Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1899-05-17

through the aisle. You remember the old
people who Mt the close Of the service took
your hand in theirs in congratulating SYM
pathy, as much as to say, welcome home,
you lost prodigalp' And, though those
hands be all withered away, that COM
munion Sabbath is resurrected to-day.
But l must not spend any more of my
lime In going over the advantages OF your
life. lust put them In one great sheaf,
and I call them up in your memory with
sing. Praise the Lord, ye blood bought
mmortals on earthi Praise the Lord. We
drowned spirits of heavenl
But some Of you have not always had a
mooth life. Some of you are now in the
shadow. Others had their troubles years
igo; you are mere wreck of what you
,nce were. 1 must gather up the sorrows
of your past life, but how shall do It?
Ton say that 1t is impossible, as you have
aad SO many troubles and adversities.
Then l will just take two-the first trouble
and the last trouble. As when you are
Walking along the street, and there has
been music In the distance, you unconscious
y find yourselves keeping step to the mu-
sic, SO when you started life your very life
vas musical time beat. The air was
,ull Of joy and hilarity; with the bright,
clear oar you made the boat skip. You
vent on, and life grew brighter. until, af-
:er awhile, suddenly voice from heaven
sdiu, haiti anu quick as tne SunSnln0
you halted, You grew pale, you confronted
your first sorrow. You had no idea that
:he flush on your child's cheek was an un-
healthy flush. You said it cannot be any,
hing serious. Death in slippered feet
walked around the cradle. You did not
hear the tread, but after awhile the truth
dashed on you. You walked the floor.
Oh. II you could, with your strong, stout
1and, have wrenched that child from the
Destroyer You went to your room and
you said, "God, save my child God, save
ny childp' The world seemed going out
IN darkness. You said, II can't bear It,
,an't bear it, You felt as If you could not
put the long lashe5 over the bright eyes,
never to see them again sparkle. II you
,ould have taken that little one in your
arms, and with 1t leaped the grave. how
gladly you would have done it'll If you
could let your property go, your houses
go, how gladly you would have let them
tepart :if you could only have kept that
1ne TREASURED
hat swept through the bedroom, and in
,tantly all the lights went out, and there
was darkness-thick, murky, impenetrable,
,huddering darkness. But God did not
cave you there. Mercy spoke. As you
;ook up the bitter cup to put it to your
IS by the hand of angels another cup was
out into your hands. 1t was the cup of
Gods consolation. And as you have some
lines lifted the head of a wounded soldier
md poured wine into his lips, 50 God puts
His left arm under your head and with
His right hand He pours into your lips the
vine of His comfort and His consolation,
md you looked ut the empty cradle and
.ooked at your broken heart, and you
ooked at the Lords chastisement, and
you said, "Even so, Father, for so it
;eemeth good in Thy sight
=, 4
you get over it? God confronted you. You
nave been better man ever since. You
1ave been u better woman ever since. In
The jar of the closing gate of the sepulcher
you heard the changing ofthe opening gate
)f Heaven, and you felt an irresistible
1rawing heavenward. You have been
spiritually better ever since that night
when the little one for the last time put
is arms around your neck and said:
Good night, papai Good night, mammal
Meet me In Heavenl''
Perhaps your last sorrow was financial
embarrassment. l congratulate some of
you on your lucrative profession or occu-
patton, on ornate apparel, on commodt-
BUS residence-everything you put your
1ands on seems to turn to gold. But there
are others Of you who are like the ship on
which Paul sailed where two seas met, and
you are broken by the violencs OF the
waves. By an unadyised Endorsement, or
oy conjunction of unforeseen events, or
by lire or storm. or a senseesS panic, you
have 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
lays OF prosperity, and that through your
:rials some OF you have made Investments
which will continue 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
Ind ddiscouragements,f forgo. that there was
Dread on your table this morning, and that
here shall be a shelter for your head from
he storm, and there is air for your lungs,
and blood for your heart, and light for
your eye, and glad and glorious and
triumphant religion for your soul?
Perhaps your last trouble was bereave-
ment. That heart which in childhood was
your refuge, the parental heart, and Which
has been source of the quickest sympathy
aver since, has suddenly become silent for
ever. And now sometimes, whenever in
sudden annoyance and without deliberation
you say, II will go and tell mother" the
thought flashes on you, 81 have no
mother" Or the father, with voice less
lender, but with heart as loving, watchful
of all your ways, eXultant over your success
without saying much, although the old peo-
pie do talk it over by themselves, his trem-
bling hand on that staff which you now keep
IS a family relic, his memory embalmed in
hero was your campanion in life, sharer OF
vour joys and SORROWS, taken, leaving the
heart an old ruin, where the i'll winds blow
over a wide wilderness of desolation, the
sands Of desert driving across the place
which once bloomed like the garden of
God. And Abraham mourns for Sarah ut
The cave of Machpelah. AS you were NOV
ing 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 few feet wide. but to
you it was q cavern down which went all
your hopes and all your expectations. But
sheer up in the name oi the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Comforter.
There is one more point of absorbing
"reminiscences, and that is the last hour of
life, when We have to look over all our
past existence. What a moment that will
bel 1 place Napoleon's dying reminis-
cence on st. Helena besides Mrs. Judson's
dying "reminiscences in the harbor OF st.
Helena, the same island, 20 years after.
Napoleon's dying "reminiscences was one of
delirium-"Tete d'armee''-"Head of the
army" Mrs. Judson's dying "Reminiscences,
as she came home from her missionary toll
and her life of self sacrifice for God, dying
in the cabin Of the ship in the harbor of
st. Helena, was, 81 always did love the
Lord Jesus Christ" And then the his
torian says she fell into n sound sleep
for an hour and woke amid the songs
OF angels. l place the dying reminis-
cence Of Augustus Caesar againt the
dying reminiscence of the apostle Paul.
The dying "reminiscences of Augustus
Cesar was, addressing his attendants
Have played my part we'll on the stage
of life2" and they answered in the affirma.
tive, and he said, "Why, then, don't you
applaud me?' The dying reminiscence oI
Paul the apostle was, 81 have fought a
good fight, 1 have finished my course,
have kept the faith; henceforth there Il
laid up for me crown Of righteousness
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, viii
give me in that day, and not to me only
but to all them that love His appearing
Augustus Caesar died amid pomp aud great
surroundings, Paul uttered his dying rem
inlscence looking up through the wall OF {
dungeon. God grant that our dying pillow
may be the closing OF n useful life and thu
opening of a glorious eternity.
The members of the Roman Clul
of London are all women, and it is on