The Penn's Grove record., 1893-08-11

iniscence to-dayl
l find another point in your life history.
You found one day you were In the wrong
road you could not sleep at night. There
was just one word that seemed to sob through
your banking house, or through your office,
or your shop, or your bedroom, and that
word was 'seternity." You said az am not
ready for it. o God, have mercy!' The
Lord heard. Peace came to your heart. You
remember how your hand trembled as you
took the cup OF the holy communion. You
remember the old minister who consecrated
1t, and you remember the church officials
who carried 1t 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 much as to say,
'Welcome home, you lost prodigal," and
though those hands have all withered away
that communion Sabbath is resurreeted to-
day. 1t is resurrected with all its prayers
end songs and tears and sermons and trans
fguration. Have you kept those vows?
Have you been a backslider? God help you
This day kneel at the foot of mercy and start
again for heaven. Start to-day as you
started then. l rouse your soul by that
Renaissance.
But l must not spend nny more of my thine
In going over the advantages OF your life. l
Just put them all in one great sheaf, and L
bind them up in your memory with one loud
harvest song, such as reapors sing. Praise
the Lord, ye blood bought mortals on earth!
Praise the Lord, ye crowned spirits OF heav-
en-!
But some of you have not always had a
smooth life. Some of you are now in the
shadow. Others had their troubles years ago
you are n mere wreck of what you one were.
I must gather up the sorrows Of your past
life, but how shall l do it? You say that is
impossible, as you have had so manytroubles
and adversities. 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 unconsciousiy find yourselves keeping
step to the music, so when you started life
your very life was a musical timebeat. The
air was full of joy and hllarity. With the
bright, clear oar, you made the boat skip.
You went on, and life grow brighter, until
after awhile suddenly a voice from heaven
said, "Halt! ~ And you halted. You grew
pale. You confronted your first sorrow.
You had no idea that the flush on your
child's cheek was an unhealthy flush. You
said it cannot be anything serious. Death
in slippered feet walked round about the
cradle. You did not hear the tread, but
after awhile the truth flashed on you. You
walked the floor. oh, II you could, with
your strong, stout hand, have wrenched the
child from the destroyer!
You went to your room, and you said
"God, save my child! God, save my child y
The world seemed going out in darkness,
You said, 81 cannot bear it, 1 cannot bear
it You felt as If you could not put the
lashes over the bright eyes never to see them
again sparkle. oh, II you could have taken
that little one in your arms and with II.
leaped into the grave, how gladly you would
have don it! Oh, II you could let your
property 60, your houses. your land and
your storehouse go, how gladly you would
have allowed them to depart IL you could
only have kept hat 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 darkness-thick, murky, impene-
trable, ~shuddering darkness. But God did
were about to put that cup to your lips God
said, Let it pass" and forthwith as by the
and 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 a wounded soldier and poured
wine into his lips, so God puts His left arm |
under your head, and with His right hand
He pours into your lips the wine Of His CON-
fort and His consolation, and you looked at
the empty cradle and looked at your broken
heart, and you looked at the Lords chas-
tisement, and you said, Even so, Father,
for so it seemeth good In Thy sight"
All, 1t is your first trouble. How did you
get over it? God comforted you. You have
been q better man ever since. You have been
a better woman ever since. In the jar OF the
closing gate of the se%pulcher you heard the
changing of the opening gate of heaven and
you felt al irresistible drawing h~eavenward. |
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 l must come on down to your later |
sorrow. What was it? Perhaps 1t was sick
ness. The child's tread on the stair or the
tick of the watch on the stand disturbs you.
Through the long, weary days you counted
the figures on the carpet or the flowers in
the wall paper. Oh, the WEAKNESS and ex-
haustion! oh, the burning paDgs! Would
God 1t were morning, would God 1t were
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 fresh !
air that you are In this place to hear Gods \
name, and to sing Gods praise, and to i'm
plore Gods help, and to ask Gods forgive
ness? Bless the Lord who healeth all our
diseases and redeemeth our lives from de-
Perhaps your last sorrow was a financial
embarrassment. ! congratulate some of you
on your lucrative profession or occupation,
on ornate apparel, on a commodious resi-
dence-everything you put your a to
seems to turn to gold. But there are others
of you who are likethe ship on which Paul
sailed where two seas met, and you are
broken by the violence OF the waves. By an
unadvlsed Endorsement. or by a conjunction
of unforeseen events, or by fire or storm, ora
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 FOUR
days Of prosperity, and that through your
trials some of you have made investments
which will continue after the last bank of
this world has exploded and the silver and
.a1ll 80 ala IN G.aa "a n kaW ot~ all 4
Have you, amid all your losses and discour-
agements, forgot that there was bread on
your table this morning and that there shall
be- a shelter Tor your head from the storm,
and thera is air for your lungs and blood for
your heart and light for your eye and a glad
and glorious and triumphant religion for
your soul?
Perhaps your last trouble was a be=eaye-
ment. That heart which In childhood was
our refuge, the parental heart, and which
has been a source of the quickest sympathy
ever since, has suddenly become silent for
ever. And now sometimes whenever In sud
den annoyance and without deliberation you
say. ~ will go and tell mother" the thought
flashes on you, III have no mother" Or the
father, with voice less tender, but at heart rs
earnest and loying-watchful OF all your
ways, exultant over your success without
much, although the old people do
talk 1t over by themselves-is taken away
Or there was your companion in life,
sharer Of your joys and sorrows, taken, leav-
the heart an old ruin, where the i'll winds
blow over a wide wilderness of desolation,
the sands of the desert driving across the
place which once bloomed like the garden of
God. And Abraham mourns for Sarah At
the cave of Machpelah. Going along your
path in life, suddenly, right before you was
open grave.
People looked down, and they saw 1t was
only a few feet deep and a few feet wide, but
10 you 1t was a chasm down which went all
hopes and all your expectations.
But cheer up in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the comforter. He is not going to
forsake you. Did the Lord take that child
but OF your arms2 Why, He Is going to
shelter Il better than you could. He is going !
10 array 1t In a white robe and give 1t a palm
and have 1t all ready TO greet you at
FOUR coming home. Blessed the broken
that Jesus heals. Blessed the im-
Fortunate cry that Jesus eompassionates.
Blessed the weeping eye from which the soft
and ~ llama uyipaa n uuau fha faar