The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-05-21

1aQ DldSteQ yours. I GU 90 ABOUT weep
ing amidst 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
Ziklag in ashes,
A gentleman went to friend of mine
in the city of Washington, and asked
that through him he might get consul
. ship TO some foreign port. My friend
said 70 him. What do you want to go
away from YOUR beautiful home for, into
+ a foreign porte" oh" he replied, my
home is gone! My six children are dead.
l must get away, sir. ] can stand il in
this country any longer" Ziklag in
ashes
Why these long shadows of bereave-
ment across this audienCea Why is it
that in almost every assemblage black is
the predominant color of the apparel Is
it because you do not like saffron or
brown or violet Oh, no You say, The
world is not so bright to US as once it
/ was;n and there is a story of silent voices,
and of still feet, and of loved ones gone,
and when you look over the hills, expect
| ing only beauty and loneliness, you
ind only devastation and woe Ziklag in
I ashes
One day, insUlster county, New York,
/ the village church was decorated until
the fragrance of the flowers was almost
bewildering The maidens Of the village
had emptied the place of flowers upon one
marriage altar. One of their own num-
| Der was aff4anced to minister of Christ,
who had come to take her to his own
/ home. With hands joined, amidst a con-
/ gratulatOry audience, the vows were
| taken. In three days from that time one
\ of those who stood at the altar exchanged
| earth for heaven. The wedding march
broke down into the funeral dirge. There
1 a., g.
| cofinlid, because they had all been taken
| for the bridal hour. The dead min
| lister of Christ is brought to another vii
| lage. 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 to look upon the still face
| that once had beamed the messages of
/ salvation. Little children were lifted up
| TO look at him. And some of those whom
he had comforted in days of sorrow,
when they passed that silent form, made
| the place dreadful with their weeping
| Another village emptied of its flowers
some of them put in the shape of a cross
! TO symbolic his hope, others put in the
| shape of crown to symbolic his triumph.
| A hundred lights blown out in one strong
gust from the open door of a sepulchre.
| Ziklag in ashes!
| preach this sermon to-day, because l
want to rally you, as David rallied his
men, for the recovery of the loved and
the lost. l want not only TO win heaven,
| but / want all this congregation to go
along with me. | feel that somehow l
| have responsibility in your arriving at
| that great city Do you really want TO
| join the companionship of your loved ones
who have gomez Are you as anxious to
| join them as David and his men were to
| Join their families3 Then ! am here, in
the name of God, TO say that you may,
and to tell you how.
rem lrk III the first place, if you 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
| cGptors and the captives had gone, and
| David and his men followed after. So
our Christian friends have gone into
another country, and if we want to reach
their companionship we must take the
same road. They repented; we must re-
pent. They prayed we must pray They
trusted in Christ; we must trust in
Christ. They lived a religious life; we
must live religious life. They were in
some things like ourselves l
know, now that they are gone,
there is halo around their names !;
but they had their faults. They
said and did things they ought never to
nave SdlA VI AOuC lucy WtI6 SOubllUlGS
rebellious, sometimes cast down. They
were far from being perfect. So l sup
pose that when we have gone, some
things in US that are now only tolerable
may be almost resplendent. But as they
! were like US in deficiencies, we ought to
be like them in taking a supernal Christ
to make up for the deficits Had it not
persisted; but Christ confronted them.
and said, II 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 capJives were being taken off, they
said, 20, we are so tired; we are so sick
we are so hungry" But the men who
had charge of them said, Stop this cry
ing. Go onr 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 trlbulation that we are
to enter into the kingdom. How
our loved ones used to have to struggle
How their old hearts ached How some
times they had tussle for bread In our
childhood we wondered why there were
so many wrinkles on their faces. We did
not know that what were called "Crow 5
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
-four barrel when there were so many
hungry ones to feed, the sickness almost
unto death, where the next dose of NOR.
prime decided between CHASTITY bereave-
ment and an unbroken home circle3 Oh,
yeS it was trouble that whitened their
hair. it was trouble that shook the cup in
their hands. 1t was trouble that washed
the lustre from their eyes with the rain
of tears until they needed spectacles II
was trouble that made the cane neces-
sity for their Journey Do you never re
member 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, no
seeing the falling shower at all (vou well
knew she was looking into the distant
past), until the apron came up TO bel
eyes. because the memory was too mucl
for hera
Oft the big. unbidden tear,
Stealing down the furroughed cheek
| Told in elocuen 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 weepagain.
"Who are these under the altar" the
/ frH1ng rs,A. 81