Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1896-03-13


convivial songs you ever heard comfort you
in that day of bereavement so much as the
song they sang to yOu?-perhaps the very
so2g that was sung by your little Child tho
last Sab6a,h afternoon Of her life:
There is q happy land
Far, fur away,
Where saints immortal reign
Bright, bright as day.
Did your business associates in that day
OF darkness and trouble give you my especial
cOndolence2 Business eXasperatei you.
business wore you out, business let you
limp as rag, business made you mad. You
got dollars, but you gotno peace. God have
mercy on the man who has nothing but
business to comfort him. rhe world afforded
you no luXuriant pasturage. Afamous Eng
lisa actor stood OH the stage impersonating,
und thunGers OF applause came down from
the galleries, and many thought it was the
pToudest, moment OF all his life, but there
was a man asleep just in front of him, and
the fact that thit mau Was Indifferent and
somnolent spoiled all the occasion for him,
and he cried, awake up, wake up!" SO one
little annoyance in life has been more per-
yading to your mind than al the brilliant
congratulations and success. Poor pastuI-
age for your soul you find in this word.
belied you. the word has misinterpreted
you, the world has prosecuted you. 1t
never com:orted you. Oh. this world is
good rack from which a horse may pick
his food. 1t is good trough from wpich
the swine may crunch their mess, but
1t gives bu. little food to a soul blood
bought and immortal. What is a soul? 1t
Is a hope high AS the throne OF Cos. What
Is man? You say, lit is only a man. 1t
Is only man gone overheard in sin. 1t is
only a man gone overheard in business life.
What is.a man2 The battle-ground OF three
worlds, with his hands taking hold OF des-
TIMES Of light or darkness. man! No line
can measure him. No'limit can bound him.
The archangel before the throne canpOt out
live him. The stars shall die. but he will
watch their extinguishment. The world will
burn, but he will gaze ut the confagration.
Endless ages will march on. He will watch
the procession A mau! The masterpiece
of God Almighty. Yet you say. ut is only
man." Can a nature like that be fed on
husks of the wilderness?
Substantial comforts will not grow
On natures barren so.l; y
AL we can boast till Christ we know
Is vanity ard toll.
Some of you got astray by looking for bet
Ter pasturage; others by being scared Oy the
dogs. The hound gets over into the pasture
field. The poor things fly in every direc-
ton. In few moments they are torn OF the
hedges and they are splashed of the ditch,
and the lost sheep never gets home unless
the farmer goes after if. Trere is nothing
so thoroughly lost asa lost sheep. 1t may
have been in 1857 during the financial
panic. or during the financial stress in the
fall of 1878 when you got astray. You almost
became an atheist. You said, "Whereis Col
| that honest men go down AMI thieves pros
PERI" You were dogged OF creditors, you
were logged OF the banks, you were dogged
of worldly disaster, and some of you went
into misanthropy and some of you took to
strong drink and others of you fed out OF
Chris ian association, and you got astray.
Oh, man. that was the last time when you
ought to have forsaken God. Standing
amid the laundering of YOUR early failures
| how could you get along without God tc
comfort you and God to deliver you and Q
God to help YOU aud a God TO save YOU
You tell me you have been through
enough business trouble al most to xii
you. I know it. l cannot understand
| how the boat could live one hour in thai
chopped sea. But do not know by wha
process you got astray; some in one way and
| some in another. and ii you could really see
the position some Of you occupy before Goo
your soul would burst into eu agony of tear:
and you would petit the heavens with the cry
"God have mercyr Sinai's batteries have
| been unlimbere1 above your soul. and al
times YOU have heard it thunder, 1.-THE
wages of sin is DEATH" "Al have siDnet
and come short OF the glory Of God" "BN
one man sin entered into the world, anf
death by sin, and so death passed upon al
men, for that all have sinned." 1.-The sou
that sinneth, it shall die" When Sevastopo
was being bombarjed, iwos Russian frigatei
burned all night in the haroOr, throwing 6
glare upon the trembling fortress. and som
of you, from what You have told me your
selves. some OF you are standing in the nigh
| of your souls trouble, the cannonade, an(
tho cOnhagratioD, aud the multiplication
and the multitude of your sorrows an
troubles think must make the wings 0
Gods lowering angles shiver TO the tip.
But the last part Of my text opens doc
wide enough 10 le: us all out and to let a
heaven in. Sound it on the organ with a
tie stops out. Thrum it on the harp with a
the strings atune. With all the melody POI
sible let the heavens sound it to the cart
and LEI the earth tell it to the heavens. "Tt
Lord hath laid on Him the jniquity of us oil.
am glad that the prophet did not stop
explain whom he meant by Him" Him
the manger, Him of the bloody sweat, Hi
of the resurrection throne, Him Of the cruc
fxion agony. "On Him the Lord hath la
the iniquity of us all" "Oh." says SON
man, ''that isn't generous; that isn't fai
Let every mau carry mis- own burden and pf
his own debts" That sounds reasonable.
Ihave an obligation, and have the meaI
to meet it, aud I come to you and ask you
settle that obligation. you rightly say. PA
your own debts" If you and l, waikiki
down the streeet-5oth hale, hearty and we
u ask you TO carry me, You say right
"Wak on your own feet!" But suppose yo
and 1 we;e in a regiment and 1 was woun'
ed in the battle. and fell unconscious
cations, what would you do? You wou
call to your comrades, saying: "Come Al
help; this man is helpless. Bring the amo
lance. Let us take him to the hospital. al
! would be a dead lift in YOUR arms, an' %
would lift me from the ground where q;
fallen and Dut me in the ambulance, al