Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1893-03-18

tapestry about the window gorgeous
enough for Turkish sultan; impatient
steeds paw and neigh Mt the door, their
carriages moving TIN .gh the sea Of
New York life very wave of splendor.
Who is it? Why, it is a boy who came
to New York with dollar in his pocket
and all his estate slung over his shoulder
in a cotton handkerchief All that silver
on the dancing span is petrifed sweat
drops; that beautiful dress Is the faded
calico over which God put his hand Of
perfection, turning it to Turkish satin or
Italian silk; those diamonds ore the tears
which suffering froze as they fell. Oh,
there is river of difficulty between us
and every earthly achievement. You
know that You admit that.
You know this is SO with regard to the
acquisition Of knowledge. The ancients
used to say that Vulcan struck Jupiter
OH the head, and the goddess Of wisdom
jumped out. illustrating the truth that
wisdom con- IS by hard knocks. There
was river OF difficulty between Shake
speare, the boy, holding the horses at the
door of the London theater, and that
Shakespeare, the great dra1nntist, Win
ming tho applause of MI audiences by his
tragedies. There was a river between
Benjamin Franklin, with Il loaf Of bread
under his arm. walking the streets of
Philadelphia. and that same Benjamin
Franklin. tho philosopher, just outside
of Boston flying IL kite in the thunder
storm.
An idler was cured of his bad habit by
looking through the 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 Lockhart,
his lllustrious biographer afterward.
Lord Mansfield. pursued by the press and
by the populace, because OF certain line
of duty, went on to discharge the duty,
and while the mob were around him de-
manding the taking of his life he shook
his fist in the face Of the mob and said,
"Sirs, when ones last end comes. it call.
not come too soon if he falls in defense
of law and the liberty of his country"
And so there is, my friends tug, q
tussle, trial, push, an anxiety.
through which every man must go be-
fore he comes to worldly success and
worldly achievement. You admit it.
Now be wise enough to apply it i'll reli-
gion. Eminent Christian character is
only gained by the Jordanic passage; no
man just happened to get good.
Why does that man know so much
about the Scriptures? He WIS studying
the Bible while you were reading al
novel. He was on fire with the sublimi-
ties of the Bible while you were sound
asleep; by tug, tussle, pushing and run
ming in the Christian life that man got
SO strong for God; III a hundred Softer.
mos he learned how to fight; in q hull
dred shipwrecks he learned howt to swim.
Tears over sin, tears over Zion's desola-
ton, 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 II. the
var
family record ;sall around are the relics
of the dead.
THE JORDAN OF DEATH.
The Christian has passed the Red sea
of trouble, and yet he thinks there is
Jordan of death between him and heav.
en-. He comes down to that Jordan OF
death and thinks how many have been
lost there. When Molyneux was explor-
ing the Jordan in Palestine, he had his
boats all knocked to pieces in the rapids
of that river. And there are o 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, hurricanes
flying, death coming. groanings in thel
water, moaL.ngs IN the wind, thunder in
the sky, while God. with the finger OF
lightning, writes all over the sky, twill
tread them In my wrath. and Twill tram
pie them in my fury"
The Christian comes down to this rag
ing 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 rs 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? 0 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
zone up the other bank. You-4et 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, l
thought to myself how pleasant it would
be if could put all in boat and then
20 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. It wouldn't take FIVE
minutes to go from bank to bank, and
then in 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 go together?
I remember my mother In her dy-
ing hour said to my father, Father,
wouldn't it be pleasant if we could all
go together" But we cannot all go to-
gether. We must go one by one, and
we must be grateful if we get there ct
all. What heaven 1t will be if we
have all our families there to look
around and see all the children are pres
emit. You would rather have them all
there, and you go with bare brow for