The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-06-17

and heaven with it's Christian elo-
quence. No new gospel. only the old
gospel in a way suited to the time.
No new church. but a church to be the
asylum. the Inspiration. the practical
sympathy and the eternal help of the
people.
But while half OF the doors OF the
church are to be set open toward this
world the other half Of the doors of the
church must be set open toward h
next. You and I tarry here on a brief
space. We want somebody TO teach us
how 10 get out OF this life at the right
time and in the right way. Some fall
out Of life, some go stumbling out Of
life, some go groaning out of life, some
go curSng out of life. We want to 60
singing, rising, rejoicing. triumphing.
We want half the doors OF the church
set in that direction. We want hall the
prayers that way, half the sermons
that way. We want to know how to
get ashore from the tuTnult of this
world into the land OF everlasting peace
We do not want to stand doubling and
shivering when We go ava from this
world. We want our anticipations
aroused 10 h highest pitch.
JESUS LEADS.
We want to have the exhilaration of
a dying child in England, the father
telling me the story. When he said to
her, rs the path narrow ?" she an
swered: THE path is narrow. Tt is so
narrow that / cannot walk arm in arm
with Christ, so Jesus zoe ahead, and
he says, Mary follow" Through the
church gates set heavenward how
many Of your friends and mine have
gone? The last time they were out of
the house they came TO church The
earthly pilgrimage ended al the pillar
Of public worship, and then they
marched u to a bigger and brighter
assemblage. Some of them were so
DC they could not walk without a cane
or two crutches. New they have eter-
nal juvenescence. Or they were SO
young they could not walk except as
the maternal hand guided them. Now
they bound with the hilarities celestial.
The last time we va them they were
wasted with malarial or pulmonic dis
order, but now they have 10 fatigue
and no difficulty of respiration in the
pure air of heaven. HOW I wonder
when you and l will cross over! Some
of you have had about enough of the
humping and failing of this life. A
draft from the fountains of heaven
would do you good. Complete release
you could stand very well. If you got
on the other side and had permission to
come back, you would not come.
Though you were invited to come ack
and join your friends on earth, you
would say: mo, let me tarry here
until they come. I shall not risk going
back. If a man reaches heaven, he had
better stay here"
Oh, 1 join hands with you in that
uplifted %splendor!
When the shore is won at last,
Who will count the pillows past?
In Freyburg, Switzerland, there is
the trunk of a tree 400 years old. That
tree was planted to commemorate an
event. About ten miles from the city
the Swiss conquered the Burgundians,
and a young man wanted to take the
tidings to the city. He tool a tree
branch and ran with such speed the
ten miles that When he reached the
city waving the tree branch he had
only strength to cry, "Vfctory!" and
dropped dead. The tree branch that
he carried was planted, n it grew to
be a great tree twenty feet in circum-
ference, and the remain of it are there
to this day. My hearer, when you
have fought your last battle with sin
and death and hell, and they have been
routed in the conflict, it will be a JOY
worthy of celebration. You will fly to
the city and cry, "Victory!" and drop
at the feet of the great King. Then
the palm branch of the earthly race
will be planted to become the out
branching tree of everlasting rejoicing.
When shall these eyes thy heaven built
walls
And pear1y gates behold,
Thy bufWarks with salvation strong
And streets of shining gold?