The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1897-11-10

Aca;u. there IS q blessing in an abbrc-
waited earthly existence III the fact that one
ESCAPES so many bereavementS. The longer
we live the more attachments and the more
kindred. the rore chords TO be wounded OF
raspei or suudere3 If a man live OIL to
70 or SO years Of age, how manv graves are
cleft at his feet In that long reach Of time
father and mother 60, brothers and sisters
60, children 90. grandchildren 90. personal
friends outside the family circle whom they
had loved with a love ike that Of David and
Jonathan. Besides that. some men have a
natural trepidation about dissoiTtiou aud
ever and anon during 40 or 80 or 90 years
this horror of their dissolution shadder>
through soul and body. Now, suppose tAe
lad goes at IL years Of age: He escapes ~
funerals. 30 caskets. 30 o5SeqUles, % aWluI
wrenchincs of the heart. Il Is hard enough
for US to bear their departure, but IS II moi
easier for US TO bear their departure thaa toI
them to stay and bear 50depacWres: Sha-I
We not By the grace Of God rouse ourseiFe.
into generosity Of bereavement WNlch Will
practically say. 1T IS hard enough for me 10
20 through this bereavement but how glad
am that he viii never have TO so through
it. So reason with myself, and SO you
will find il helpful 10 reason with yourselves
David lost his son. Though David was
king. he lay on the earth mourning anu H.
corso!ab!e for some time. AT tbs distance
Of time, which do you really think was TIE
one TO be congratulated, the short lived child
or the long lived f.the!? Had David died
as early rs thai child died he would, in the
first place, have escaped that particular be-
reavemeut, then he would escaped the worse
bereavement Of bsolom, his recreant son,
and the pursuit OF the PhiliStines, and the
fatigues Of MS military campaign, and the
Jealousy of Saul, and the perfdy o!
Ahi;hophel, and the curse Of Shimei, and
the destruction OF his family at Ziklag,
and, above all, he would have escaped
the two great calamities'' OF his life, the
great sins of uncleanliness and murder
David lived 10 be of vast use 10 the church
and the world, but so far as his own happi.
ness was concerned, does it not seem to you
that it would have been better for him to
have gone early?
Now, this, my friends, explains some
things that to you have beea inexplicable
This shows you why when God takes little
children from a household he is very apt to
take the brightest, the most genial, the
most sympathetic, the most talented. Why!
1t is because that kind Of nature suffers the
most when it does suffer and is most liable
to temptation. God saw the tempest sweep
ing up from the Caribbean and he put the
delicate craft into the first harbor. Taken
away from the evil TO come"
Again, my friends, there is q blessing in
an abbreviated earthly enzistence in the
fact that it puts one sooner in the center OF
things, All astronomers, infdel as well as
Christian, agree in believing that the uni
verse swings around some great center
ANY one who has studied the earth and
studied the heavens knows that Gods IA
vorite figure in geometry is circle When
Cod put forth his hand 10 create the uni
verse, he did not strike that hand at righ,
angles. but he waved 1t in circle, and kept
on waving in circle until systems and con-
stellations and galaxies and all worlds took
that motion. Our planet swinging around
the sun, other planets swinging around
other surs, but somewhere great hub, around
which the great wheel of the universe turns
Now the center is heaven. That is the capi.
tai of the universe; that is the great metrop-
oils of immensitiy.
Does noS our common sense teach US that
in matters Of study it is better for US TO
move out from the center toward the circum.
ference rather than to be on the circumfer-
ence, where our world now is? We are
alike those who study the American CONT
nent while staAding or the Atlantic beach.
The way TO study the constituent is TO cross ii
or 90 to the heart of it. Our standpoint in
this world is detective. We are at the
wrong end Of the telescope. The bestway &c
study piece Of machinery is not to stand
on the doorstep and try to look in, but TO &C
in with the engineer and take our place
right amid the saws and cylinders. We
wear our eyes out and our brain out from
the fact that We are studying under such
great disadvantage. Millions of dollars for
ebservatories TO study about the moon,
about the sun, about the rings Of Saturn,
about transits and occulations and eclipses,
simply because our studio, our observatory
is poorly situated. We are down in the
cellar trying to study the palace Of the uni
verse while our departed Christian friends
have gone up stairs amid the sky-lights to
study. Now, when one can sooner get to
the center of things, is he not 10 be congratu-
lated? Who wants to be always in the
freshman class? We study God in this
word by the Biblical photograph of him, but
We all know We can in FIVE minutes Of inter
view with friend get more accurate idea Of
him than We can by studying him 80 years
through pictures or words. The little child
that died last night knows more OF God than
all Andover, and ali Princeton, and al New
Brunswick, and all Edinburgh, and ali the
biological institutes in Christendom. Is il
not better to 60 up to the very beadQuarter:
ofknowledge?
Does not our common sense teaches Us
that it is better 10 be at the center than to bt
clear out on the rim Of the wheel, rldine
nervously fast TO the tire lest we b: sud
denly hurled into light and eternal felicity:
Through all kinds of optical instruments
trying TO peer in through the cracks and the
keyholes Of heaven, afraid that both doors
of the celestial mansion will be swung wide
open before our entranced vision, rushing
about among the apothecary shops Of thi:
world, wonderingi if this is good for rheuma
tism, and that is good for neuralgia, ant
something else is good for bad cough, les
we be suddenly ushered into land Of ever
lasting health, where the inhabitant never
says, Il am sick"
What fools We all are to prefer the circum
ference to the center. What dreadful
thing it would be if we should be suddenly
ushered from this wintry world into the
May time orchards OF heaven, and if oul
pauperism of sin and sorrow should be sud
denly broken up by q presentation Of an EN-
peror's castle surrounded By parks, with
springing fountains and paths up and dowr
which angels Of God walk two and two
We are ike persons standing on the colo
steps Of the National picture gallery II
London, under umbrella in the rain, afraid tc
90 in amid the Turner's and the Ttans and tht
Raphaels. l come 10 them and say, why
don't you go inside the gallery" "0h, ,
they say, '.we don't know whether We car
get in" Isay, don't you see the door i:
OPEN" ''Yes, they say, .'but we have