Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1893-06-23
think SOP Some of you are making your

MANY WOrKm6u dte tukdSou ch IL iVt a ioHS
while. The ship is done, and some day, with
the flags I'D and the air gorgeous with bunt-
ing. that vessel Is launched for southampton.
At that time lad six years OF age comes
running down the dock with atoy boat which
he has made with his own jackknife. and he
saws: ''Here my boat Is better than yours.
Just look at this jibboom and these weather
cross lack braces" and he drops his little
boat beside the great ship, and there is roar
of laughter on the docks.
Alb. my friends, that great ship is your life
as God planned it--vast. million tonned,
ocean destined, eternity bound. That little
boat is your life as you are trying to hew 1t
out and fashion it and launch it, All, do not
try to be a rival of the great Jehoyan. Goa
Is always right, and in nine cases OUT OF Ten
vou are wrong He sends just the hardships,
lust the bankruptcies, just the cross that 1t
is hest for YOU to have. He knows what KIND
of grain YOU are, and He sends the right kind
of thrashing machine. 1t will be roo or
staff or iron wheel just according as you are
ftches or cummin or corn: r.,
Again. nv subject teaches us that Goo
keeps trial on Us until we let go. The farmer
shouts "whoa % to his horses as soon as tue
grain has dropped from the stalk. Inc Iar-
mer comes with his fork and losses up the
straw. and he sees that the straw has let go
the grain and the grain is thoroughly
thrashed. So God. Smiling rod and turn
ing wheel both cease as soon as we let go.
We hold on to this world with Its pleasures
md riches and emoluments, and our knuckles
are so firmly set that 1t seems as If we could
hold on forever God comes along with
some thrashing trouble and beats US loose.
We started under the delusion that this was
great world We learned out OF our geog-
raphy that it was SO many thousand miles
! i nd
circumference, and we said, "Oh, my, wnat
a world pr Troubles came In after life, and
this trouble sliced off one part of the world,
and that trouble sliced off another part OF the
world. and it has got to be smaller world,
/ and in some of your estimations very In
significant world, and it is depreciating all
the time as a spiritual property. Ten per
cent. off, fifty per cent. off, and there are
those here who would not give ten cents loI
! this world-for the entire world-as soul
possession.
We thought that friendship was a grand
thing. In school we used to write compost
tions about friendship, and perhaps we
made our graduating speech on commence.
ment day on friendship. Oh, it was charmed
| thing. But does it mean as much to you as
! 1t used to? You have gone on in life, and
one friend has betrayed you, and another
friend has misinterpreted you, and another
friend has neglected you, and friendship
! comes now sometimes to mean 10 you merely
another ak to grind
So with money. We thought If man had
a competency he was safe for all the future,
but we have learned that a mortgage may be
defeated by an unknown previous 1ncum-
brance that signing your name on the back
of a note may be your business death war
rant that a new tariff may change the cur
rent 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 smjtes us with staff,
but we hold on. And He strikes us with
rod. but we hold on. And Hesends over US
the iron wheel of misfortune. 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 In
dian in the boat In the Niagara rapids com
ing on toward the fall. Seeingth that he could
not escape, a moment or two before he got
10 the verge of the plunge he lifted wine
bottle and drank it off and then tossed the
bottle into the air. So there are men who
clutch the world, and they go down through
the rapids of temptation and sin, and they
hold on to the very last moment of life, drink
ing to their eternal damnation as they go
over and go down.
Oh, let go Let go! The best fortunes are
in heaven. There are no abscond1ng cashiers
from that bank, no failing In promises to pay.
Set YOUR affections on things above, not on
thing on the earth. Let go Depend upon
it that God will keep upon you the stall or
the rod. or the iron wheel until you do letgo.
Another thing my text teaches us is that
Christian sorrow is going to have sure
terminus. My text says: Bread corn is
bruised because he will not be ever thrasnlng
it." Blessed be God for that. Pound away,
o fail. Turn on, 0 wheel? Your work Will
soon be DONE ''He will not be ever thrash
ing it." Now the Christian has almost as
much use III the organ for the stop tremulant
MS 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 VIII be
separated from so much as is chaff, and there
will be no 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 sal
walton and free access to the wardrobe Wnere
princes get their array. No tears OF sickness,
for there are no pneumonias ON the air ana
no malarial exhalations from the roinng
river of life, and no crutchf for the lame limb,
and no splint for the broken arm, but the
nnIses throbbing with the health Of the eternal
God In climate like our June before tne
blossoms fall. or our gorgeous October be-
fore the leaves scatter.
In that land the souls will talk over the
different modes of thrashing. On, the story
of the staff that struck the fitches, and the
rod that beat the cummin, and the iron
wheel that went over the corn! Danlel VIII
describe the lions, and Jonah leylatnans,
and Paul the elmwood whips with Wnich
ne was scourged, and Eve Will tell now
aromatic Eden was the day she left it, AMI
Iobn Rogers will fell of the smart of flame,
and Elijah Of the fiery team that wheeled
him nm the skv sleeps, and Christ OF the
numbness and paroxysm and hemorrnsSes
of the awful crucifxion. There they are be-
fore the throne of God. On one elevation
all those who were struck of the staff. On
higher elevation all those who were struck
of the rod. On highest elevation, and
amid the highest attitudes OF heaven, all
those who were under the wheel. he VIII
not ever be thrashing it.
Oh. nv hearers, is there not enough salye
in this text to make plaster large enough
TO heal all your wounds? When child Is
hurt, the mother is very apt to say 10 IL,
''Now. it will soon feel better" And this Is
what God says when He unbosoms all the
trouble in the hush Of this great promise.
"Weeping may endure for a night, but Joy
cometh in the morning You may leave
your pocket handkerchief sopping wet with
tears on your death pillow, but you VIII go
up absolutely sorrowless. They VIII wear
black you will wear white. Expresses for
them, palms for you.
You will say SIS it possible that l am
here? Is this heaven? Am l so pure now
will never do anything wrong! Am so wei
that will never again be sickf Are tnese
companionships so firm that they Will never
again be broken? Is that Mary? Is that
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