Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1895-09-07
ACCOMAC G. IT, VA. SATURDAY SEPTEMBER T. 1896


Complete pardon for direst guilt. Sweet
est comfort for ghastliest agony. Bright
est hope for grimmest death. Grandest
resurrection for darkest sepulcher. Oh,
I what gospel to preach Christ the
Chief. His birth, his suffering, his
miracles, his parallels, his sweat, his
tears, his blood, his atonement, his in
tercession-what glorious themes! Do
we exercise faith? Christ is its object.
Do we have love? 1t fastens on Jesus
Have we fondness for the church? 1t
is because Christ died for it. Have we q
hope of heaven? 1t is because Jesus
went there, the herald and the forerun-
ner. The royal robe of Demetrius was
SO costly, SO beautiful, that after he
had put it off no one ever dared to put
it 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. F."
"Oh, my sins, my sinsl" 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 moth
ing else ever did make him quake, and
when he found how, through Christ, he
was pardoned and saved he wrote to q
friend, saying: "Come over and join US
great and awful sinners saved by the
grace of God You seem to BIO 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 HOW that we have
been redeemed. Can it be that you
are so desperately egotistical that you
feel yourself in first rate spiritual trim.
and that from the root of the hair to the
tip of the toe you are scarless and i'm
maculate2 What you need is 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 putrefying 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 receipt |
And how much we need him in our sor-
rows We are independent of circum-
stances if we have his grace. Why, he
made Paul sing in the dungeon, and un-
der that grace ST. John from desolate
Patmos heard the blast of the apocalyp-
tic 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 calamity, al the pools of
worldly enjoyment have been trampled
into deep mire at the foot Of the eternal
rock the Christian, from cups of granite
lily trimmed, puts out the thirst of his
soul.
The Alienation of Death.
Again, 1 remark that Christ is chief
in dying alleviations have mot any
sympathy with the morbidity abroad
about our demise. The emperor of Con-
stantinople arranged that on the day of
his coronation the stonemason should
come and consult him about the tomb
stone that after awhile he would need.
And there are men who are moromani-
acal on the subject of departure from
this life by death, and the more they
think of it the less they are prepared to
20. This is an unmanliness 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: BE
hold all that is left of Saladin, the en-
peror and conqperorl Of all the states
he conquered, of all the wealth he ac-
cumulated, nothing did he retain but
this shroud have 10 sympathy with
such behavior or such absurd demon
stration, or with much that we hear
uttered in regard to departure from this
life to the next. There is a common
sensical idea on this subject that you
need to consider-there are only two
styles of departure. a thousand feet
underground, by light of torch, toiling
in miners shaft, ledge of rock may
fall upon us, and we may die miners
death. Far out at sea, falling from the
slippery ratlines and broken Oh the hal
lizards, we may die sailors death. On
mission of mercy in hospital, amid
broken bones and rocking leprosies and
raging fevers, we may die a philan-
thropist's death On the field Of battle,
serving God and our country, slugs
through the heart, the gun carriage
may roll over us, and we may die pa
triot's death. But, after all, there are
only two styles Of departure-the death
of the righteous and the death of the
wicl1ed-and we all want to die the
former
God grant that when that hour comes
you may be at home You want the
hand of your kindred i'll your hand.
You want your children to surround
you. You want the light on your pillow
from eyes that have long reflected
your love- You want your room still.
You do not want any curious strangers
| 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 bill
lows 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 har-
Dor? 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