Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1894-06-07

man can go off on a journey, and >,
gone weeks and months. and come bacl
ana see his house untouched of incend
iary' and have his family on the step t.
greet him if by telegram he has fore
told the moment of his coming But
there are Amalekitish diseases that
sometimes come down upon ones horie
making as devastating work as the day
of the Ziklag FIRE There are familie.
you represent broken up. No battelipg-
ram smote in the door. no iconoclasi
erumbled the statues. no flames leared
amidst the curtains; but so far as all
the JOY and merriment that once be.
! longed TO that house are concerned, the
home has departed. Armed diseases
come down upon the quietness of the
scene-scarlat feyers, or pleurisies, 81
consumption, or underlined disorders
come and seize upon some members 81
that family, and carried them away
Ziklag in ashes. And you &c
about, sometimes weeping and some
times enraged. wanting to get back
your loved ones as much as David
and his men wanted to reconstruct
their despoiled households. Zil-
lag in ashes. Some of You went
of from home. You counted the DAYS
Of your absence. Every day seemed as
long as a week. Oh. how glad you were
when the time came for Won to go
aboard the steamboat or rail-car and
start for home You arrived. You went
up TO the street where your dwelling
was, and in the night You put your
hand on the door-bell. and. behold, II
was wrapped with the signal of be-
reavement and You found that Anna
lekitish Death, which has devastated
thousand other households. had blasted
yours Iou go about weeping amids,
the desolation of your once happy
home, thinking Of the bright eyes
closed, and the noble hearts stopped.
and the gentle hands folded and You
weep until you have no more power O.
weep. ZilSlag in ashes
A gentleman went to friend Of mine
in the city of Washington. and asked
that through him he might get a con
sulship 70 some foreign port. My friend
said to him, What do You want to 60
away from your beautiful home for. into
a foreign porte 70 he replied. my
home is gone! My six children are
dead. ! must get away, sir. can't |
stand il in this country any longer |
Zilllag in ashes.
Why, these long shadows of bereave- |
ment across this audience? Why is II |
that in almost every assemblage black |
is the predominant color Of the APP /
parel? Is it because you do not like
saffron or brown or violet? no. You
say, The world is not 50 bright to rs
as ii once was" and thele is a story Of
silent voices. and of still feet and OF
loved ones gone. and when you look
over the hills, expecting only beauty
and loneliness, You lind only devasta-
ton and woe. Ziklag in ashes
One day in Ulster county, New York
the village church was decorated until
the fragrance of the flowers was almost
The maidens of the VIII
age had emptied the place of flowers
lpon one marriage altar. One of their
own number was affianced to a minis
-er of Christ, who had come to take her
% his own home. With hands Joined.
amidst a congratulatory audience, the
'ows were taken In three days from
hat time one Of those who stood at the
lltar exchanged earth for heaven. The
Wedding march broke down into the
uneral dirge There were not enough
lowers for the coffin lid, because they
lad all been taken for the bridal hour.
1he dead minister of Christ is brought
o another village.
He had gone out from them less than
week before in his strength; now he
ONES home lifeless. The whole church
ewailed him. The solemn procession
noved around to look upon the still
ace that once had beamed the messages
f salvation. Little children were lifted
D to look at him. And some of those
HON he had comforted in days Of sor-
DIV, when they passed that silent form
lade the place dreadful with their
'eeping. Another village emptied OF
5 fiowers-some of them put in the
lape of a cross to symbolic his hope.
theirs in the shape of crown to sym
olize his triumph. A hundred lights
lown out in one strong gust from the {
pen door of the sepulcher. Ziklag in 1
She's
1 preach Iills HtTlltu to-thN. btcdu>t / 1
want to rally you, as David rallied t
is men, for the recovery of the loved y
ld the lost ! want not only to win y
eaven, but I want all this congrega- Z
on to go along with me. | feel that ,
,mehow have a responsibility in your 5
irving at that great city. DO you q
ally want TO join the companionshipo i
,ur loved ones who have have gone9 o
re YOU as anxious to join them as
avid and his men were to join their c
miles? Then ] am here, in tie name e
God. to say that you may, and to tell a
N how. r.
] remark. in the first place, if You h
ant to join your loved ones in glory. 81
III must travel the same way they "
emit No sooner had the half-dead a
rvptian been resuscitated than he b
tinted the way the captors and the a
ptives had gone, and David and his "