Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-03-16

JaInln L fankll1, lne philosopher, JtlSU Oul-
side of Boston 6ying kite in the thunder
storm
An idlcr was cured of his bad habit by
looking through his window night after
night at man who seemed sitting at his
desk turning off one sheet of writing after
another until almost the dawn of the
morning The man sitting there writing
until morning was industrious Walter
Scott; the man who looked at him through
the window was Lock hart, his illustrious
biographer afterward Lord Mansfield,
pursued by the press and by the populace
because of a certain line of duty, went on
to discharge the duty, and while the mob
were around him demanding the taking of
his life he shook his fist in the face of the
mob and said, "Sirs when ones last end
comes, it cannot come too soon If he falls
in defense of law and the liberty of his
country"
And so there is, my friends, tug, tus-
sic, trial, push, an anxiety, through
which every man must go before he comes
to worldly success and worldly achieve
ment You admit it. Now, be wise enough
to apply it in religion. Eminent Christian
character is only gained by the Jordanic
passage; no man just happened to get good.
Why does that man know 50 much about
while you were reading a novel. lie was
on fire with the sublimities of the Bible
whilcyou were sound asleep. By tug, tussle,
pushing and running in the Christian life
that man got so strong for God; in hum
dred SOlferinos he learned how to fight; in
hundred shipwrecks he learned how to
swim. Tears over sin, tears over lions
desOlaton, tears over the impenitent, tears
over the graves made, are the Jordan which
that man mad passed. Sorrow pales the
cheek, and fades the eye, and wrinkles the
brow, and withers the hands. There are
mourning 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 yet he thinks there is Jordan
of death between him and heaven lie
comes down to that Jordan of death and
thinks how many have been lost there.
When Molyneux was exploring the Jordan
in Palestine, he had his boats all knocked
to pieces in the rapids of that river. And
there are great many men who have gone
down in the river of death; the Atlantic
and Pacific have not swallowed so many.
1t is an awful thingto make shipwrecks on
the rock of ruin; uaSts falling, hurricanes
flying, death coming, groanngs i'll the wa
ter, meanings in the wind, thunder in the
sky, while God with the finger of the light
ming writes all over the sky, II will tread
them in my wrath and l 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 he goes through dry shod while all the
waters wave their plumes, crying; 20 death,
| where is thy sting q 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
up 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 supernatu-
raj strength, The other morning at my la
/ ble, all my family present, | thought to
myself how pleasant it would be If | could
put all into boat and then go in with
/ them, and we could pull across the river to
! the next world and be there all together
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 pleas
ant for you to take all your family into
that blessed country if you could all 90 to-
gether?
| remember my mother in her dying hour
said to my father, Father. wouldn't it be
pleasant if we could all 20 together" But
we cannot all go together We must 90
| one by one and we must be grateful if we
get there at all What heaven it will be
ii we have all our families there to look
around and see all the children are present.
You would rather have them all there, and
YOU go with bare brow forever, than that
one should he missing to complete the gar
lands Of heaven for your coronal. The
Lord God OF Joshua, give them safe Jor-
danic passage.
Even children will go through dry shod.
Those of US who were brought up in the
country remember when the summer was
coming on in our boyhood days, we always
longed for the day when we We're to go bare
footed, and after teasing our mothers i'll re
gard to it for good while, and they con
sented, we remember the delicious sensation
of the cool grass when we put our uncov-
cred foot oa it,
And the time will come when these shoes
we wear now, lest we be cut of the sharp
places of this world. shall be taken off, and
with unsandaled 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 III
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 passage, That Is
what the dying Christian husband felt
when he said: How the candle flickers
Nellie! Put it out; l shall sleep well to
night and wake in the morning.
WORD OF COMFORT.
One word of comfort on this subject FOL
all the bereaved. You see, our departed
friends have not been submerged-hav'
not been swamped in the waters They
have only crossed over, These lsraeiite'
were just as thoroughly alive on the west
ern banks of the Jordan as they had beer
on the eastern banks of the Jordan, anC
our departed Christian friends have onl.
crossed over-not sick, not dead, not eA
hausted, not eXtinguished, not blotted out
but with healthier respiration, and stoute
pulses, and keener eyesight, and bette
prospects-crossed over, Their sins, thei
physical and mental disquiet, all left clea
this side, an eternally flowing, impassabl
Ia ~ ON