Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-03-18

IN the complete saviour, rubbing His
hand over the place where We havs the pain,
| yet the stars OF heaven tbs q iorniux gems
OF His right hani. Holding US IN His arms
when we take our last view Of our dead. Sit.
| ting down with Us on the tombstone. an
while We plant roses there He planting con-
| ISOLATION in our heart, ev>-y chapter . stalE.
every verse stem, eve word a. rose A
complete Saviour, conYets Bible, a con-
plete univers,, complete JJr iaa;c pass lge.
Everything that God do $ is complete.
Again, learn from this Jorlniic passage
that between US aat every Canaan OF sue.
cess ami prosperity thsrs is a river that
| must be passed. "On, how l would like
to have soma of ts,ss Craps on the other
sidel' said some Of the Isra siitss to Josnua
"Weil,n says Joshua, why don't you cross
over ami get themg' There is a river of
difficulty between us and everything that is
worth knowing That which costs nothing
is worth nothing.
God didn't intend this world for an easy
parlor, through which we are to be drawn
in a rocking chair, but we are to work our
passage, climb masts, fight battles, scale
mountains and ford rivers. God makes
everything valuable difficult to get at, for
the same reason that He put ths gold down
in the mine and the pearl clear down in the
sea-to make us dig and dive for them. We
acknowledge this principle in worldly things;
oh, that we were only visa enough to ac-
knowledge it in religious thingsl
You have scores of illustrations under
your own observation where men havs had
the hardest lot ami been troddsn under foot,
and yet after awhile had it easy. Now their
homes blossom and bloom with p ctures,
and carpets that made foreign looms laugh
now embrace their feet: the sum ner winds
lift the tapestry about the window gorgeous
though for Turkish sultan; impatient
steeds paw and neigh at the door. their car.
riages moving through the sea of New YORK
life very wave of splendor.
Who is itf Why. it is a boy who came to
New York with dollar in his pocket and
cotton handkerchief. All that silver on the
dancing span is petrified 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 dia-
monds are the tears which suffering frozs as
they fell. On, there is a 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 ancieuts
used to say that Vulcan struck Jupiter on
the head and the goddess OF wisdom jumped
out. illustrating the truth that wisdom
comes by hard knocks. There was river
OF difficulty between Shakespeare, the boy,
holding the horse at the door OF the London
.uoade, anu tnae onakeSpedTes Tue great
dramatist, winning the applause OF all au.
diences by his tragedies There was river
between Benjamin Franklin, with loaf of
bread under his arm. walking the streets of
Philadelphia, and that same Ben amin
Franklin, the philosopher, just outside of
Boston flying kite in the thunderstorm.
An idier was cured OF his bad habit by
looking through the win low, night after
night, at man who seemed sitting at his
another until almost the dawn OF the morn
ing. The man sitting there writing until
morning was INDUSTRIOUS Walter Scott: the
man who looked at aim through the window
was Locknart, his illustrious biograple r
afterward. Lord Mansfield, pursued by the
press and by the popuiare. because of Ger.
tain line of duty, went on to discharge the
duty, and wnile the mob were AROUND hin
demanding the taxing OF his life he shook
his fist in the face OF this mob AMI sait.
''Sirs, when onss last eni comes, it cannot
come too soon if he falls in defense of law
and the liberty OF his country
And so there is, my friends, tug. tus-
sic, trial, push, an anxiety, throu IN
when every man must go before he cone.
to worldly success an worldly achievement.
You admit it. Now be wise enough to an.
ply it in religion. Eminent Christian CHAR
acter is only gained by the Jordanc
passage, no man just happened to get good.
Why Goes that man know SO muca about
the Scriptures? He was stu lying tn, Bioie
while you were rea3iag a novel. de was on
fire with the sub.imities o, the Bible wnils
you were sound asleep; by tug, tussle, push
ing and running in the Christian life that
man got SO strong for God; in a hunired
Solferinos he learae how to fight: in hun.
bred shipwrecks he learned how to swim.
Tears over sin, tears over lions desolation,
tears over the impenitent, tears over the
graves made, are the Jordan which that
man had passed. Sorrow pales the cheek,
ami AIDES the eye. and wrinkles the rrow,
and withers the hands There are mourn
ing garments in the wardrobe, and there are
deaths in every family record; all around are
the relics of the dead. II
The Christian has passed the Red sea of
trouble, and yet he thinks there is Jordan
OF death between him and heaven. He
comes down to that Jordan of death anpt
thinks how many have been lost there.
When Molyneux was exploring the Jordan
in Palestine, he had his boats ali knocked to
pieces in the rapids of that river. An there
are great many men wno have gone down
in the river of death; the Atlantic and
Pacific have lot swallowed so many. 1t is
an awful thing to make shipwrecks on the
rock of ruin-masts falling, hurricanes
flying. death coming. grosn'ngs IN tne
water, meanings in the wind, thunder IN
Y,
ming, writes all over the sky, VI will tread
them in NV wrath, and / will trample them
in My fury"
The Christian comes down to this raging
torrent, and he knows he must pass OUT. ana
as he comes toward the time his breath gets
shorter, and his last breath leaves him as ne
steps into the stream, and no sooner does he
touch the stream than it is parted, and ne
goes through dry shod, while all the waters
wave their plumes, crying; 20 death. where
is thy sting? grave, whefe is thy victory?'
God shall wips away all tears from the'r
eyes, and there shall be no more weeping,
and there shall be no more death.
Some of your children have already gone
up the other hank You let them down on
this side Of the bank; they will be on the
other bank to halo you up with supernat-
ural strength. The other morning at my
table, all my family present. thought to
myself how pleasant it would bs it l could
nut all in boat and then go in With them,
and we could pull across the river to the
next world and be there altogether. NO
family parting, no gloomy obseduieS; IL
wouldn't take five minutes to go from banS
to bank. and then in that better world 10 De
And the time will come when these sdoes
we wear now. lest We be cut OF the sharp
places of this vorl !. shall be taken off, and
with unsandIed foot we will step into the
bed of the river; with feet untrammeisi.
free from pain and fatigue, we WIN gam
that last journey, when, with one foot In
the bed of the river and fne ot'so foot on
the other bank, we struggle upward. That
will be 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 can lie fickers, Nellie
Put it out. l shall sleep well tonight and
wake in the morning"
athar fOrpvnr
for you to take all your family into that
blessed country if you could all &c together?
remember my mother in her dying hour
said to my father, "Father, wouldn't it be
pleasant il we could all go togetherT But
we cannot all go to yetaer We must go one
by one. and we must be grateful if we get
there at all. What a heaven it will be ii
we have all our families there to look
around and see all the children ara PRESENT.
You would rather have them ali tn ere, and
you go with bare brow forever, t han that
one should be missing to complete the gar
lands of heaven for your coronaL. The Lord
God of Joshua gave them a safe Jordanic
passage.
Even children will go through dry shot.
Those of us who wers brought up in the
country remem Der, when the su n mer was
coming on in our Doyhood days. we always
ionged for the day when we were TO 90
barefooted, and after teasing our mothers
in regard to it for good while, ant they
consented, we remember the delicious sensa-
ton Of the coil grass wlen We put our IN
covered foot on it.
One word of comfort on this subject for
all the bareavsd. You see, our departed
friends have not been submerged, have not
been swamped in the waters. They have
only crossed over. Thess Israelites were
just as thoroughly alive on the western