation,
on ornate apparel, on commodlous resi-
you put your mana 10
|
of you who are like the ship on which Paul
sailed where two seas met, and you are
broken by the violence of the waves. BY an
unadyised Endorsement, or by q conjunction
of unforeseen events, or by fire or storm, orr
senseless panic, you have been flung head.
long, and where you once dispensed great
charities now you have hard work to MAKE
the two ends meet
Have YOU forgotten to thank God for your
days of prosperity, and that through YOU
trials some OF you have made Investments
whicl will continue after the last bank
this world has exploded and the silver and
gold are molten in fires OF a burning world
Have you amid all your losses and discour
agements, forgot that there was bread OF
rour table this morning and that there shat
De shelter Tor your head from the storm
md there is air for your lungs and blood fol
FOUR heart and light for your eye and glad
md glorious AMI triumphant religion for
-our soul?
Perhaps your last trouble was q bereave-
nent. That he lrt which in childhood war
our refuge, the parental heart, and which
las been a source of the quickest sympathy
yer since. has suddenly become silent for {
yer. And now sometimes whenever in sud.
len annoyance and without deliberltion you
ay, II will go and tell mother" the thought
aSheS on you, IL nave no motner- Or tnS
lther. with voice less tender. but at heart az
arrest and loving-watchful of all your
7ays, exultant over your Success without
aging much. although the old people do 1
ak it over by themselYes-is taken away I
orever. O
Or there was your companion in life, '
harer of your joys and sorrows. taken, leav' ]
lg the heart an old ruin, where the i'll winds
low over q wide wilderness OF desolatior, i
ne sands of the desert driving across the
lace which once bloomed like the garden OF