The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1893-03-14


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 list in the face of the mob and
said: ''Sirs, when ones last end comes,
it cannot come too soon. if he falls in de-
Tense of law and the liberty of his coun-
try" And SO there is, my friends, Il
tug, a tussle, trial, push, an anxiety,
| thr3Ggh which every man must go before
achievement. You admit it.. Now be
wise enough to apply it in religion. Emil
nent Christian character is only gained
| by the Jorlanic passage; no man just hap
| pened to get good.
Why does that man know so much about
| the scriptures? lie was studying the Ri
Bile while you were reading n novel. He
was or fire with the sublimities of the Ri
bic, while you We're sound asleep. by
tug, tussle. pushing and running in the
| Christian life that man got so strong for
| God; in q hundred solferinos he learned
how to fight; in hundred shipwrecks he
learned how to swim. Tears over sin
tears over Zion's desolation, tears over
| the impenitent, tears over the graves made,
| are the Jordan which that man had 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 rel
les of the dead.
The Christian has passed the Red sea
of trouble, and yet he thinks there is q
Jordan of death between him and heaven.
He 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 a 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 thing to make shipWreckS
on the rock of ruin; masts falling. hurri-
canes flying. death coming, groanings Ill
the water. meanings in the wind. thunder
in the sky. while God with the finger of
the lightning writes all over the sky, n
will tread them in my wrath, and l Will
trampe them in my fury
Tho Christian comes down to this raging
to and he knows he must pass out;
an Our he comes towards the time his
bre%cs- gets shorter; and his last breath
ayluthim as he steps into the stream, and
no cner does he touch the stream than it
is tied. and he goes through dryshod,
whlfe all the waters wave their rlumcs cry
ing, 20. death, where is thy sting? q, grave.
whett, is thy victory" God shall wipe away
all. Cars from their eyes, and there shall be
no more weeping, and there shall be no
moro 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
supernatural strength. The other morn
ing at my table, all my family present, /
thought TO myself how pleasant it would be
if | could put all into a boat, and then
go in with them, and we could pull across
all together. No family parting, no
gloomy obsequies; it wouldn't take five
minutes to go from bank to bank, and
then III that better world to be together
forever Wouldn't it be pleasant for you
to take all your family into that blessed
country, if You could all 90 together? |
remember my mother, in her dying hour,
said to my father, Father, wouldn't it be
pleasant if we could all go together?'
But we cannot all so together. We must
90 one by one, and We must be grateful
if we get there at all. What heaven it
will be if we have all our families there,
to look around and see all our children
are present. You would rather have them
all thHre, and you go with bare brows for
ever, than that one should be missing, to
complete the garlands of heaven for your
coronal. The Lord God of Joshua give
them a safe Jordanic passage,
Even children will go through dryShod.
Those of us who were brought up in the
country, remember when the summer was
coming on in our boyhood days, we always
l0nged for the day when we were to go
barefoOted, and, after teasing our mothers
IN regard to it for a good while and they
consented we remember the delicious SEN
satlon of the cool grass when we put our
uncovered foot on 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 un-
sandalled foot we will step into the bed of
the river. with feet untrammelled, free from
PAIN and fatigue, we will gain that last
journey; when, with one foot in the bed
of the river and the other foot on the other
bank we STRUGGLE inward That will he
heaven. Oh, ] pray for all my dear people
a safe Jordanic passage. That is what the
dying Christian husband felt when he said,
How the candle hickers. Nellie, Put it out;
I shall sleep well tonight, and wake in the
morning.
One word of comfort on this subject for
all the bereaved. You see. our departed
friends nave not been Submcrged-ha
not been sWamped i'll the waters; they have
only crossed over. These Israelites We're
just as thoroughly alive On the western
banks of the Jordan; and our departed
Christian friends have only crossed over
not sick, not dead, not exhausted not eX-
tinguished, not blotted out, but with
healthier respiration, and stOuter pulses
and keener eyesight, and better prospects;
crossed over! Their sins, their physical and
mental disQuet. all left clear this side, an
eternally flowing, impossible obstacle be-
tween them and all human and satanic pur-
suit Crossed over Oh, | shake hands Of
cOngra tulatiOn with all the bercaved i'll the
consideration that our departed Christian
friends are safe.
Why was there SO much JOY i'll certain cir
cles in New York when people heard from
the friends who on board that belated
steamer 1t was feared that vessel had
gone TO the bottom of the sea; and when
the friends Oh this side heard that the
steamer had arrived safely in Liverpool
had we not Il right to congratulate the peo-
pie in New York that their friends had got
safely across? And is it not right this
morning that / congratulate you that your
departed friends are safe on the shore of
heaven? Would you have them back again?
Would you have those old parents back
again? You know how hard it was some
times for them to get their breath in the
stiAed atmosphere of the summer; would
you have them back III this weather? Didn't
they use their brain long enough? Would
YOU have your Children back again? Would
YOU have them take the risk of temptation
which throng every human pathway? Would
YOU have them cross the Jordan three
times? In addition to crossing it already.
cross it again to greet you now, and then
cross back afterward. For certainly YOU
would not want to keep them forever out
of heaven.
Pause and weep not for the freed from pain
But that the sigh of love would bring them
back again.
| ask a question and there seems to
Gonna hack the answer in heavenly echo