The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-05-23

and you found that Amalekitish death.
| which as devastated thousand other
| households, had blasted yours. You go
/ about weeping amid 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 to weep. Zilxlag in ashes,
A gentleman went TO a friend Of mine
| in the city Of Washington and asked
| that through him he might get consul
| ship 20 some foreign port. My friend
| said to him, What do you want to go
away from your beautiful home for into
/ a foreign port?" "Oh" he replied, my
home is gone My six children are dead.
| must get away, sir. / can't stand 1t
in this country any longer" Ziklag in
ashes.
| Why these long shadows of sbereave-
] ment across this audience? Why is it
| that in almost every assemblage black
| is the predominant color of the apparel?
| Is 1t because sou do not like saffron or
brown or violet? oh, no! You say,
1.-THE world is not so bright to us as
| once it was" and there 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 find only devastation
| 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
1 bewildering. The maidens Of the viii
| lage had emptied the place Of flowers
| upon one marriage altar. One of their
/ own number vas affianced to a minister
/ Of Christ, who had come to take her to
| his own home With hands Joined, amid
| congratulatory audience the vows
were taken. IN three days from that
| time one OF those who stood at the altar
| exchanged earth for heaven. The we'd
| ding march broke down into the funeral
| dirge. There was not enough flowers
] now for 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 i'm his strength now he
| comes home lifeless. The whole church
| bewailed him. The solemn procession
| moved around to look upon the still face
| that once had heamed the MESA ges Of
/ salvation. Little children were lifted up
| TO look at him. And some of those
! whom he had comfOrted in days Of sor-
| row. when they passed that silent form.
/ made the place dreadful with their
/ weeping Another village emptied Of its
| fiowers-some Of them put in the shape
| of a cross, others put in the shape of
/ crown 10 symbolic his triumph. A hun
| dred lights blown out in the strong gust
| from the open door of a sepulcher- Xix
| lag in ashes!
Rally Cry.
| preach this sermon today because 7
| want to rally you as David rallied his
men, for the recovery of the loved and
| the lost. 1 want not only to win heaven.
| but l want all this congregation to go
| along with me. 1 feel that somehow L
| have a responsibility in your arriving at
that great city. Do you really want to
| join the companionship of your loved
/ ones who have gone? Are you as anX-
| ious to join them as David and his men
were 10 join their families? Then l am
/ here. in the name Of God to say that you
may and to tell you how.
| 1 remark. in the first place, if you want
| to join your loved ones i'm glory, you
must travel the same way they went. No
sooner had the half dead Egyptian been
| resuscitated than he pointed the way the
4 captOrs and the captives had gone, and
| David and his men followed after. So
our Christian friends have gone into an
| other country, and if we want TO reach
| their companionship we must take the
/ same road. They repented; we must re-
1 pent. They prayed; we must pray. They
| trusted in Christ: we must trust in
/ Christ They lived a religious life: we
/ some things like ourselves. l know, now
/ that they are gone, there is a halo around
| their names, but they had their faults
| They said and did things they ought
| never to have said or done. They were
| sometimes rebelliOus. sometimes cast
/ down. So I suppose that when we have
| gone some things in US that are now only
/ tOlerabe may be almost resplendent But
/ as they were like us in deficiencies We
1 ought to be like them in taking a SUI
pernal Christ to make up for the deficits.
/ Had il not been for Jesus they would
/ have all persisted, but Christ confronted
| them and said, Il am the way" and they
| took it.
have also to say to you that the
/ path that these captives trod was a
| troubled path. and that David and his
| men had to go over the same difficult
/ way. While these captives were being
/ taken of they said, 'Oh, we are tired
| we are so sick: we are so hungry" But
| the men who had charge of them said:
| stop this crying. Go onr' David and
| his men also found it a hard way. They
/ had to travel it. Our friends have gone
into glory. and il is through much tribu-
/ Iation that we are TO enter into the king
1 dom How our loved ones used to have
10 STRUGGLED How their old hearts achedl
| How sometimes they had a tussle for
| bread In our childhood we wondered
| why there were so many wrinkles on
4 their faces We did not know that what
| were called crows feet" on their faces
| were the marks Of the black raven OF
/ trouble. Did you never hear the old peo-
1 pie seated by the evening stand. talk
/ over their early trials, their hardships,
| the accidents, the burials, the disappoint-
] ments. the empty -four barrel when there
| were so many hungry ones to feed. the
| sickness almost unto death, where the
| next dose OF morphine decided between
| CHASTITY bereavement and an unbroken
| home circle? Oh, yes, il was trouble that
] whitened their hair! IL was trouble that
| shook the cup in their hands. IL was
| trouble that washed the luster from their
| eyes with the rain Of tears until they
needed spectacles. II was trouble that
| made the cane a necessity for their jour
| ney. Do you never remember seeing
your old mother sitting, on some rainy
| day. looking out Of the window, her ell
| bow on the window sill. her hand TO her
| brow-looking out. not seeing the falling
| shower at all-you well knew she was
| looking into the distant past-until the
| apron came up to her eyes, because the
memory was too much for her?
| OFT the big uabidden tear.
| Stealing down the furrowed cheek
| Told In elOquence sincere
Tales Of woe they could not speak
| But. this scene OF weeping DER
| Past this scene OF toll and PAIN.
They shall feel distress no more,
Never, never weep again.
4 Call 90 Effort.
"Who are these under the altar" the
question was asked. and the response
came. These are they which came out Of
| the great tribulatiOn and have washed