Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1893-06-09

mold jubilee IOr the safe crossing Oh sssS lea
sea is on its beach and before you leave 1t.
1t is awful, the delayed hosannahs, the be-
lated haIleiuiahs. the postponed doxoiogies.
the trains of Thanksgiving coming in so long
after they are due
The time to thank God for rescue from
temptation Is the moment after you have
broken the wine flask. The time to thank
God for your salvation Is the moment after
the first fash Of pardon. The time to be
grateful for the comfort of your beroft soul
is the first moment Of Christ's appearance at
the mausOleum of Lazarus. The time for
Miriams tambourine TO sound its most iubi-
rant note Is the moment the last Israelite
puts his foot on the sand on the parted inland
ocean. Alas. that when God s mercies have
such swift wings our praises should have
such ieaden fest
Notice that Miriam's song in my text had
for it's burden the overthrown cavalry. It
was not so much the infantry or the men on
foot over whose defeat she reioiced with
ringing timbrel. but over the men On horse
back-the mounted troops. 1.-THE horse and
his rider hath He thrown into the sea-" Ire
mendous arm of war Is the cavalry! JosephW
says that in that host that crossed the Red
sea there were sc, 900 cavalrymen. Epamin-
ondas rode into battle with 5000 cavalrymen
and Alexander with 1000. Marlborough de-
pended on his cavalry for the triumph at
Blenheim. 1t was not alone the snow that
despoiled the French armies in retreat from
alrymen decided the battles of Leuthen and
Le1ps1c and Winchester and Hanover Court
House and Five Forks. Some of YOU NAV
have been in the relentless raids led on by
Forrest or Chalmers or Morgan or Stuart of
the southern side, or Pleasanton or Wilson
or Fitzpatrick or Sheridan OF the northern
side. The army saddles are the thrones of
battle. Hurricanes in stirrups are the cav
alrymen.
No wonder that Miriam was chiefly grateful
that the Egyptian cavalrymen, pursuing the
Israelites down to midway tie Red sea, were
unsaddled, unstirruped, endorsed.
And have to tell you, o child of God. that
the Lord, who is on your side now and for
ever, has at His disposal and under His COM
mand all waters, all winds, all lightnings, all
time and all eternity. Come, look me in the
face while utter the word God commands
me to speak to you, mo weapon formed
against you shall prosper" Don't throw
away your tambOurine. You will want it as
sure as you sit there and [ stand here. and
the tune you will yet play on it, whether
standing on beach of time or beach OF etern-
ity, will be the tune that Miriam played when
she cried ''Sing We to the Lord. for He hath
triumphed gloriously the horse and his rider
hath He thrown into the sea-"
I expect to have good laugh with you in
heaven, for the Bible says in Luke, sixth
chapter, twenty-f1rst verse, ''Blessed are We
that weep now, for We shall laugh" We
shall not spend all eternity psalm singing,
but sometimes in review of the past, as
Christ says, we shall laugh. There is
nothing wrong in laughter. 1t all depends
on what you laugh at, and when you laugh
Nothing, it seems, will more thoroughly
kindle our heavenly hilarities after we have
got inside the pearly gate than to see now IN
this world we got scared at things which
ought not to have frightened us at ell.
How often we work ourselves up into
great stew about nothing The Red sea be-
-
behind US may be we'll mounted but if we
trust the Lord we will go through no more
hurt by the water than when in bOyhood we
rolled our garments to the knee and bare
foot crossed the meadow brook on the old
homestead. The odds may seem to be all
against you, but l guess it will be all right
with you if you have God on your side and
all the angelic, cherllbic. seraphic and arch
angelic kingdoms. IF God be for you, who
can be against yOuT'
But let me criticise Miriam little for the
instrument OF music she employed in the di-
vine service on the sandy beach. Why not
take some ether instrument? The harp was
sacred instrument. Why did she not take
that? The cymbal was sacred instrument.
Why did she not take that? The trumpet
was a sacred instrument. Why did she not
take that? Amid that great host there must
have been musical instruments more used in
religious service. No. She took that which
she liked the best and on which she could
best express her graduation over nations
rescue, first through the retreat of the waves
OF the Red sea, and then through the clap
ping Of the hands of their destruction. SO
withdraw my criticism of Miriam. Let every
one take her or his best mode of divine wOr-
ship and celebration. My idea of heaven is
that it is a place where we can do as we
please and have everything we want. o.
course we will do nothing wrong and want
nothing harmful
How much of the material and physical
will finally make up the heavenly world I
know not, but think Gabriel will have his
trumpet, and David his harp, and Handel his
organ, and Thalberg his piano, and the great
Norwegian performer his VIOLIN and Miriam
her timbrel, and as I cannot make music on
any of them | think I will move around
among all of them and listen. But there are
our friends of the Scotch Covenanter church
who do not like musical instruments at all in
divine worship, and they need not have
them.
What day it will be when we stand on
the beach of heaven and look back on the
Red sea of this worlds sin and trouble and
celebrate the fact that we have got through
and got over and got up, our sins and our
troubles attempting to follow gone clear down
under the waves.
Oh, crimson floods roll over them and
drown them, and drown them forever In
this world we have so little time for that,
am looking forward to eternal sOcialities.
To be with God and never sin against Him.
To be with Christ and forever feel His love. To
walk together in robes of white with those with
whom on earth we walked together in black
raiment of mourning. To gather up the
members of our scattered families and en-
brace them with no embarrassment, though
all heaven be looking on.
mine in Scotland caved in and caught
amid the rocks a young man who in few
days was to have been united in holy mar
riage. No one could get heart to tell his