Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1893-05-13

the gospel. You a1 not afraid Of me, audi
am not afraid OF y00. a some day, Q
brother, will clasp your bands together.
and I Win turn your facs the other way,
while you are helpless in my grasp VIII
give you one head1ong push into the king
dom Of God. Christ says we must compa
you to come in. viii compel you to come
in. Can l oonsert 70 anTthiug else With
these men, who are as dear to ule - my OWN
soul, will compel ron to come In.
Profting by the mistakes OF the past, I
must do better work for you and better
work for God. Lest l might through some
sudden illness or casualty, be snatched away
before nave the opportunity OF doing so. l &.
take This occasion to declare my love for
you o. g people. It is different work if q
pastor is placed ID a church alrsady built
up, and he is surrounded by established CIR.
c~umstances. There are not ten people IN
this church that have not been brought into
the chu7ch through my ministry. You are
my family. Ifeeles much at hons here as
1 90 IN ny residence on uxrora street. rou
are NY f~amily~my father, my mother. my
sister, my son, my daughter. You are my
joy and crown, the subject Of my prayers
Your present and everlasting welfare IS
the object OF my ambition. have no
nov. l know the world about as well as
anF ons kroys il. have heard the hand.
clapping OF It's applause, and have heard
the hiss of its opposition. and / declare to
YOU that the former is not especially 20 rS
sought for, nor is the latter to be feared.
The world has given me about all the com
tort and prosperity it can give a man. and l
have no worldly ambition: 1 have al ali
consuming ambi lion to make fcl rroof OI
my ministry, to get to heaven myself aid
to take a great crowd with me. Upon your
table and cradle and armchair and pillow
and lounge and nursery and drawing room
and kitchen may the blessing of the
Almighty God come down.
During these "a years there is hardly q
family tia has not been invaded by sorrow
or death. Wherfare those grand. old men.
| those glorious CHRISTIAN women. who used
to worship with us? Why. they vent away
into the next world 50 gradually THAT they
had concluded the second stanEa or the
third stanza in heaven before you knew they
were gone. They had on the crown before
you thought they had dropped the staff OF
the earthly pilgrimage.
And then the dear children. Oh. how
mspy have gone out Of this church! You
could not keep them. You folded them In
your arms and said: 30 God, / cannot
give them up, Take all else, take my prop
erty, take my reputation, but let me keep
this treasure. Lord, l cannot bear this"
Oh, if we could all die together! If we
could keep all the sheep aud the lambs of
the family fold together until some bright
spring day. the birds a-chAnt and the
waters a-glitter, n then we could alto
gether hear the voice of tne good Shepherd
and land in hand pass through the flood!
No, no, no, mol Oh. if we only had notice
that we are all to depart together, and we
could say to our families: ''The time has
come. The Lord bids us away" And then
VI. could take our little children to their
hs1s .aa %straighted out their limbs and say:
s - .lcoD <t0 last c1o0r (1nnd nirhf an.
I'll it is good morning." And then we could
90 to our own couches and say Nov.
altogether we are ready to go. Our chill
dren are gone; now let us depart"
No, moi 1t is one by one. 1t may be in
the midnight. It may be in the winter and
in the snow coming down twenty inches
deep over our grave. 1t may be In the
the bell for help. 1t inay be SO suddenly we
have no time even to say goodby. Death Is
q bitter, crushing. tremendous curse.
l play you three tunes on the gospel harp
Of comfort. "Weeping may endure for q
night. but JOY cometh in the morning"
That is one. All things work together tor
good to those who love God" That is the
second. "And the Lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall lead them to liv-
ing fountains of water, and God shall wipe
all tears from their eyes" IS the
third. During these "a years have tried
as far as ! could by argument, by uluStra-
ton and by caricature to fill you with dis
gust with much of this modern religion
which people are trying now to substitute
for the religion Of Jesus Christ and the .relig
ion Of the apostles.
/ have triedto persuade you that the worst
of all cant is the cant of skepticism, and in
stead Of your apologizing for Christianity
it was high time that those who do not be
lieve in Christianity should apologize to you
and | have tried to show that the biggest
Williams in the universe are those who woulo
try to rob us of this Bible, and that tn
~grandest mission of the church of Jesu
Christ is that Of bringing souls to the Lore
"a soul saving church.
But now those years are gone. If yor
have neglected your duty, if I have neg
lected my duty, 1t IS neglected forever
Each year has its work. If the work j
performed within the IL months. it Is dom
forever. If neglected, it is neglected for
ever.
When a woman was dying she said
Call them back" They did not know
what she meant. She had been a ciscipl
of the world. She said, 'Oh, call then
back They said, "Who do you want u
to call backg' ''Ob," she said, 'call then
back. the days, the months, the years | hav
wasted. Cali them back" But you canue
call them back; you cannot call a year bach
or q month back, or q week back, or an hou
back. or a second back. Gone once, it
gone forever.