The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1894-05-30

spoiled households. z klag in ashes
Some Of you went cf1 from tome. Yot
counted The DAYS CT your absence. Ev
erv dap seemed as long as q week Oh
how glad you were when the time came
for you to 90 aboard the steamboat Of
rail car and start for tOns? You ar
rived. Ycu went I'D the street where
Your dwelling vas. and in the Dl9bt pu
YOUR band on the doorbell, and, beholo
il vas wrapped with the signal hereave
'uent, and yOn found that Amalekltlsf
death, which bas devastated thcusanc
| OTTER hcu> ehOIds, bad blasted yours
You go abnu, weeping amid the desola
uoo OF your OF ce happy bone, thinking
cf the bright eyes closed, snd The noble
hearts stopped, aud tue gentle hand'
folded. and YOU weep untll you bave DC
N ore lower t. weep. Z k'ss ID ashes
A gen,l, mau vent 20 freud OF mln'
in tie City OF Washington snd askfe
that thrOush him be might get consul
sup TO some foreign port. MY trIenc
said to bin, What do you want to &c
away trorn yol,r beau fuI home FIR lDtt
foreign por % 20 ~. he replied
my home IS gon,! NV six CHILDREN are
dead. I musE get away, sir. CAM
s,aad in this cnupirv auy longer"
ASHES OF LIFE.
Why these tong shadows # beresVe'
ment across this sudience? Why Is II
,hst ip almost eyt-y assem- niage black
is the predominant color of the so9afei:
Is it because you O., not like saffron or
broan or vlOIe,? On. nr! You say,
The world is Lot 81 bright 70 US as
oDce it was" auG there is story or 81
lent voices and tf still feet and OF loved
ones goEe. aud when you look over the
bills, expecting only beauty and lowell
ness, you f1d cnlY devastation aud @oe'
z kae in ashts!
One day 10 Ulster county, n. Y,
the village cburcn vas decorated until
he frag auce OF the flowers was almost
bewilderiDg. The maideus OF the vii
lage bad emptied the place # flowers
upon cne marriage altar. Ooc OF their
own number was sffi 4aced tC q minister
of Christ, who bad come to take her to
bis own home. With bands )ined, amid
congratulatory audience, the vows
were taken. In three days from that
time one of those who stood at the altar
exchanged Garth for oeaven. The wed
ding march broke down into the funeral
dirse. Thele were not enough flowers
Tor the coffin lid, because they had all
been taken for the bridal hour. The
dead minister of Christ is brought to an
other village.
He had gone out from them less than
a week before in his strength; now he
comes home lifeless. The whole church
bewailed him. The solemn procession
moved around 10 lo)k upon the still face
that once had beamed le message OF
salvation. Little children were lifted up
to look at him. Aud some Of those
whom be had comforted in days Of sor-
low, when they passed that silent form,
made the place dreadful with their weep.
ing. Another village emptied OF its
AoRers-some Of them put in the shape
of a cross to symbolic his hope, Others
put in the shape of a crown to symbol
ze his trump. A huncred lights blown
out 10 one strong gust from the open
door Of a sepuleher. Zklsg in ashes!
A RALLY CRY.
l preach this sermon today because /
want 10 rally you az David rallied bis
men, f)r the recovery of the loved and
ihe lost. want lot only to win heaV-
en-, but l want all this congregation to
60 along with ne. I feel somehow I
have a responsibility in your arriving
at hat great city. Do you really want
to join the companlonship of your loved
ones who have gone? are you as anx'
ious to Join them as David and his men
were to join their families? Then am
here, in the name Of God, to say that
you may and to tell you how.
I remark, in the first place, if tyou
want to join YOUR loved ones in glory,
you must travel the same way they
went. No sooner bad the half dead
Egyptian been resuscitated than be
pointe& the way the captors and the cap
tives had gone, and David and his men
followed after. So our Christian friends
have gone into another country, and il
yCu want to reach their companionship
we must take the same road. They re
pente6; we must repent. They PRAYED:
we must pray. They trusted in CbrisI;
we must trust in Christ. They lived a
religious life; we must live religious
life. Tney were in some things like
ourselves. I know, now that they are
gone, there is halo around their names
but they had their faults. They SAID
AID did things they ought neVer 10 have
said or done. They were sometimes
re sbe lllcus. sometimes cast down. They
were lar from DelDg perfect. So I sup
pose that when We have gone some
th,pgs in US that are now only tolerable
may be almost resslendent. But
they were ike US in deheiencles we
ought to be like them II taking a super
nal Christ to make ~ for the deficits
Had it not bsen for Jesus they would
ave all perished, but Christ confronted
.bem and said, Il am the way" ano
they took it.
have alsJ to say to you that toe
path that thee captives trod was 8
troubled path, ard that David and bis
men had to 90 over the same difficult
way. While these csptives were being
iaken off they SAID, "O1, we are so
tired; We are so sick; we are 80 huogry!
But the men who bad charge OF hem
said: Stop this crying. Go on!" DAVID
and bis men also found it hard way,
They had to travel it. Our friends have
gone into glory, and 1t is through much
tribulation that we are to enter into the
siDgdom. How our loved ones used 10
have to struggle! How their old hearts
scbs d! How sometimes they had tus.
sic for bread! In our childhood we won,
dered why :here were 80 many wrinkles
on their faces. We did not know that
what were called ''crow's feet" on their
faces were the marks Of the black raven
OF trouble. Did you never hear the ole
people, seated by the evening stand.
talk over their early trials, their hard
ships, the accidents, the buraIs, the dis
appointments, the empty fonr barrel
pbeo tharn wara so MANY hDnorV oOee