The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1894-08-22

for five thousand, and the sad process
sion OF my text broke up in congratu-
lation and hosannal
Again, learn from this subject that
Christ was a sympathizer Mark you,
this was city funeral. In the country,
when the bell tolls, they know all
about 1t for five miles around, and they
know what was the matter with the
man, how old he was, and what were
his last experiences. They know with
what temporal prospects he has left
his family There is no haste, there Is
no indecency in the obsequies. There
is nothing done as a mere matter OF
business, Even the children come out
as the procession passes, and look SYM
pathetic, and the tree-shadows seem to
deepen, and the brooks weep in sym
pathy as the procession goes BY But,
mark you, this that am speaking OF
was city funeral In great cities the
cart jostles the hearse, and there Is
mirth and gladness and indifference as
the weeping procession goes by. In
this city of Main it was common thing
to have trouble and bereavement and
death. Christ saw it every day there.
Perhaps that very hour there were
others being carried out, but this fre-
quency of trouble did not harden
Christ's heart at all. He stepped right
out, and He saw this mourner, and He
had compassion on her, and He said:
"Weep not"
Now, have to tell you, o bruised
souls, and there are many everywhere
(have you ever looked over any great
audience and noticed how many shad-
ows of sorrow there areH l come to
all such and say: 'Christ meets you,
and He has compassion on you, and He
says, Weep not" Perhaps with some
it is financial trouble. "o," you say,
'it is such silly thing for man to
cry over lost money" Is it? Suppose
you had large fortune, and all luxu-
ries brought to your table, and your
wardrobe was full, and your home was
beautifed by music, and sculpture, and
painting, and thronged by the elegant
and educated, and then some rough
misfortune should strike you in the
face, and trample your treasures, and
taunt your children for their faded
dress, and send you into COM
mercial circles an underling, where
once you waved scepter of gold, do
you think you would cry then? think
YOU would. But Christ comes and
meets all such to-day. He sees all the
straits in which you have been thrust.
He observes the sneer of that man who
once was proud to walk in your shadow
and glad to get your help. He sees the
protested note, the uncanceled Judg
ment, the foreclosed mortgage, the
heart breaking evaporation, and he
says: "Weep not. own the cattle OF
a thousand hills. will never let yor
: starve. From my hand the fowls o
Heaven peck all their food. And vii
| let you starve? Ncver-no, my child
never"
Or perhaps this tramp at the gate 0
Main has an echo in your own oeret
I spirit. You went out to the grave, an
you felt you never could come bacl
! again. You left your heart there. Th
! white snow of death covered all tn
4 garden. You listen for the speaking
7 of voices that will never be hear
t again, and the sounding of feet tina
e will never move in your dwelling agar
and there is heavy, leaden pressur
on your heart. God has dashed out tn
t light of your eyes, and the heavy spirl
o that that woman carried out OF tn
i gate of Main is no heavier than your
l. And you open the door, but he come
' not in. And you enter the nurser!
|! but she is not there. And you S
e at the table, but there Is a vi
J. cant chair next to you. And the su
n does not shine as brightly as it used t.
and the voices of affection do nj
Il strike YOU with so quick a thrill, an
u your cheek has not so healthy hu
d and your eye has not SO deep fire. L
3 | not know? Do we not all know? Thel
5, is an uplifted woe on your heart. Yc
have been out carrying your loved OF
v beyond the gate Of the city OF Mai
y But look yonder. Some one stan'
I" watching. He seems waiting for yo
A AS you come up He stretches out ii
t, hand of help. His voice is full Of tende
'r ness, vet thrills with eternal strengt
y Who is it? The very one who accost'
Ie the mourner at the gate of Main, al
9. He says: "Weep not"
l Perhaps it is worse grief than tha
oe 1t may be living home trouble tn
lie YOU cannot speak about to your be
~ friend. 1t may be some domestic u
st happiness. 1t may be an evil suspicio
er It may be the disgrace following in t
lie footsteps Of son that is wayward, ol
lie companion who is cruel, or faith
~ that will not do right; and for yea
q, there may have been a vulture strikil
it's beak into the vitals of your sol
is and YOU sit there to-day feeling it
10 worse than death. 1t is. 1t is wor
re than death. And yet there is reli
re Though the night may be the blacke
IT, though the voices of hell may tell y
IN to curse God and die, look up and he
IN the voice that accosted the woman
8; the text as it says: Weep not"
Earth hath no sorrow
ue That Heaven cannot cure.
W. 1 learn, again, from all this tt
,e- Christ is the master Of the grave. j
ne outside the gate of the city Death a
IN Christ measured lances, and when
ms young man rose Death dropped. } N
a. an we are sure Of our resurrection.
90 what a scene,i was when the you
o. man came back The mother never
lp- pected to hear him speak again. S
ne never thought that he would kiss
lle again. How the tears started, and h
up the heart throbbed, as she said: %,
es' son, my son, my sonl" And that scC
eMr u is going to be repeated. 1t is going