Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1896-01-03


ing this question, but they drawl it out,
and there is indifference in their man.
ner, as if they do not mean it. Make it an
urgent question and then ycu will have
it answered before an hour passes, before
a minute passes When a man with all
the earnestness Of his soul cries ont for
God, he finds him, and finds him right
away.
Oh, are there not in this house today
those who are postponing until the last
hour Of living the attending to the
things Of the soul? give it as my
opinion that ninety-nine ont Of the one
hundred deathbed repentances amount
to nothing. OF all the scores Of persons
mentioned as dying in the Bible, Of how
many do you read that they successfully
repented in the last hour? OF 90? No.
Of 40? No. OF 80? No. OF 20? No. OF
10? No. OF 3? No. OF 1? Only one,
barely one, as if to demonstrate the fact
that there is a bare possibility Of repent
ing in the last hour. But that is i'm
probable, awfully improbable, terrif-
ically improbable. One hundred to
one against the man. If, my brother,
my sister, you have ever seen a man
try to repent in the last hour, you
have seen something very sad. do not
know anything on earth so sad as to see
a man try to repent on a deathbed.
There is not from the moment that life
begins to breathe in infancy to the
last gasp such an unfayorable, COM
pletely unfavorable, hour for repentance
as the death hour, the last hour. There
are the doctors standing with the
medicines. There is the lawyer stand
ing with the half written will. There ID
the family in CONSERVATION as to what
is to become Of them. All the bells OF
eternity ringing the soul out Of the
body. All the past rising before us and
all the future. Oh, that man is an inf
mite fool who procrastinates to the
deathbed his repentance
This May BE Your Last Chance.
My text does not answer the question.
1t only asks it, with deep and importu-
nate earnestness asks it, and according
to the rules Of sermonizing you would
say, "Adjourn that to some other time, "
but l dare not. What are the rules Of
sermonizing to me when l am after
souls: What other time could l have
when perhaps this is the only timer
This might be my last time for preach
ing; this might be your last time for
hearing.
After my friend in Philadelphia died,
his children gave his church Bible to
me, and l read it, looked over it with
much interest. l saw in the margin,
written in lead pencil, "Mr. Talmage
said this morning that the most useless
thing in Gods universe is that any sin
ner should perish" " Ididnot remember
saving it, but it is true, and l say it
now whether | said it then or nOt-the |
most useless thing in all God S universe
is that any sinner should perish. Twelve
gates wide open. Have you not heard |
how Christ bore our sorrows, and how |
sympathetic he is with all our woes
Have you not heard how that with all |
the sorrows Of heart and all the agonies
Of hell upon him, he cried, Father,
forgive them, they know not what they
do:" By his feet blisteTod Of the noun |
tain way, by his back whipped until
the skin came Off, by his death couch Of
four spikes, two for the hands and two
for the feet; by his sepulcher, in which |
for the first time for 33 years the cruel
world let him alone, and by the heavens |
from which he now bends in compass
sion, Offering pardon and peace and |
life eternal to all your souls, l beg Of |
you put down your all at his feet.
saw one hanging On tree
In agony and blood,
Who fixed his languid eyes On me
as near his cross l stood.
Oh. never tin my latest breath
viii forget that look.
It seemed to charge me with his death,
Though not a word he spoke
Sir John Cochrane's Escape.
In the troubled times Of Scotland Sir
John Cochrane was condemned to death |
by the king. The death warrant was on
the way. Sir John Cochrane was bid
ding farewell to his daughter Grizel at
the prison door. He said; Farewell,
my darling child l must die. " His
daughter said, "No, father, you shall |
not die. " "But," he said, "the king is
against me, and the law is after me,
and the death warrant is on its way, !
and l must die; do not deceive your
self, my dear child" The daughter
said Father, you shall not die" as
she left the prison gate AT night, On |
the moors Of Scotland, a disguised way |
farer stood waiting for the horseman
carrying tho mailbags containing the |
death warrant. The disguised way |
farer, as the horse came by, clutched the |
bride and shouted TO the rider-to the |
man who carried the mailbags, "Dis-
mount !" BE felt for his arms and was
about to shoot, but the wayfarer jerked |
him from his saddle, and be fell fiat.
The wayfarer picked up the mailbags,
put them on his shoulder and vanished
in the darkness, and If days were thus
gained for the prisoners life, during
which the father confessor was plead
ing for the pardon Of Sir John Cochrane
The second time the death warrant is
On its Wy. The disguised wayfarer
comes along and asks for little bread
and a little wine, starts on across the
moors, and they say; "Poor man, to
have to go out on such a stormy night.
1t is dark and you will lose yourself on
the moors. " "Oh, no, he says, Il will
not" He trudged on and stopped amid
the brambles and waited for the horse
man to come carrying the mailbags
containing the death warrant OF Sir
John Cochrane The mail carrier spur
red on his steed. for he was fearful be-
cause Of what had occurred on the for
mer journey, spurred on his steed, when
suddenly through the storm and through
the darkness there was a flash of fire.
arms and the horse became unmanago
able, and as the mail carrier discharged
his pistol in response the horse flung
him, and the disguised wayfarer put his
foot IN, tho hrpasf of the OyerthrOWu