Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1897-03-13

with hatred against poor Thomas il
Bucket-ull illustrations of the fact that
this world cannot make man happy.
The vc.y man who poisoned the porl-
mel Of the saddle OH which Qncen Eliza
beth rode shouted i'll the street, God
save the queen" One moment the
world applauds, and the next moment
the world mathematics. Oh, come over
into this greater joy, this sublime So
lace, this magnificent be;titude! The
night after the battle OF Shiloh, aud
there were thousands Of wounded or
tho field, and the ambul;mcos had not
come one Christian soldier lying there
a-dying under tho starlight began to
sing:
There is y land of puro delight.
And when he came to the next line
there were scores of voices singing:
Whore saints immortal reign
The song was caught up all through
the fields amcng the wounded until II
was said there were at least 10, 200
wounded men uniting their voices as
they camo to the verse:
There everlasting spring nbides
And never whitening flowers.
TITS but n narrow stream divides
This heavenly land from ours.
An Eloquent Invitation.
Oh, it is Il great religion to live by
and Il great religion to die by There is
only one heart tllrob between you and
that religion Just look into the face of
your purdoning God and surrender your
self FOR time and for eternity, and he is
yours and heaven is yours and all is
yours. Some of you, like the young
man of the text, have gone far astray.
know not the history, but you know
it, you know it. When a young man
went forth into life, the legend says,
his guardian angel went forth with
him, and getting him into Il field, the
guardian angel swept Il circle clear
around where the young man stood. 1t
was circle Of virtue and honor, and he
must not step beyond that circle. ARM
ed foes came down, but were obliged to
halt at the circle. They could not pass.
But one day Il tcmptrcss, with diamond
ed hand, stretched forth and crossed
that circle with the hand, and the
tempted soul took it, and by that one
fell grip was brought beyond the circle
and died. Some of you have stepped be-
yond that circle Would You not like
this day, By the grace of God, TO sep
back? This say to You, is your hour
of salvation. There was III the closing
hours of Queen Anne what is called the
clock scene. Flat down OH the pillow in
helpless sickness, she could not move
her head or move her hand. She was
waiting for tie hour when the ministers
of state should gather i'll angry contest
and worried and Worn out by the CON-
ing hour, and i'll momentary absence OF
the nurse, III the power the strange
power, which delirium sometimes gives
orc, she arose and stood i'll front of the
clock and stood there watching the
clock when the nurse returned. The
nurse said, "Do you see anything pec'll-
iar about that clock" She made 10
answer, but soon died. There is clock
scene III every history If some of you
would rise fr>m the bed of lethargy and
come out fronl your dclirium OF sin and
look on the clock Of your destiny this
moment, you would sec and hear sone-
thing you have not seen or heard before,
and every tick of the minute, and every
stroke of the hour and every swing of
the pendulum would say, Now, now,
now, now!' Oh, come home to your
Fathers hcusel Come home, O prodi-
gal, from the Wilderness! Come home
come home!
But notice that when the prodigal
came, there was the fathers JOY. lie did
not greet him with any formal Chow
do you do?" He did net come out and
say; "You are unfit to enter. Go and
wash in the trough by the well, and
then you can come in. We have had
enough trouble with you. Ah, no!
When the proprietor Of that estate pro-
claimed festival, it was an outburst of
fathers love and fathers JOY. God
is your Father have not much SYM
pathy with the description of God l
sometimes hear, as though he were a
Turkish sultan hard and unsympathet-
ic, and listening not to the cry of his
subjects. \ man told me he SAW i'll one
of the eastern lands aking riding along,
and two men We're in alteration and
one charged the other with having eaten
his rice. and the king said "Then Stay
the man and by post norton examina-
ton find whether he has eaten the rice. !"
And he was slain. All, the cruelty Of a
scene like that Our God is not sultan,
not a despot, but Il Father--lind, low
ing forgiVing-and he makes all heaven
ring again when a prodigal comes back.
II have no pleasure, " he says, Sin the
death Of him that dieth. u All may be
saved. If man does not get to heaven,
it is because he will not go there. No
difference the color, no difference the
history, no difference the antecedents,
no difference the surroundings, no diff
ference the sin. When the white horses
of Clfrist's victory are brought out to
celebrate the eternal triumph, you may
ride one of tlrcm, and as God is greater
than all, his joy is greater, and when a
soul comes back there is in his heart
the surging of an infinite ocean Of glad
ness, and to express that gladness it
takes all the rivers of pleasure, all the
thrones of pomp and all the ages Of
eternity. 1t is a joy deeper than all
depth aud higher than all height and
wider than all width and yaster than
all immensely. 1t overtops, it under
girds, it outweighs all the united splen-
dor and joy of the universe and who can
tell what Gods Joy is? You remember
reading the story Of a king who on
some great day of festivity scattered sill
yer and gold among the people, who
sent valuable presents to his courtiers,