The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-07-26

Il Ildu NE WHO were IoI leu aA1tAA
they were 40 or so, as old age comes
on, saying, We'll. my. work is about
done. and it is time for me to rest
and the world, a little fragment of tneiT
life to God, and now they want rest.
Whether that belongs to comedy or
tragedy / say not.
The man who gave one-haif Of his
| earthly existence 10 the world and or
the remaining two quarters one to CHRIS,
tan work and the other to res would
not. 1 suppose, get a very brilliant re-
ception in heaven. If there are any
dried leaves in heaven, they would be
appropriate for his garland, or II there
is any throne with broken steps ii would
be appropriate for his coronation. or any
harp with relaxed string it would be ap-
propriate for mis- lingering. Ny brother.
you give nine-tenths of your life 10 sin
and satan, and then get converted. and
then rest awhile in sanctified laziness.
and then go up to get your heavenly
reward. and I warrant II will not take
the cashier OF the royal banking house
a great while to count out to you all
your dues. He will not ask you whether
you will nave it in bills of large demon
ination or small. I would like to put one
sentence of my sermon in italics and
have 1t underscored, and three exclama-
ton points at the end of the sentence,
and that sentence is this: As we cHnnot
| live our lives over again the nearest We
can come to atone for the past IS by re-
doubled holiness and industry in the fu-
ture. If this rail train of life has been
detained and switched OFF and is far be-
hind the time table, the engineer for
tbs rest of the way must put on more
pressure of steam and GO a mile a min
ute in order to arrive at the right time
and place. under the approval OF con-
ductor and directors.
PRACTICE KINDNESS.
AS l supposed it would be, there are
| young people on whom this subject has
acted with the force of a galvani bat
terry. Without my saying a word to
them. they have soliloquized, saying:
LAS one cannot live his life over again,
and 1 can make only one trip, l must
look out and make no mistakes. / have
but one chance, and 4 must make the
most of it, Ny young friends, | am
sermon yourself. When a minister, to-
ward the close of his sermon, says,
Now, a few words by way Of app.ica-
ton" people begin to look around for
their hats and get their arms through
one sleeve of their overcoats, anc the
sermonic application is a failure. L am
glad you have made your own applica-
ton and that you are resolved, like a
Quaker of whom 1 read years ago, who,
in substance, said, Il shall be along
this path of life but once, and 80 mus
do all the kindness L can AMI all the
good / can"
My hearers. the mistake of youth can
never be corrected. Time gone is gone
forever. An opportunity passed the
t~housandth part Of a second has by one
leap reached the other side Of a great
eternity. In the autumn when the birds
IilS dlt you looh up dHu = lhS N
black with wings and the 1ocks stretch
ing out INTO many leagues of air, and so
today l lock up and see two large wings
in full sweep. They are the wings of
flock of 800, and they are the flying
days. Each Of the flying days is follow
ed by "a, and they are the flying hours.
and each of these is followed by 60, ard
these are the flying minutes. Where did
this great flock start from? Eternity
past. Where are they bound? Eternity
to come. You might as we'll go 4 gun
ming for the uuails hat whistled last
year in the meadows or the robins that
last year carOled in the sky as to try to
fetch down and bag one of the past OPP
will lounge now and make x up after
ward" Young men and boys, YOU can't
make it up. Ny observation is hat those
who in youth sowed wild oats TO the
end of their short life sowed wild oats
and that those who start sowing Gene
see wheat always sow Genesee wheat.
HAPPINESS OF OLD AGE.
And then the reaping of the harvest
is so different. There is grandfather
now. He has lived to old age because
his habits have been good. His eyesignt
for this world has got somewhat dim,
but his eyesight for heaven is radiant.
was, and he much bend clear over to
hear what his little g%randchild says
when she asks him what he has brought
for her. But he easily catches the music
ciASN tAOAh Ph~A>S AAOA
passing in the streets take off their hats
in reverence, and women say, What a
good old man he is" Seventy or 80 years,
all for God and for making this world
happy! Splendid! Glorious! Magnificent
He will have hard work getting into
heaven, because those whom he helped
gates to tell him how glad they are a,
his coming, until he says, please to
stand back a little till I pass through
and cast my crown at the feet of him
whom having not soon IT love - do moi
know what you call that. I call it the
harvest of Genesee wheat.
Out yonder is a man very old at 4
years Of age, at a time when he ought
to be buoyant as the morning. He got
bad habits on him very early, and those
habits have become worse. He is a man
on fire, on fire with alcoholism, on fire
with all evil habits, out with the world
and the world out with him. Down and
falling deeper. His swollen hands in
his threadbare pockets, and his eyes
the street, and the quick step of an in
nocent child or the strong step Of a
young man or the roll Of a PROSPEROUS
society and he curses God. Fallen sick
with no resources. he is carried to the
almshouse. A loathsome spectacle. he
or in the night rises or his cot and fights
apparitions of what he might have beer
and what he will be. He started life
with as good a prospect as any man or
tHS ~
is a bloated carcass. waiting for the
shovels of public charity to put him five
feet under. He has only reaped wha'
he sowed. Harvest of wild oats! There
is a way that seemeth right to man
but the end thereof is DEATH"
BEGIN A NEW LIFE.
To others life is a masquerade ball
and as at such entertainments gentlemen
and ladies put on the garb of kings ano
queens or mountebanks or clowns anG
at the close put off the disguise, so a
great many pass their whole life in q
mask, taking off the mask at death
While the masquerade ball of life goes
on, they trip merrily over the floor
gemmed hand is stretched to gemmet
hand, cleaning brow bends to cleaning
brow. On with the dance! Flush ant
rustic and laughter of mmeasurabl
m~errymaking. But after awhile the
languor Of death comes on the limbs ant
blurs the eyesight. Lights lower. FlooI
hollow with sepulchral echo Music sad
dened into a wall. Lights lower. Now
the maskers are only seen in the din
light. Now the fragrance of the flower;
is like the sickening odor that comes
from garIands that nave lain long in thu
x-o111fc Of anvnafnrioC r irht- 4u-ar Mict