Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1895-04-26
Too Late.

Too Late.
A man who had rejected Christianity
and thought it all trash came to die. He
was in the sweat of a great agony, and
his wife said, 1--WE had better have
some prayer. " Mary, not a breath Of
that, ," he said "The lightest word of
prayer would roll back on me like rocks
on drowning man. l have come to the
hour of test. had a chance, but for
feited it. believed in a liar, and he
has left me in the lurch. Mary, bring
me Tom Paine-that book that swore
by and lived by-and pitch it into the
fire, and let it burn and burn as | my
self shall soon burn. " And then, with
the foam on his lip and his hands toss
ing wildly in the air, he cried out:
"Blackness Of darkness Oh, my God,
zoo late" And the spirits of daEkness
whistled up from the depth and wheel.
ed around and around him. stripping
,he slain.
Sin is a luxury now; it is exhilaration
now; it is victory now. But after awhile
it is collision; it is defeat; it is exter-
mination; it is jackalism; it is robbing
the dead; it is stripping the slain. Give
it up today-give it upl Oh, how you
have been cheated on, my brother, from
one thing to anotherl All these years
you have been under an evil mastery
that you understood not What have
your companions done for you? What
have they done for your health? Nearly
ruined it by carousal. What have they
done for your fortune? Almost scattered
it by spendthrift behavior. What have
they done for your reputation? Almost
ruined it with good men. What have
they done for your immortal soul? AL
most insured its overthrow.
You are fastening on toward the con-
summation of all that is sad Today
you stop and think, but it is only for
moment, and then you will tramp on,
and at the close Of this service you will
60 out, and the question will be, "How
did you like the sermon?" And one
man will say, II liked it very we'll, I"
and another man will say, Il didn't
like it at all, " but neither Of the an
swers will touch the tremendous fact
that if impenitent you are going at 30
knots an hour toward shipwreck. Yea,
you are in battle where you will fall,
and while your surviving relatives will
take your remaining estate and the GEM
etery will take your body the messen'
gers of darkness will take your soul and
come and go about you, stripping the
slain.
Brought to Life.
Many are crying out, II admit am
slain; admit it. " On what battlefield,
my brothers? By what weapon? pol
luted imagination, says one man; I'm
toxicating liquor" says another man;
"My own hard heart" says another
man. Do you realize this? Then come
to tell you that the omnipotent Christ
is ready to walk across this battlefield
and revive and resuscitate and resurrect
your dead soul Let him take your hand
and rub away the numbness, your head
and bathe off the aching, your heart and
stop its wild throb. He brought Lazarus
to life, he brought Jairus' daughter to
life, be brought the young man Of Main
to life, and these are three proofs any
how that he can bring you to life.
rTTL Al DL,1s-ts,oo dOTun on
the field, they stepped between the
corpses, and they rolled over the dead,
and they took away everything that was
valuable. And so it was with the peo-
pie that followed after the armies at
Charlottesville and at Pittsburg Land
ing and at Stone River and at Atlanta,
stripping the slain, but the northern and
southern women-God bless them!-
came on the field with basins and pads
and towels and lint and cordials and
Christian encouragement, and the poor
fellows that lay there lifted up their
arms and said, "Oh, how good that does
feel since you dressed itP' And others
looked up and said, "Oh, how you
make me think of my motherP' And
others said. Tell the folks at home /
died thinking about them" And anoth-
er looked up and said. miss, won't
you sing me verse Of Home, Sweet
Home, before | die?" And then the tat
too was sounded, and the bats were on,
and the service was read, II am the res
direction and the life. " And in honor
Of the departed the muskets were load
ed and the command given, Present
Arep' And there was shingle set up
at the head Of the grave with the ep'
itaph Of Lieutenant - in the Four
teenth Massachusetts, regulars, " or
"Captain - in the Fifteenth regi'
ment of South Carolina volunteers. y
And SO now, across this great field OF
moral and spiritual battle, the angels
of God come walking among the slain,
and there are voices of comfort and
voices Of hope and voices of resurrection
and voices Of heaven.
A Tragedy Recalled.
One night saw tragedy on the cor
jner of Broadway and Houston street A
Young man, evidently doubling as to
which direction he had better take, his
hat lifted high enough so that you could
see he had au intelligent forehead. stout
chest; he had a robust Development
Splendid young man. Cultured young
man. Honored young man. Why did he
stop there while so many were going up
and down? The fact is that every
man has a good angel and bad angel
contending for the mastery Of his spirit,
and there were a good angel and bad
angel struggling with that young man.
soul at the corner Of Broadway and
Houston street. Come with me, " said
the good angel 81 will take you home;
will spread my wings over your pill
low; l will lovingly escort you all
through life under supernatural protec-
ton; / will bless every sup you drink
out of. every couch you rest on, every
doorway you enter; will consecrate
your tears when you weep, your sweat
when you toll, and at the last ! will
hand over your grave into the hand
Of the bright angel Of Christian resur'
reotion. In answer to your fathers petit
Ition and your mothers prayer | have
-. - - A. 4 ~.r1 ssxf of heaven fd