Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1896-10-09

sary OF his birthday. LOOK over all the /
business accounts you kept or the letters
you wrote at 30 years of age, and if you
were ordinarily strong and well then
there was no tremor in the chirography. |
Why the tremor in the hand that wrote
your name in heaven: Oh, it was
compression of more troubles than ever
smote any one else, and all Of them
troubles assumed for others. Christ was
prematurely old. He had been exposed
to all the weathers of Palestine. He had
slept out of doors now in the night dew,
and now in the tempest He had been
soaked in the surf of Lake Galilee. Pill
lows for others, but he had not where |
to lay his head. Hungry, he could not
even get fig on which to breakfast-or
have you missed the pathOs Of that
verse, "In the morning, as he returned
unto the city, he hungered, and when
ne saw a fig tree in the way he came to |
it and found nothing thereon?" Oh, he
was hungry Christ. And nothing makes
the hand tremble worse than hunger,
for it pulls upon the stomach, and the
stomach pulls upon the brain, and the
brain pulls upon the nerves, and the
aRitated nerves make the hand quake.
On the top of all this evaporation came
abuse. What sober man ever wanted to
be called a drunkard? But Christ was
called one. What respecter Of the Lords
day wants to be called a Sabbath breaker! |
But he was called one. What man care
full of the company he keeps wants to
be called the associate Of prohigatesf
But he was so called. What loyal man
wants to be charged with treason? But |
he was charged with it. What man Of
devout speech wants to be called bias
phemer2 But he was so termed. What
man Of self respect wants to be struck
in the mouth? But that is where they |
struck him. Or to be the victim Of the |
vilest expectoration? But under that he
stopped. Oh, he was worn out Christ
That is the reason he died so soon upon
the cross.
Many victims Of crucifxion lived day
after day upon the cross, but Christ was
in the courtroom at 10 O'Clock OF noon,
and he had expired at 3 O'Clock in the
afternoon Of the same day Subtracting |
from the three hours between 12 and !
O'Clock the time taken to travel from |
the courtroom to the place Of execution
and the time that must have been taken |
in getting ready for the tragedy, there |
could not have been much more than |
two hours left. Why did Christ live |
only two hours upon the cross, wh,n |
others had lived 4S hours? All, he was !
worn out before he got there! And You |
wonder, oh, child Of God. that, looking
into the volumes of heaven for your
name. you find it was written with a
trembling penmanship-trembling with
every letter of your name, If it be your
earthly name, or trembling with every
letter Of your heavenly name, if that be
different and more euphonious That
will not be the first time you saw the
mark Of a quivering pen, for did you
not, oh, man, years ago see your name
so written on the back Of a letter, and
YOU opened it, saying, why, here is a
letter from mother, or Here is let
ter from father" and after you opened
| it you found all the words because OF
old age were traced irregularly and un-
certain, so that you could hardly read
| it at all? But after much study you
| made it out-a letter from home tell
ing you how much theymissed you, and
how much they prayed for you, and how
much they wanted to see you, and If 1t
might not be on earth that so it might
be in the world where there are no part
ings. Yes, your name is written III
heaven, if written at all, with trem-
bling chirography.
Some Autographs.
Again, in examination Of your name
in the heavenly archives, if you find 1t
there at all, you will find it written
with bold hand. You have seen many
a signature that because of sickness or
old age had a tremor in it, yet it was as
bold as the man who wrote it. Many an
order written on the battlefield and
amid the thunder Of the cannonade has
had evidence Of excitement in every
word and every letter, and in the speed
with which it was folded and handed to
the officer as he put his foot in the
swift stirrups, and yet that commander,
Notwithstanding his trembling hand
| gives a boldness Of order that shows it.
self in every word written. You do not
need to be told that a trembling hand
does not always mean cowardly hand.
Il was with very trembling hand
Charles Carroll Of Carrollton signed his
name to the Declaration OF American
Independence, but no signer had more
courage. And when some one said,
"There are many Charles CAROLS, and
IL will not be known which one it is, "
he resumed the pen and wrote Charles
Carroll OF Carrollton. Trembling hand
no sign of timidityl The daring and de-
ianoe seen in the way your name Is
written in heaven are q challenge to all
, earth and hell to come on if they can to
} defeat your ransomed soul.
, The way your name is written there
. is as much as to say: 81 have redeemed
him. I died for him. l am going 10
crown and enthrone him. Nothing shall
ever happen down IN that "orIu "neie
he now lives to defeat my determination
TO keep him, to shelter him, to save
him. By my Almighty grace am going
| TO fetch him here. He may slip and
: slide. but he has got to come here. BY
r nv omnipotent sword, by the combined
strength Of all heavens principalities
, and powers and dominions, by the 20,
| 600 chariots Of the Lord Almighty, /
, am going to see him through. " Bold
' handwritingl It is the boldest thing
3 ever written to write my name there
) and your name there. He knows our
r weaknesses and bad propensities better
D than we know them ourselves He
' knows all the Apollyonic hosts that are
/ sworn to down us il they can. He
f. knows all the temptations that will as
Q sail us between now and the moment OF
A our last pulsation OF the heart, and yet
Q he darcs to write our name there. Bold
= nessl Nothing at Saragossa or Chalons
s or Marathon or Thermopyl@ to equal
+ It Nothing in the sack Of gun powder
. | .uk;ol, o,,a Eno1ieb soldier carried undpr