The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1893-04-26
my daughser You are my Joy and

have not now. l know the world about
as well as any one knows it. / have
heard the handclapping of itsapplause,
and have heard the hiss Of its opposi-
ton, and declare to you that the
former is not especially to be sought
for, nor is the latter to be feared. The
world has given me about all the COM
fort and prosperity it can give man,
and have no worldly ambition. l
have an all-consuming ambition 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 arm chair, and pillow, and
lounge, and nursery, and drawing room
and kitchen, may the blessing Of the
Almighty God come down!
During these twenty-four years there
is hardly 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 so gradually that they
had concluded the second stanza or the
third stanza in Heaven before you knew
they were gone. They had on the
crown before you thought they had
dropped the staff of the earthly pill
grimage.
And then the dear children. 0hl
how many have gone out of this church.
You could not keep them. You folded
them in your arms and said: 80, God,
cannot give them up, Take all else,
take my property, take my reputation,
but let me keep this treasure; Lord, ]
cannot bear this"
o, 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 achant and
the waters aglitter, and then we could
altogether hear the voice of the Good
Shepherd, and hand in hand pass
through the flood. Mono, no, mo! o, If we
only had notice that we are all to depart
together, and we could say to our fami-
lies: "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:
"Now sleep the last sleep. Good night
until 1t is good morning" And then
we could go to our own couches, and
say: "Now, altogether we are ready
to go. Our children are gone, now let
us depart" No, mol 1t is one by one.
1t may be in the midnight. 1t 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. It may be so suddenly we
have no time even to say good-by. Death
is bitter, crushing, tremendous curse.
| l play you three tunes on the gospel
harp of comfort. weeping may en-
dure for 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
1 throne shall lead them TO living foun'
tains of water, and God shall wipe all
tears from their eyes" That is the
third. During these twenty-four years
have tried as far as could, by argu'
ment, by illustration, and by carica'
ture, TO I'LL you with disgust with much
Of this modern religion which people are
now trying TO substitute for the religion
of Jesus Christ and the religion of the
apostles. / have tried to persuade you
that the worst of all cant Is the cant OF
slepticism, and instead Of you apollo
giving for Christianity, it was high
time that those who do not believe In
Christianity should apologize to you
and have tried TO show that the big
Rest 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 bring
ing souls to the Lord-a soul-saving
church.
But now those years are gone. II you
have neglected your duty, If have
neglected my duty, it is neglected for
ever Each year has its work. il the
work is performed within the twelve
months, II is done forever. II neglected
1t Is neglected forever
When a woman was dying, she said
Call them back" They did not know
what she meant. She had been Il dis
ciple of the world. She said: 80, cal
them baclxl' They said: "Who do yor
want us TO call back?" "o," she said
"call them back, the days, the months
the years | have wasted, Call then
backr' But you cannot call them back
you cannot call year back, or montf
back, or a week back, or an hour back
or a second back. Gone once, it is gon,
forever.
When a great battle was raging, 4
messenger came up and said to th'
general, who was talking with an Off
Ger: General, we have taken a stand
ard from the enemy" The genera
kept right on conversing with his fel
low-officer, and the messenger sale
again: ~"General, we have taken {
standard from the enemy" Still tn,
general kept right on, and the messen
ger lost his patience, not having hi
message seemingly appreciated, ant
said again; General, we have takeI
standard from the enemy" The gen
eral then looked at him and said
"Take another" Ahl forgetting the
things that are behind, let us look K
those that are before. Win another
castle, take another standard, gain an
other victory.
Roll on, sweet day OF the world
emancipation, when "the mountains
and the hills shall break forth int
singing, and oil the trees Of the wooC
shall clap their hands, and instead O.