Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1894-05-25
Heaven to Win.

Heaven 10 W ln'
I preach this sermon today because /
want to rally you. as David rallied his
men, for the recovery Of the loved and
the lost want not only to win heav-
en-, but want all this congregation to
20 along with me. feel that somehow
/ 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 anxious
to Join them as David and his men were
to Join their families? Then l am here,
in the name of God, to say that you
may and to tell you how.
Iremark, in the first place ifyou want
to Join your loved ones in glory, you
must travel the same way they went.
No sooner had the half dead Egyptian
been resuscitated than he pointed the
way the captors and the captiyes had
gone. and David and his men followed
after. SO our Christian friends have
gone into another country, and II we
want to reach their companionship we
must take the same road. They repent
ed. We must repent. They prayed. We
must pray They trusted in Christ. We
must trust in Christ. They lived re-
ligious life We must live a religious
life. They were in some things like our
selves. l know, now 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. They were far
from being perfect So l suppose that
when we have gone some things in us
that are now only tolerable may be al
most resplendent. But as they were like
us in deficiencies we ought to be like
them in taking a supernal Christ to mako
up for the deficits Had 1t not been for
Jesus they would have all persisted, but
Christ confronted them and said, Il am
the way" and they took it.
The Path of Trouble.
have also to say to you that the path
that these captives trod was troubled
path. and that David and his men had
to 20 over the same difficult way.
While these captives were being taken
off they said, "Oh, we are so tired; we
are so sick; we are so hungry" But the
men who had charge of them said:
stop this crying. Go onP' David and
his men also found it hard way. They
had to travel it. Our friends have gone
into glory, and it is through much trib-
ulation that we are to enter into the
kingdom. How our loved ones used to
have to struggled How their old hearts
achedI How sometimes they had tus-
sic for breadl In our childhood we won
dered why there were so many wrin-
kles 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 old people, seated by the evening
stand, talk over their early trials, their
hardships, the accidents, the burials,
the disappointments, the empty flour
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, 'yesl
1t was trouble that whitened their hair.
1t was trouble that shook the cup in
their hands. 1t was trouble that washed
the luster from their eyes with the rain
Of tears until they needed spectacles. 1t
was trouble that made the cane a ne
cessity for their journey. Do you never
remember seeing your old mother sitting
on some rainy day looking out Of the
window her elbow on the window sill,
her hand to her brow, looking out not
seeing the falling shower at all (you
we'll knew she was looking into the dis
tant past, until the apron came mp to
her eyes because the memory was too
much for herr
Oft the big, unbidden tear,
Stealing down the furrowed cheek,
Told In eloquence sincere
Tales Of WOO 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.