Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1895-02-08

work will meet with defeat. Expectant and
| buoyant work will gain the victory. start
ont with the idea that all men are liars and
| gcoundres. and that everybody is as bad as
| he can be. and that society, and the churcn,
| and the world are on the way 10 demolition,
and the only use you will ever be 10 the
world will be to increase the value OF
lots in cemetery. We need more
cheerful front in all our religious WORK;
| People have enough trouble alreaoyeano
| do not want to ship another cargo OF trouole
| in the shape OF religiosity. Ii religion naS
been to you peace, DEFENSE an InsPio
| mouth. by pen in your hand, by face lllu-
| mined with q divine satisfaction. II thls
| world Is ever to be taken for God, It VIII not
be- by groans, but by halleluiaha' III we
could present the Christian religion as II
really is. in its true attractiveness, all the
people would accept 1t, and accept II right
| away. The cities, the nations would cry
| out "Give us that, give it to US In all lis
| holy magnetism and gracious power! Put
that salve on our wounds Throw back the
shutters for that morning light Knock on
| these chains with that silver hammer Give
us Christ-His pardon, His peace. His COM
fort, His heaven! Give US Christ In song,
| Christ In sermon, Christ in book, Chr!tt IN
| living exAmplep'
AS system Of didactics religion has never
| gained ono inch OF progress. AS tech
nlcality it befogs more than It irradates. AS
| a dogmatism II is an awful failure. But as a
fact, rs a reinforcement, rs transHgura-
ton, it Is the mightiest thing that ever
descended from the heavens or touched the
earth. Exempllfy it in the life Of good
man or good woman, and no one can help
but like IT, city missionary visited house
In London and found sick and dying boy.
There was an orange lying on his bed, and
the missionary said, "Where did you get
that oranSe?' He said "a man brought 1t
to ME. He comes here often and reads tho
Bible to me and prays with me and brings
me Mica things to eat" "What is his
name2' said the city missionary. 81
"but he makes great speeches over In
that great building" pointing to the
Parliament House of London. The mis-
slonary asked, "Was his name Mr.. Glad
stone?" ooh, yes" said the boy, 'that is
his name-Mr. Gladstone" Do you tell me
man can see religion like that and not like
1t? There is an old fashioned mother In
farm house. Perhaps she is somewhere in
the seventies, perhaps seventy-hv5 or sew
enty-six. 1t is the early evening hour.
Through spectacles No. 8 she is reading
newspaper until toward beittme, when she
takes up a well-worn book, called the Bible.
know from the illumination in her faca
she is reading one OF the thanks giving
psalms, or in Revelation the story of the
twelve pearly gates. After awhile she closes
the book and folds her hands and thinks over
the past and seems whispering the names OF
her children, some OF them on earth AMI
some of them in heaven. Now smile is on
her face, and now tear, and sometimes the
smile catches the tear The scenes of long
life come back to her. One minute she
sees all the children smiling around her,
with their toys and sports and strlnge ques.
tonings. Tl.en she remembers several OF
them down sick with infantlle disorders.
Then she sees "A short grave, but over it cut
In marble, "Suffer them TO come to Ne.
Then there is the wedding hour, and the
neighbors IN, and the promise OF 81 will,
and the departure from the old homestead,
then a scene of hard times, an scant bread
and struggle. Then she thinks of a few
years with gush Of sunshine and fittings oil
dark shadows and vicissitudes.
Then she kneels down slowly, for many
years have stiffened the joints, AMI the ill
nesses of lifetime have made her less sap.
pie. Her prayer Is mixture OF thanks for
sustaining grace during all those years, and
thanks for children good and Christian
and kind, and prayer for the wandering
boy, whom she hopes to see come home be-
fore her departure. And then her trembling
lips speak Of the land OF reunion, where she
expects to meet her loved ones already
translated, and after telling the Lord in very
simple language how much she loves Him,
and trusts Him, and hopes to see Him soon,
hear her pronounce the quiet "Amen, and
she rises up--a little more difficult effort
than kneeIing down. And then she puts her
bao ha for ha mir md M
angels OF safety anu peace stand sem
tinel about that couch In the farm
house, and her face ever and
anon shows signs OF dreams about
the heaven she read OF before retiring. In
the morning the days work has begun down
stairs, and seated at the table the remark Is
made, "Mother must have oversight her.
SELF" And the grandchildren also notice
that grandmother is absent from her usual
place at the table. One OF the grandchildren
goes to the foot OF the stairs and cries,
sGrandmother |" But there Is no answer.
Fearing something is the matter, they go up
to see, and all seems right. The spectaces
and Bible on the stand, and the covers of
the bed are smooth, and the face is calm
her white hair on the wnIte pillow case like
snow on snow already fallen. But her soul
Is gone up to look upon the things that the
night before she had been reading of IN the
Scriptures. What transporting look on her
dear old wrinkled face! She has seen the
'King in His beauty" She has been well
coined by the "Lamb who was slain" And
her two oldest sons, having hurried up
stairs, look and whisper, Henry to George,
"That is religion!" George to Henry, eyes,
that is religion"
There is New York merchant who has
been in bus ness 1 should say forty or fifty
years. During an old-fashioned revival Of
religion in boyhood he gave his heart to
God. He did not make the CHASTITY and in.
finite and everlasting mistake of sowing
wild OATS" with the expectation of sowing
good wheat later on. He realized the fact
that the most of those who SOW "wld oats"
never reap any other crop. He started right |
and has kept right He went down in 1857,
when the banks failed, but he failed honestly |
and never lost his faith In God. Ups and |
downs-he sometimes laughs over them
but whether losing or gaining he was grow |
ing better all the time. He has been in many |
business ventures, but he never ventured the |
experiment Of gaining the world and los |
ing his soul. His name was power !
both in the church and In the business |
world He has drawn more checks for contrt- |
buttons to asylums and churches and schools |
than any one, except God, knows. He has
kept many business man from failing by |
lending his name on the back of a note till |
the crisis was past. All heaven knows about |
him, for the poor woman whose rent he paid |
in her last days, and the man WITH consump-
ton in the hospital to whom he sent flowers
and the cordials Just before ascention, and |
the people he encouraged In many ways, af-
ter they entered heaven kept talking about
n for tha immOrtas are neither deaf nor