The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-05-19

row. What was it? Perhaps it was
| sickness. The child's tread on the STAR
or the tick of the watch on the stand
disturbed you Through the long weary
DAYS you counted the figures in the
carpet or the flowers in the wall paper
Oh. the WEAKNESS OF exhaustion! on,
the burning pangs, Would God II were
morning! Would God it were night!
was your frequent cry. But you are
better, or perhaps ven well. Have You
thanked God that today you can come
out in the fresh air; that you are IN
/ your place to hear Gods name, and 10
sing Gods praise, n to implore Goos
help. and to ask Gods forgiveness?
Bless the Lord who healeth all our ols-
eases and redeemeth our lives from
destruction.
TEARS WIPED AWAY.
Perhaps your last sorrow was a finan-
cial embarrassment. I congratulate
some of you on your lucrative profes-
sion Or occupation, an orna apparel,
on a commodius Neutrality-suspicious.
you put your hands on seems to turn 10
gold. But there are others of you who
are like the ship on which Pau sailed
where two seas met, and you are pro
ken by the violence of the waves. By
an unadvised Endorsement, or by a. con-
junction Of unforeseen events, or by nre
| VI SlOTIu, VI d SCiISSlcSS pd1lC, YOU now
been flung headlong, and where you
once dispensed great charities now you
have hard work to win your daily
bread. Have you forgotten to thank
God for your days Of prosperity, and
that through your trials some Of you
have made investments which will con-
tinue after the last bank Of this world
has exploded, and the silver and gold
are molten in the fires of a burning
world? Have You, amid all your losses
and discOuragements, forgot that there
was bread on your table this morning.
and that there shall be a shelter Tor
your head from the storm, and there IS
air for your lungs, and blood for your
heart, and light for your eye and a
glad and glorious and triumphant reli-
gion for your soul?
Perhaps your last trouble was a be-
reavement. That "a which in child
hood was your refuge, the parental
heart, and which has been a source of
th~equickest sympathy ever since, has
suddenly become silent forever And
now sometimes, whenever in sudden
annoyance and without deliberation
you say, Il will go and tell mother"
the thought flashes on you, Il have no
mother" Or the father, with voice less
tender, but with heart as loving, watch
full Of all your ways, exultant over
your success without saying much, al
though the old people do ak it over
by themselves, mis- trembling hand on
that staff which you now keep as a
family relic, his memory embalmed in
grateful hearts-is taken away forever.
Or there was your companion in life,
sharer of your joys and sorrows, taken,
leaving the heart an old ruin, where
the ill winds blow over a wide wilder
ness of desolation, the sands Of the des-
ert driving across the place which once
bloomed like the garden of God. And
Abraham mOurnS for Sarah at the "
of Machpelah. AS o were moving
along your path in life, suddenly, right
before you, was an open grave. People
looked down, and they saw it was only
a few feet deep and a few feet wide,
but to you it was a cavern down which
went all your hopes and all your eXpec-
tatiOnS. But cheer up in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Comforter.
He is not going to fOrsake o Did the
Lord take that child out of your arms?
Why, he is going to shelter it better
than you could. He is going to array it
in a white robe and palm branch and
have it all ready to greet you at your
coming home. Blessed the broken heart
that Jesus heals. Blessed the importu-
nate cry that Jesus compassionates!
Blessed the weeping eye from which
the soft hand of Jesus wipes away the
tear.
NLOINlOOS EISl<1l1
Some years ago l was sailing dowr
the ST. John river, which is the Rhine
and the Hudson commingled in one
scene of beauty and grandeur, m
while I was on the deck of the steamer
a gentleman pointed out to me the
places of interest, and he said All this
is interval land, and it is the riches
land in all the provinces of New
Brunswick and Nova Scotia" What
said I, "do you mean by interval land?'
WELL he said, this land is submerg.
ed for a part of the year; spring fresh
cts come down, and all these plains arr
overf1owed with the water, and thu
water leaves a rich deposit, and wher
the waters are gone the harvest spring!
up, and there is a richer harvest than
know of elsewhere" And I instantly
thought, "It is not the heights of tn,
!, church, and it is not the heights of thi!
world that are the scene of the creates
prosperity, but the o u over which thu
floods of sorrow have gone, the sou
/ over which the freshets of tribulatiol
, have torn their way, that yields tn,
l greatest fruits Of Righteousness and tn
largest harvest for time IN the riches
harvest for eternity" Bless God tina
| your soul is interval land!
) There is n more point of absorbin!
1 Renaissance, and that it the last hou
L u Iilc, "IcI we nave " look over d.
! our past existence. What a momen
: that will be! I place Napoleon's dyinl
Renaissance on st. Helena beside Mrs
: Judson's dying reminiscence in the har
, Dor Of st. Helena, the same island, 2
! years after. Napoleon's dying reminis
{, n was n of delirium-"Tete d'ar
mee"-"Head of the army" Mrs. Jud
r sons dying Renaissance, as she cam
+ home from her missionary toll and he
: life of self sacrifice for God. diving il
l the cabin of the ship in the harbor o
! st. Helena, was, II always did love tn
l Lord Jesus Christ" And then the his
i torian says she fell into a sound slee
for an hour and woke amid the sons
! of angels. I place the dying reminis
= cence of Augustus Caesar against tn
= dying "Reminiscences of the apostle Pau
t The dying Renaissance of Augusta
Caesar a addressing his attendants
Have I played my part we'll on tn
! stage of life?" and they answered i
the affirmative, and he said, "Why
then, don't you applaud me?" The dy
; ing Renaissance of Paul the apsotl
yo- sgt have ,,~h{ c.