The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-11-18

OF flying looT. No jar. No whisper. Great
city Of silence! OF all its million million
hands not one Of them is lifted. OF all its
million million eyes not one Of them
sparkes. OF all its million million hearts
not one pulsates. The living are In small
minority.
II, in the movement OF time, some great
question between the living and the dead
should be put, and God called up all the
dead and the living to decide 1t, as we lifted
our hands, and from all the resting places OF
the dead they lifted their hands. the dead
would outvote US. Why, the mult1tute o.!
the dying and dead are as these autumnal
leaves drifting under our feet to-day. We
march on toward eternity. not by companies
OF 100, or regiments OF 1000. or brigades OF
10, 900, but 1906, ,000, 900 abreast! Marching
on: Marching on!
Again, as with variety OF appearance the
that some treesat the first touch Of the frost
lose all their beauty. They stand withered
and uncomely ana ragged waiting for the
northeast storm to drive them Into the
mire. The sun shining at MONDAY gilds
them with no beauty. Ragged leaves. Dead
leaves. No one stands to study them. They
are gathered In no vase. They are hung on
no wall. So death smites many. There is
no beauty in their departure. One
sharp frost OF sickness or one blast
of the cold waters and they are gone:
heaven. Their spring was all abloom with
bright prospects. Their summer thick
foliaged with opportunities. But October
came, aud their glory went out Frosted! In
early autumn the frosts come. but do not
seem to damage vegetation. They are light
frosts. But some morning you look out OF
the window and say, "There wa. black
frost last night" and you know that from
that day everything will wither. SO men
seem to get along without religion amid the
annoyancee and-vexations Of life that nip
them slightly here and nip them there. But
after awhile death comes. It is black fros:
and all is ended.
Oh, what whitening and scattering death
makes among those not prepared to meet 1t!
They leave everything pleasant behind them
their house, their families, their friends,
their books, their pictures, and step out OF
the sunshine into the shadow. They quit
the presence Of bird and bloom and wave to
20 unbeckoned and unwelcomed. The bower
In which they stood and sang and wove
chaplets and made themselves merry has
gone down under an awful equinoctical. No
bell can toll one-half the dolefulness Of their
condition. Frosted!
But, thank God. that is not the way peo.
pie always die. Tell me on what day OF all
the year the leaves Of the woodbine are as
bright as they are to-day2 30 Christian
character Is never 30 attractive as In the dy-
ing hour. Such 20 into the grave, not as a
dog, with frown aDd.harsh voice, driven In
to q kennel. but they pass away calmly.
brightly, sweetly, grandly. As the leaf! As
Lastly, as the leaves fade and fall onlyto
rise, 80 do we. All this golden shower OF the
woods is making the ground richer, and In
the juice and sap and life of the tree the
leaves will come up again. Next May the
south wind will blow the resurrection
trumpet. and they will rise. 30 we fall in
the dust only to rise again. 1.-THE hour
coming when ali who are In their graves
shall hear His voice and come FORTH" 1t
would be horrible consideration to think
that our bodies were always to lie IN the
ground. However beautiful the flowers you
plant there, do not want to make our
everlasting residence In such place.
I have with these eyes seen 80 many OF
the llories Of the natural world and the
radiant faces Of my friends, that do not
want to think that when I close them In
death / shall never open them again. 1t ts
sad enough to have hand or foot ampu-
tated. In hospital, after soldier had had
his hand taken off he said, "Goodby, dear
old hand, you had done me a great deal OF
good SERVICE" and burst into tears. 1t is
more awful thing to think Of having the
whole body amputated from the soul for
ever. I must have my body again, to zee
with, to hear with, to walk with. With this
hand must claspthe hand Of my loved ones
when have passed clean over Jordan and
with 1t wave the triumphs Of my King. Aha,
we shall rise again We shall rise again! AS
the leaf! As the leaf!
Crossing the Atlantic the ship may found.
or and our bodies be eaten by the sharks, but
God tameth leviathan, and we shall come
again. In awful explosion Of factory boiler
our bodies may be shattered into hundred
fragments in the air. but God watches the
disaster, and we shall come again. he will
drag the deep, and ransack the tomb. and
upturn the wilderness, and torture the noun.
tain, but He will find US and fetch US our and
up to judgment and to victory.
We shall come up with perfect eye, with
perfect hand, with perfect foot and with per-
feet body. All our weaknesses left behind.
We fall. but we rise; we die. but We 1--we
again! We moulder away, but we come to
higher unfolding! As the leaf! As the leaf!