The Sussex Republican., 1896-01-11
upon us all honor and all privilege.
Now welcan take the words of Charles
Wesley, that prince of hymnmakers. aud
Let all the saints terrestrial sing
With those to glory gone,
For all the servants of our King
II, hu.tf.a,. t.t,,1 oa,+fh ara r,,n

t's--f-N TO Joy celestial rise.
Let all the saints terrestrial sing
With those TO glory gone,
For ALI the servants Of our King
In heaven and earth are one.
have been told that when any Of the
members Of any Of the great secret So
cieties of this country are in distant
city and are in any kind of trouble, and
are set upon by enemies, they have only
10 give a certain signal and the mem
bers of that organization will flock
around for defense. And when any man
belongs TO this great Christian brother
hood, if ho gets in trouble, in trial, in
persecution, in temptation, he has only
to show this ring of Christ's adoption,
and all tho armed cohorts Of heaven
will come to his rescue.
The Betrothai.
still further, when Christ takes a soul
into his love he puts upon it marriage
ring Now, that is not whim of mine
tHosea ii, 19), II will betroth thee nm
10 me forever, yea, will betroth. thee
unto me in righteousness, and in jndg-
nlt.;sr-asfd II in loving kindness, and in
mercies AT the wedding altar the
bridegroom puts a ring upon the hand
of the. bride, signifying love and faith
fulness. Trouble may come upon the
household, and the carpets may go, the
pictures may go, the piano may go, ev-
erything else may go-the last thing
that goes is that marriage ring for it is
considered sacred. In the burial hour it |
is withdrawn from the hand and kept
in a casket and sometimes the box is
opened ON an anniversary day, and as
you look at that ring you see under its
arch long procession of precious mem,
ories. Within the golden circle of that
ring there is room for. thousand sweet
recollections to revolve, and you think
of the great contrast between the hour
when, at the close of the wedding march,
under the flashing lights and amid the
aroma of orange blossoms, you set that
ring on the round finger of the plump
hand, aud that hour When at the close
of the exhaustive Watching, when you
knew that the soul had fed, You took
fropi the hand, Which. gave back no re-
sPSs rsasp fGnm thut enia taatsss 7ds's-
ger W ring thai she had worn so lonal
.and'Yorn so we'll
Onfome anniversary day You take up
that png, and you polish it until all
the oH luster comes back, and you canl
see ii it the flash of eyes that long ago
ceased to weep. Oh, it is not an un- !.
meaning thing when l tell you that
when Christ receives "a soul into his
keeping he puts on it a marriage ring
He endows you from that moment with
all his wealth. You are one-Christ
and the soul-one in sympathy, one in
affection, one in hope.
There is no power ON earth or hell to
effect enforcement after Christ and
the soul are united Other kings have
turned out their companions when they
got weary of them and sent them adrift
from the palace gate. Ahasuerus ban
ished Vashti Napoleon forsook jose
phine, but Christ is the husband that is
true forever Having loved you once, he
loves you to the end. Did they not try
to divorce Margaret, the Scotch girl,
from Jasusf They said, "You must give
up youtSgeligien. " She said, ~ can't
give MP my religion And SO they took
her down to the beach Of the sea, and
they drove in stake at low water
mark, and they fastened her to it, ex-
pecting that as the tide came up her
faith would fan, The tide began to rise,
and came up higher and higher, and to
the girdle, and to the lip, and in the
last moment, Just as the wave was
washing her soul into glory, she shouted
the praises of Jesus.
Oh, no, you cannot separate a soul
from Christ 1t is an everlasting mar +
riage. Battle and storm and darkness
cannot do it. Is it too much exultation
for man, who is but dust and ashes
like myself, to cry out this moment, 81 I
am persuaded that neither height nor
depth nor principalities nor powers, nor
things present, nor things to come, nor
any other creature, shall separate me
from the love of God, which is in Christ :
Jesus, my Lordi" Glory be to God that
when Christ aud the soul are married
they are bound by chain--a golden
chain- xif I night say so---a chain with
one linz, and that one link the golden
ring Of Gods everlasting love.
The Marriage.
j go step farther, and tell you that
when Christ receives soul into his
love, he puts on him the ring of festivi-
ty You know that it mas been the GUS
tom in all ages to bestow rings on very
happy occasions. There is nothing more
appropriate for birthday gift than q
ring You delightto bestow such gift
upon your children at such time 1t
means joy, hilatity, festivity. Well, =
when this old man Of the text wanted
to tell how glad he was that his boy b
had got back, he expressed it in this !
way Actually, before he ordered san =
dals to be put on lis bare feet; before \
he ordered the fatted calf to be killed a
to appease the boys hunger, he com a
/" Put ring on his hand. Q
oh, it is a merry time when Christ q
and the soul areunited joy of forgive G
uess What a splendid thing it is to b
feel that al is right between my God y
and mytelf Uhat glorious thing it is "
to have crt.jht take up all the sins of 4
my life anl put them in one bundle, q
aud then fling them into the depths Of a
he sen. never to rise again, never to be
alked Of again. Pollution all gone.
all ilumined. God reconciled. y,
rhe prodigal home. "Put ring on his Ii
land. VI
Every day I find happy Christian peo- a
1le. find some Of them with no second d,
ioat, some of them in huts and tene- Nc
neLt houses, not one earthly comfort u u
lfforded them, and yet they are as hap III
" as hapnSrSln be. They sing Rock a. a.
# Age" as1sf other people in the world be
ing it. They3l ever wore any iewelry in e 1,
heir life tHg5 one gold ring, and that n
vas the rin8 R God undying affection. 4,
NJ how hH1F reliaion makes us Did s.