National Baptist world., 1894-09-07

nn1Sh his neglected correspondence, or
to pen an indignant line to some re-
porter, or sketch the plan for a public
defense against the assault of the peo-
pie. Happy when he got his first law
yer's brief; exultant when he triumphed
over his first political rival: yet, sit
ting on the very top of all that this
world offers of praise, he exclaims "No
rest! no rest!''
The very world that now applauds
will soon hiss. That world said of the
great Webster: ''What a statesman!
What wonderful exposition of the con-
stitution A man fit for any position"
That same world said, after awhile:
"Down with him! He is an office
seeker. He is a sot. He is libertine.
Away with himr' And there is no
peace for the man until he lays down
his broken heart in the grave at
Marshfield. Jeffrey thought that if he
could only be judge that would be the
making Of him; got to be judge, and
cursed the day in which he was born
Alexander wanted to submerge the
world with his greatness; submerged
it, and then drank himself to death
because he could not stand the trouble.
Burns thought he would give every
thing if he could win the favor of
courts and princes; won it, and amid
the shouts of a great entertainment,
when poets. and orators, and duchesses
were adoring his genius, wished that
he could creep back into the obscurity
in which he dwelt when he wrote of
the
Daisy, wee modest, crimson-tipped flower.
Napoleon wanted to make all Europe
tremble at his power; made it tremble.
then died; his entire military achieve
ments dwindling down to a pair of
military boots which he insisted on
having on his feet when dying. At
Versailles saw picture of Napoleon
in his triumphS. | went into another
room and saw a bust of Napoleon as he
appeared at ST Helena: but oh, what
grief and anguish in the face of the
latter! The first was Napoleon in
triumph, the last was Napoleon with
his heart broken. How they laughed
and cried when silver-tongued Sheri-
dan, in the midday of prosperity,
harangued the people of Britain, and
how they howled at and execrated
him, when, outside of the room where
his corpse lay, his creditors tried to get
his miserable bones and sell them!
This world for rest? "Ahar' cry the
waters, mo rest here-we plunge to
the sea-" "Ahay' cry the mountains,
no rest here-we crumble to the
plain" 'Aha!" cry the towers, mo
rest here-we follow Babylon, and
Thebes, and Nineveh into the dust"
No rest for the flowers; they fade. No
rest for the stars; they die. No rest
for man; he must work, toll, suffer and
slave.
Now, for what have | said all this?
Just to prepare you for the text:
"Arise ye, and depart; for this is not
your rest" 1 am going to make you a
grand offer. Some of you remem Der
that when gold was discovered in Cali
fornia, large companies were made up
and started off to get their fortune. To-
day I want to make up party for the
Land of Gold. Ihold in my hand deed
from the proprietor Of the estate, in
which He offers to sell all who will
join the company 10, 900 shares of inf
mite value, in a city whose streets are
gold, whose harps are gold, whose
crowns are gold. You have read of the
Crusaders-how that many thousands
of them went off to conquer the Holy
Sepulcher. l ask you to join a grander
crusade-not for the purpose of con-
quering the sepulcher of a dead Christ,
but for the purpose of reaching the
throne of a living Jesus. When an
army is to be made up, the recruiting
officer examines the volunteers; he
tests their eyesight; he sounds their
lungs; he measures their stature; they
must be just right or they are rejected. |
But there shall be no partialitv |
in making up this army of |
Christ. Whatever your moral or
physical stature, whatever your dissi- |
pations, whatever your crimes, whatever
your weaknesses, 1 have commission
from the Lord Almighty to make up
this regiment of redeemed souls, and l |
cry: Arise ye, and depart; for this is
not your rest" Many of you have
lately joined this company, and my de-
sire is that you may all join it. Why |
not? You know in your own hearts |
experience that what have said about |
this world is true-that it is no place |
to rest in. There are hundreds here |
weary-oh, how weary-weary with |
sin; weary with trouble; weary with |
bereavement. Some of you have been |
pierced through and through. You |
carry the scars of thousand conflicts, |
in which you have bled at every pore;
and you sigh ''Oh. that l had the |
wings of dove that l might fly away |
and be at rest!" You have taken
the cup of this worlds pleasures and
drunk it to the dregs, and still the |
thirst claws at your tongue, and the |
fever strikes to your brain. You have !
chased Pleasure through every valley, |
by every stream, amid every brightness
and under every shadow; but just at |
the moment when you were all ready |
to put your hand upon the rosy, laugh
ing sylph of the wood, she turned upon |
you with the glare of fiend and the |
eye of satyr, her locks adders and her
breath the chill damp of the grave. Out |
of Jesus Christ no rest. No voice to
silence the storm. No light to kindle |