Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1896-09-11

/ men VINO chanted themselves to death
with the litanies Of Gregory the Great
literally chaDted themselves to death
and yet it did not stop the plague. And
all the music Of this world cannot halt
the plague Of the human heart. come
TO some one whose ailments are chronic,
and | say, I'm heaven you will never
be sick" That does not give you much
comfort. What you want is a soothing
power for your present distress. Lost
children, have you? l come TO you and
tell you that i'll ten years perhaps, you
will meet those loved ones before the
throne of God. But there is but little
coincidence in that One day is year
with them, and ten years is q small
eternity. What you want is sympathy
now-present help. [ come to those Of
you who have lost de- friends and say:
'Try to forget them. Do not keep the
departed always in your mind" How
can you forget them when every figure
in the carpet and every book and every
picture and every room calls ont their
name. Suppose come TO you and say
By way Of coincidence. God is wise. "
"Oh," you say, that gives me no
help!" Suppose l come to you and So,
God, from all eternity, has arranged
this trouble" " "Ah," you say, THAT
does me no goodw Then l say, with
the swift feet of prayer 60 direct 70 the
corncrib for heavenly supply" You
60 You say, Lord. help me; Lord,
comfort me-" But no help yet. No
comfort yet. 1t is all dark.
What is the matteri l have found.
You ought to 60 God and say: Here,
o Lord, are the wounds Of my soul,
and 1 bring with me the wounded
Jesus. Let his wounds pay for my
wounds, his bereavements for my be-
reayements, his loneliness for my lone
illness, his heartbreak for my heart
break. o God, for the sake Of the
Lord Jesus Christ-the God, the man,
the Benjamin, the brother-deliver my
agonized soul O Jesus Of the weary
foot, ease my fatigue. o Jesus Of the
aching head, heal my aching head.
o Jesus Of the Bethany sisters, roll
away the stone from the door Of our
grave. " That is the kind Of prayer that
brings help, and yet how many Of you
are getting no help at all, for the rea-
son that there is in your soul, perhaps
a secret trouble. You may never have
mentioned it to a single human ear, or
you may have mentioned it to some one
who is now gone away, and that great
sorrow is still in your soul After
Washington Irving was dead they found
q little box that contained braid Of
hair and miniature and the name OF
Matilda Hoffman and a memorandum
of her death and a remark something
like this: "The world after that was
blank TO me. went into the country,
but found no peace in solitude. l tried
to get into society, but found no peace
in society. There has been a horror
hanging over me by night and by day,
and Lem afraid to be alone. "
How many unuttered troubles among
you! No human ear has ever heard that
sorrow. Oh, troubled soul, want TO
tell you that there is one salve that can
cure the wounds Of the heart, and that
is the salve made out Of the tears Of a
sympathetic Jesusl And yet some Of
you will not take this solace, and you
try chloral, and you try morphine, and
YOU try strong drink, and you try change
of scene, and you try new business as
sociations, and anything and everything
rather than TO take the divine compan-
ionship aud sympathy suggested by the
words Of my text when it says, You
shall not see my face again unless your
brother be with you" Oh, that this au-
dience today might understand some-
thing of the height and depth and length
and breadth and immensity and inhnity
of Gods eternal consolationsl
An Element Of Failure.
l 20 farther aud find in my subject a
hint as TO why so many people fail OF
heaven. We are told that heaven has IL
gates and some people infer from that
fact that all the people will go III with
out reference to their past life. But what
is the use Of having a gate that Is not
sometimes to be shut? The swinging OF
a gate implies that our entrance into
heaven j. conditional 1t Is not none
tary condition. If we come to the door
of an exquisite concert, We are not sur
prised that we must pay fee, for we
know that fine earthly music IS eXpen-
;iye. Bu: all the oratorios Of heaven cost
nothing. Heaven pays nothing for It's
music. IL is all free. There Is nothing
to be paid at that door for entrance but
the condition of getting into heaven Is
our bringing our divine Benjamin along
with us. Do you notice how often dying
people call upon Jesusl 1t is the usual
prayer offered-the prayer offered more
than all the other prayers put together
Lord jesus, receive my spirit
One of our congregation, when asked
in the closing moments Of his life, DO
Won know us?' said "Oh, yes, l know
YOU. God bless you. Goodby! Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit. And he was
gone. Oh, yes, in the closing moments OF
our life we must have Christ TO call
upon. If Jacobs sons had gone up TO-
ward Egypt and had gone with the very
finest equipage and had not taken Ben
iamin along with them, and to the
question they should have been Obliged
TO answer: "Sir, we didn't bring him
as father could not let him 60; we
didn't want TO be bothered with him,
a voice from within would have said:
go away from u.s. You shall not have
any Of this supply. You shall not see
nv face because your brother is not
with you" And if we come up toward
the door Of heaven at last, though we
come from all luxuriance and brilliancy
of surroundings and knock for admit
tance and it is found that Christ Is not
with us, the police Of heaven will beat
us back from the breadhouse, saying
depart. never knew you.
The Key 60 Success.
If Jacob sons, coming toward Egypt
had lost everything on the way. If they
had expended their last shekeI, il they
had come up utterly exhausted TO the
corncribs Of Egypt and it had been
found that Benjamin was with tnem'
all the storehouses would have swung
open before them. And so, though oS