The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1895-09-06

darkest sepulcher Oh, what gospel
to preachl Christ the Chief, His birth.
His suffering, His miracles, His para
bles, His sweat, His tears, His blood,
His atonement, His intercession-what
glorious themes! Do we exercise faith?
Christ is its object Do we have love?
1t fastens on Jesus. Have we fond
ness for the church? 1t is because
Christ died for it. Have we hope of
Heaven? 1t is because Jesus went
there, the herald and the forerunner.
The royal robe of Demetrius was so
costly, so beautiful, that after he had
put it off no one ever dared put il on:
but this robe of Christ, richer than
that, the poorest and the weakest and
the worst may wear. Where sin
abounded. grace may much more
abound"
''Oh, my sins, my sinsr' said Martin
Luther to Staupitz, my sins, my sins.'
The fact is that the brawny German
student had found Latin Bible that
made him quake: and nothing else ever
did make him quake; and when, he
found how, through Christ, he was par
doned and saved, he wrote a friend,
saying: Come over and join US great
and awful sinners saved by the grace of
God. You seem to be only a slender
sinner, and you don't much extol the
mercy of God; but we that have been
such very awful sinners praise His
grace the more now that we have been
redeemed" Can it be that you are so
desperately egotistical that you feel
yourself in first-rate trim, and that
from the root of the hair to the tip of
the toe you are scarless and immacu-
late? What you need is a looking
glass, and here it is in the Bible. Poor
and wretched and miserable and blind
and naked, from the crown of the head
to the sole of the foot. full of wounds
and purifying sores. No health in US,
And then take the fact that Christ gath
cred up all the notes against US and
paid them, and then offered us the re-
eeipt. And how much we need Him in
our sorrows. We are independent of
circumstances if we have His grace.
Why, He made Paul sing in the duu-
geon, and under that grace st. John,
from desolate Patmos. heard the blast
of the apocalyptic trumpets. After all
other candles have been snuffed out.
this is the light that gets brighter and
brighter unto the perfect day; and
after, under the hard hoofs of calami-
ty, all the pools of worldly enjoyment
have been trampled into deep mire, at
the foot of the eternal roclrthe Chris
tian, from cups of granite lily trimmed,
puts out the thirst of his soul.
Again remark, that Christ is chief
in dying alleviations. have not any
sympathy with the morbidity abroad
about our demise. The emperor of
Constantinople arranged that on the
day of his coronation the stonemason
should come and consult him about the
tombstone that after awhile he would
need. And there are men who are
monomaniacal on the subject of de
parture from this life by death, and
the more they think of it the less they
are prepared to go. This is an unman
illness not worthy of you, not worthy
of me.
Saladin, the greatest conqueror of
his day, while dying. ordered that the
tunic he had on him be carried after
his death on his spear at the head of
his army, and that then the soldier.
ever and anon, should stop and say:
Behold all that is left of Saladin, the
emperor and conqueror! Of all the
states he conquered, of all the wealth
he accumulated, nothing did he retain
l,,,4 chic eb-o,,1 bava NO Sv-rnoatbH-
with such behavior, or such absurd
demonstration, or with much that we
hear uttered in regard to departure
from this life to the next. There is a
commonsensical idea on this subject
that you need to consider-there are
only two styles of departure. A thou
sand feet underground, by light of
torch, toiling in miners shaft, ledge
of rock may fall upon us and we may
die a miners death. Far on: at sea,
falling from the slippery ratlines and
broken on the halliards, we may die a
sailors death. On mission of mercy in
hospital. amid broken bones and reek
ing leprosies and raging fevers. we die
a philanthropist's death. On the field
of battle, serving God and our country,
slugs through the heart. the gun car
riage may roll over us. and we may die
a patriots death. But, after all, there
are only two styles of departure-the
death of the righteous and the death
of the wicked-and we all want to die
the former.
God grant that when that hour comes
you NAV be at home You want the
hand of your kindred in your hand.
You want your children to surround
you. You want the light on your pill
low from eyes that have long reflected
your love. You want your room still.
You do not want any curious stranger
standing around watching you. You
want your kindred from afar to hear
your last prayer. l think that is the
wish of all of us But is that all? Can
earthly friends hold US up when the
pillows of death come up to the girdle?
Can human voice charm open Heavens
gate? Can human hand pilot
US through the narrows of
death into Heavens harbor? Can
any earthly friendship shield us from
the arrows of death, and in the hour
when Satan shall practice upon us his
Internal archery? No. no, no, no!
Alas! poor soul, if that is all Better
die in the wilderness, far from tree
shadow and from fountain, alone, vul-
lures circling through the air waiting
for our body, unknown to men, and to
have no burial, if only Christ could
say through the solitudes: 81 will
never leave thee. will never forsake
thee" From that pillow of stone
ladder would soar heavenward, angels
coming and going; and across the soli-