Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1895-08-16

down into the Warlh gun otA0oa vi his
u,ercvr Awake. thou that sleepest! Arise
from the dead, and Christ shall give thee
tfe ,,
moot unexpected means. II Jonah had been
toI1 one wear before that heather sea
cantain would ever awaken him to sense
~ danger he would have scoffed at the idea.
brt here II il done. So now men in strangest
,vavs are aroused from spiritual stupor. A
,rofane man is brought to conviction by the
ebockinp blasphemy OF comrade. man
attending church and hearing sermon from
the text "Tbe OK knoweth his owner, etc.,
roes home impressed, but. crossing MS oarn-
yard. an OK come up and licks his hand, ana
he saws: "Therei 1t Is now. 'rne OK Knowetu
his owner and the ass his master crio. put
do not know God. The careless IJ h.t.,,
~ teamster has led man to thougntlul-
Uass and heaven. The child's remark:
WFather thew have prayers at uncle's mouse
Wbv don't we have them?" has brought saliva
ton to the dwelling
Nv strangest ways and in the most uheX-
pected manner men are awakened. Ihesa
dener of the Countess OF Huntington was
convicted Of sin by hearing the countess Oh
.he onnosite side of the wall talk about jesus.
John Hardoak was aroused by cream III
which he saw the last day, and the lu1Se SUI
ting. and heard his own name casleo WIN
terrible emphasis, "John HardoaX, come 10
Judgment" The Lord has a thousand ways
of waking M Jonah. Would that the mes
senoers of mercy might now find their way
down into the sides Of the ship. and that many
who are unconsciously rocking in the awful
tempest of their sin might hear the warning:
"What meanest thou, sleeper? Arise and
call upon thy Go1r'
Again: Learn that man may wake IN
too late. II, instead of sleeping, Jonah had
been on his knees confessing his sins from
the time he went on board the craft, think
that God would have saved him from being
thrown overheard. But he woke uD too late.
The tempest is in full blast, and the sea, in
convulsion. is lashing itself, and nothing VIII
stop it now but the overthrow OF Jonah.
SO men sometimes wake up too late. the
last hour has come. The man has no more
idea of dying than have OF dropping down
this moment. The rigging is all white with
the foam of death. How chill the night Is:
'I must die" he saws, "yet not ready. l
must push out upon this awful sea, but have
nothing with which to pay my, fare.
The white capsl The darkness! The
hurricane! How long have | been sleep
ing? Whole days and months and years; L
am quite awake now. / see everything, put
it is loo late" Invisible hands take him up
bring his soul to the verge. They let 1t
down over the side. The winds howl me
sea opens its frothing jaws to swallow. he
has gone forever And while the canvas
cracked. and the yards ratified, and the ropes
thumped. the SEA took up the funeral dirge.
playing with open diapason OF midnlgE-
storm, because have called, and ye re-
fused, have stretched OUT My hand, ana no
man regarded, but We have set at naught all
Of
also will laugh at your calamity, VIII
mock when your fear cometh
Now, lest any of you SHOULD make this
mistake, address you in the wor Is oil the
Mediterranean sea captain: "What mean
est thou, o, sleeper? Arise, call upon tiny
God, if SO be that God will think upon US,
that we perish no." If you have God,
YOU had better call upon Him. Do you say
III have no God?" Then you had better call
upon your fathers God. When your 1atner
was in trouble, whom did he fly TO? You
heard him in his old days tell about some
terrible exposure in snowstorm. or AT sea,
or in battle. or among midnight garroters,
and how he escaped. Perhaps twenty
years before you were born your
father made sweet acquaintance with
God, There is something in the
worn pages Of the Bible he used to read which
makes you think your father had COD. In
the old religious books lying around the
house, here are passages marked wltn
lead pencil-passages that make you tn'nN
| your father was not goddess man. but thar,
| on that dark day when he lay in the back
room dyiug he was ready-au ready. But
| perhaps YOUR father was bad man-prayer"
| less aud a blasphemer-and you never THINK
| of him now without a shudder. he wor-
| SHIPPED the world or his own appetites. %
not then, beg Of you, call upon your iatn-
! ers God, but call on your mothers Gou. L
think she was good. You remember wneK
your father came home drunk late on cola
| night, how patient your mother was.
| Yon often hearl her pray. She use1 to sit
by the hour meditating as though she were
thinking of some good, warm place, where
| It never gets cold and where the bread does
| not fail, and staggering steps never come;
| You remember her now as she sat in cap and
spectacles reading her Bible Sunday after
noon. What good advice she use1 TO glVe
youl How black and terrible the hole In the
ground looked to you when with two ropes
| they let her down TO rest M the graveyard!
All, think from your look that l am on the
right track, Awake, sleeper, and call
upon thy mothers Col.
But PERHAPS both your father and mother
we're depraved. Perhaps your cradle was
rocked by sin and shame, and it is wonder
that from such starting You have come to
responsibility. Then don't call upon the
God of either of your parents beg OF you.
But YOU have children. You know Goa
kindled those bright eyes and rounded those
healthy limbs and set beating within their
breast an immortality. Perhaps in the be-
lief that somehow it would be for the best
YOU have taught them to say an evening
PRAYER and when they kneel beside you ana
fold their little hands aud look up, theiI
faces all innocence and love, you know that
there is a God %sgneYhsre about III the
Room. -.
think am on the right track NJ iast
Awake. 0 sleeper, and call upon tnS uO ~
thv children! May He set these Iittlo ones ~
milling at thy heart until they charm tnee l,
the same Col to whom to-aigat lhoy WIN sud
their little prayers.
Bnt, alas. alas. some of these men and wo
man are unmoyed by tho fact that tneil
father halaGol. that their mother nal
God. and their children have God, but tneI
hay no Col. All the divine goodness 1ca
nothing. All warning for nothing. Th9y ar
s1un1 asleep in the side OF the snip, tnous'
the sea AMI SKY ara in mai wrestle.
Many years ago man. leaving nls iauii.l
in Massachusetts,, sailet from Bo3ton U
China to trade there. Ga the coast vi Cnln'
IN the midst of a night OF storm he male
/ shinwreek. The a1venturer was was1e1 vi
on fhe beach senseless-lll his money gone
He had to beg in the streets OF Canton &c
keep from starving. For two years tne saS
was no communication bstw .sn himself an
family. They supposed him dead. He knew 3
not but that his family were dead de ma
gone out as captain. He was too prou U
come back as private sailor But after
while he choke1 down his pride an
sailed for Boston. Arriving 'nel
he took an evening tra'n ~
The center OF the State. where he ha iie,t nl
family Taking the stage from the depo
>" li'!; rooro of miles he got home