Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1897-03-17

God save the Queen7 One moment
the world applauds, and the next mo-
ment the world anathe Oh,
come over into this greater JOY, this
sublime solace, this magnificent beati-
tude The night after the battle Of
Shiloh, aud there were thousands OF
wounded on the field, and the ambul-
ances had not come, one Christian sol
dier lying there a-dying under the
starlight, began To sing!
There is a land OF pure delight
And when he came to the next line
there were scores Of voices singing:
Where saints immortal reign
The song was caught up all through
the fields among the wounded until it
was said there were at least 10, 600
wounded men uniting their voices as
they came TO the verse:
There everlasting spring abides
And never-withering flowers.
IT'S but narrow stream divides
Thus hcav emily land from ours
Oh, it is a great religion to live by,
and a great religion to die by. There
is only one heart throb between you
and that religion. Just look into the
face of your pardoning God and sur
render yourself for time and for eter-
nifty, and lie 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 his
tory, but you know it, you know it
When young man went forth into
life, the legend says, his guardian an
gel went forth with him, and getting
him into a field the guardian angel
swept circle clear around where
the young man stood. IL was "A circle
OF virtue and honor, and he must not
step beyond that circle. Armed foes
came down, but were obliged to halt
at the circle. They could not pass.
But one day a TEN ptress, with dia-
monded 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 beyond that circle. Would
you not like this day, by the grace of
God, to step back? This, / say TO you,
is your hour Of salvation. There was
in the closing hours of Queen
Anne what is called the clock
scene. Flat down on the pillow
in helpless sickness she could not
move her mead or move her hand. She
was waiting for the hour when the
ministers OF state should gather in
angry contest, and worried and worn
out by the coming hour, and in mo-
mcntary absence of the nurse, in the
power. the strange power which de-
lirium sometimes gives one, she arose
and stood in front OF the clock, and
stood there watching the clock when
the nurse returned. The nurse said:
do you see anything peculiar
about that cloclI?" She made no
answer, but soon died. There is
a clock scene in every history | T some
of you would rise from the bed of letn-
argv and come out from your delirium
of sin and look on the clock Of your
destiny this moment, you would see
and hear something 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 house.
Come home, oh prodical, from the will
dcrness. Come home, come home.
But notice that when the prodigal
came there was the fathers Joy. lie
did not greet him with any formal
How do you do?" He did not come
out and say, You are unfit to enter:
20 and wash in the trough by tina
well and then YOU can come in; we
have had enough trouble with YOU"
All, no! When the proprietor of that
estate proclaimed festival, il was an
outOurst of fathers love and a
fathers Joy. God is your father.
have not much sympathy with the de-
scriptiOn of God | sometimes hear,
as though he was Turkish sultan
hard and unsympathetic, and listen
ing not TO the cry OF his subjects. a
man told me he saw in one of the east
ern lands n king riding along, and
two men were in alteration and
one charged the other with having
eaten his rice, and the king said:
Then Stay the man, and 10y post
norton examination find whether he
has eaten the rice" And he was slain.
An. the cruely of scene like that
Our God is not "A sultan, not despot,
but Father--kind, loving, forgiving,
and he makes all heaven ring again
when prodigal comes back. IL have
no pleasure He says. lin the death
of him that dicth.' All may be saved.
If q man does not get 20 Heaven, it IS
because he will not go there. No
difference the color. no difference the
history, no difference the antcccdcnts.
no difference the surroundings. no
difference the sin. When the white
horses OF Christ's victory are brought
out TO celebrate the eternal tri-
umph, you may ride one OF them. and
as God is greater than all. His ioy is
greater. and when "a soul comes back.
thore is i'm his heart the surging OF an
infinite ocean OF glalness. and TO ex-
press that gladuess 10 takes all the riv-
crs Of pleasure, all the thrones OF pomp
and all the ages Of eternity. II is a
joy deeper than all depth and higher
than all height and wider than all
width. and vdster than all immcnsitv.
IL ovcrtops. 10 undcrgIrds IL out
weighs all the united spIcndor and
jov Of the universe, and who can tell
what Gods joy is? You remember
reading the story of a king who on
some great day or fc4tvity scattered
silver and gold among the people. who
sent valuable presents Co his courticrs.
but mc.hiuks, when soul comes
back. God is so glad that 90 express
His joy Tie filings ont new world, into
space, AMI kindlcs up new suns. and
rolls among the Whitc-robcd anthems