The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1899-08-16

spirit. '.nyi2g John Wesley, what
have Won to saw The best of all is
God is with US. Dying Edward Pay
son, what have you to say ''lHoat
in a sea of glory" Dying John Brad
ford. what have you to say IF
there be any way Of going to heaven on
horseback or in fiery chariot, it Is
this. Dying Neander. what have
vou to say y am going to sleep
now, good night. Dying Mrs.
Florence Foster, what have you to
say" y pilgrim in the valley, but
the mountain tops are all agleam from
peak to peak. Dying Alexander
Mathew, what have 70 say The
Lord who has taken care Of me %
years will not cast me off now;
glory he to God and to the Lamb
Amen. amen, amen, amen" dying
Jonn PowsoD, after preaching the gos,
pei 50 many years. what have you to
say My death bed is bed Of roses.
Dying Dir. Thomas Scott, what have
you to say? This is heaven begun. Dy-
ing soldier in the last war, what have
you to say? Boys, | am going to the
front. Dying telegraph operator on
battlefield of Virginia, what have you
to say? The wires are all laid and the
poles are up from Stony Point to head
quarters. Dying Paul, what have you
to say? Il an now ready to be offered,
and the time OF my departure is at
hand; have fought the good fight, |
have finished my course, | have kept the
faith, o death, where is thy sting? D
grave, where is thy victory? Thanks
be unto God who giveth US the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ
Omy Lo1d, my God, what delu
sion, what glorious dclusion! Sub
merge me with it, fill my eyes and ears
with it. put it under NY head for pill
low, this delusion; spread it over me
for canopy, put it underneath me for
an outspreaaing wing. roll It over me in
ocean surges 10000 fathoms deep. If
intidelity and if atheism and if annihi-
lation are reality and the Christian
religion is delusion, give me the de-
lusion.
The strong confirmation Of every rea-
sonable man and woman is that Chris
tianity producing such grand results
cannot be delusion. 4 lie, cheat, a
swindle, hallucination, cannot launch
such glory Of the centuries. Your
logic and your common sense convince
you that bad cause cannot produce an
illustrious result, Out Of the womb
such monster no such angel can t.
born. There are many who began win
thinking that the Christian religi n
was stupid farce who have come 20
the conclusion that it is reality. Why
are you in the Lords house TO-DAY :?
Why did you sing this song? Why did
you bow your heads in the opening
prayer? Why did you bring your fam,
ily With YOU? Why, when l tell you OF
the ending Of all trials in the bosom Of
God, do there stand tears in your eyes,
not tears Of grief, but tears OF JOY, such
as stand in the eyes Of homesick chill
dren far away at school when some one
talks to them about going home? Why
is it that you can be so calmly suomls-
sive to the death Of your loved one
about whose departure you once were
so angry and so rebellious? There is
something the matter with you. All
your friends have found out there is a
great change, and if some Of you would
give it in scholarly style, and others,
giving their experience, would give 1t
in broken style, but the one experience
would be just as good as the other.
Some of you have read everything. You
are scientific and you are scholarly and
yet if should osk you, what is the
most sensible thing you ever did," you
would say, ''the most sensible thing |
ever did was to give my heart to God. "
But there may be others who have
not had early advantages, and ii they
were asked to give their experience
they might rise and give such testimo-
ny as the man gave in prayer meeting
when he said "On my way here tonight
I met man who asked me where | was
going. said, I am going to prayer
meeting He said, there are good
many religious, and think the most OF
them are delusions. AS to the Chris
tian religion, that is only a notion, that
is mere notion, the Christian reli-
gion. said to him, Stranger, you see
that tavern over thereY Yes, he said,
I see it. Don't you see me" Yes, of
course see you. Now, the time was
when everybody in this town knows if
I had quarter of dollar in my pocket
could not pass that tavern without
going in and getting drink, all the
people of Jefferson could not keep me
out of that place. But God has chang
ed my heart, and the Lord Jesus Christ
has destroyed my thirst for strong
drink, and there is my whole week S
wages and I have no temptation to go IN
there. And stranger. if this is no.
ton want to tell you it is mighty
powerful notion. 1t is notion that
has put clothes on my children's back
and it it notion that has put good food
on our table, andit is a notion that has
filed my mouth with thanksgiving to
God. And, stranger, you had better
60 along with me; you might get eli
gion, too; lots Of people are getting re
ligion now.
Well, We will sool understand it all.
Your life and mine will soon be over.
We will soon come to the last bar of the
music, to the last act Of the tragedy, to
the last page Of the book-yea, to the
last line and to the last word-and to
you and to me it will either be midnoon
or midnight.
A Murderer Wanted.