The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1896-11-06

feet Of those who carry us out will be the
tramp Of hundreds doing the same errand.
Between so aud 20 people every day lie down
in Greenwood. That place has over 200, 900
OF the dead. said to the man at the gate:
have the largest cemetery" He said there
were two Roman Catholic cemeteries in the
city, each of which had moro than this. We
are all dying. London and Pckin arc not the
great cities Of tho world. The grave is the
great city. 1t hath mightier population.
longer streets, brighter lights, thicker dark
nesses.
Cesar Is there and all his subjects Nero
is there and all his victims. City of kings
and paupers! 1t has swallowed up in its inn
migrations Thebes and Tyre and Babylon
and will swallow all our cities. Yet city of
silence. No voice. No hoof. No wheel.
No clash. No shifting Of hammer. No clack
Of flying loom. No jar: No whisper Great
hands not one OF them is lifted. or Ill its
million million eyes not ono Of them
sparkles. or all it's million million hearts
not ono ulsates. The living are in small
minority.
II, in the movement Of time, some great
question between the living and the dead
should be pat, and God called up ali the
dead aI,l tln living to decide it, AZ we lifted
our hands. and from all the resting places, of
tho dead they lifted their hands. the dead
would outvote u.s. Why, the mulitutc OF
the dying and dead are rs these autuinnal
leaves drifting under our feet to-day. We
march on toward eternity. not by companies
OF 100, or regiments OF 1000, or brigadcs of
10. 900, but 600 100000 abreast, Marching
on Marching on!
Again, rs with variety of appearances tho
leaves depart, so do We You have noticed
that some trees ut tho first touch Of the frost
| lose all their beauty. They stand withercI
and uncomcly ana ragged waiting for the
northeast storm 20 drive them into tho
miro. The sun shining at MONDAY gilds
thom 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 smiles many. There is
no beauty in their departure. One
sharp frost of sickness or on" blast
of the cold waters and they are gone.
No tinge of hope. No prophecy of
bright prospects. Their summer thick
folagcd with opportunities. But October
came, and their glory won't 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. n black
frost last night" and you know that from
that day everything will wither. SO men
seem to get along without religion amid the
annoyances and vcxations OF life that nip
them slightly here and nip them there. But
after awhile death comes. 1t is II black fros=
and all Is ended,
Oh, what whitening and scattering death
makes among those not prepared to meet it!
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 wavo to
so unbeckoned and unwelcomed. The bower
in which they stood and sang and wove
chaplets and made themselves merry has
gone down under an awful eguinocticaI. 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 tho woodbine are rs
bright rs they are to-day? So Christian
character is never so attractive us In the dy-
ing hour. Such go into the grave, not as y
dog. with frown and harsh voice, driven in
to kennel. but they pass away calmly,
brightly, sweetly, grandly. AS the leaf! As
| the leaf!
| Lastly, as the leaves fade ana fall only to
rise, so do we. All this golden,shower of tho
| woods is making the ground richer, anl in
the Juice and sap and life Of tho tree the
leaves will come up again. Next May the
south wind will blow the resurrection
trumpet. and they will rise. SO we fall in
the dust only to rise sagain. "rhe hour is
| coming when ali who are In theh graves
shall hear His voice aud como forth" 1t
would he horrible consideration to think
| that our bodies were always to lie in tho
ground. However beautiful the flowers you
plant there, wee not want TO make our
| everlasting residence in such n place.
| have with these eyes seen so many of
| the Llores OF the natural world and tho
| radiant faces OF my friends, thut l do not
| want to think that when i coso them i'll
doath i shall never open them again. 1t is
| sad enough to have n hand or foot anpu-
! tnlcd. in n hospital, after II soldier hal had
| his hand taken off he said. "GOudhy. dear
| old hand. you had done mo Il great dra! OF
| good service" and burst into tears. ltiS q
moro awful thing to think Of having the
! whole body amputated from the soul for
ever. / must have my body again. to SEQ
with, TO hear with. to walk with. With this
hand must claspthc hand OF my loved ones
when have passed clean over Jordan and
with il wave the triumphs OF my King. Ana.
| we shall rise Gain We shall rise again! As
| the leaf. As the leaf!
Crossing the Atlantic the ship may found
| cr AMI our bodies be eaten by the sharks, but
| God tameth loviathan, 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 tho
disaster. and we shall come again. He will
drag the deep. and ransack the tomb, ani
] tain, but He will find us andfetch US out 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 hv"
| again! We moulder away. but we come to
| higher unfolding. As the leaf. As the leaf!
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