The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1899-04-07

fore your family circle was Invaded by
denth, but the moment the charmed circle
Hardly have you put the black apparel in
the wardrobe before You have again to
take It out. Great and rapid changes In
your family record. You got the house
and reJoiced In 1t, but the charm was gone
ms soon as the Grape hung on the doorbeil.
The one upon whom you most depended
was taken away from you. A cold marble
slab lies on your heart to-day. Once. as
the children romped through tho house.
you put your hand over your aching head
aR Oh Is I too ssI sETls aoS Sns Yoa eav7 los, !.
your patience when the tops and the
strings and the shells were left amid floor;
but, oh, You would be willing to have the
trtnkets scattered all over the floor again
IL they were scattered by the same hands.
With what ruthless plowshare bereave-
all about that. You caunot tell Him any.
thing now In regard to bereavement. He
bad only few friends. and when He lost
one 1t brought tears to His eyes. Lazarus
had often entertained Him at his house.
Now Lazarus is dead md buried, and
Christ breaks down with emotion, the con-
vulsion OF grief shuddering through oil the
ages OF bereavement. Christ knows what
familiar inmate. Christ knows what 1t is
to SEQ an unoccupied place at the table.
We're there not four OF them-Mary and
Martha and Christ and Lazarus2 Four OF
affictod Christ. His great loving eyes filled
with tears! Oh. yes, yes! He knows all
about the loneliness and the heartbreak.
He took the vinegar!
Then there is the sourness of the death
hour. Whatever else we may escape, that
acid sponge will be pressed to our lips.
sometimes have n curiosity to know how
| will behave when come to die. Whether
filed with reminlscence or with antioipa-
tton. l cannot SAY. But come to the
point I must and you must. An officer
from the future world will knock at the
writ OF ejectment. and we will have to sur
render. And we will wake up after these
autumnal and wlntry aud yernal and sum-
merry Rlories have vanished from our
vision. We will wake up into a realm
which has only one season, and that the
season OF everlasting love.
But you say: II don't want to break out
from my present associations. 1t is so
chilly and SO damp to go down tho stairs
OF that vault. don't waut anything
drawn so tightly over my eyes. n there
were only some way OF breaking through
the partition between worlds without tear
Ing this body all to shredsl I wonder II
the surgeons and the doctors cannot aom-
pound n mixture by which this body and
soul can al the time be kept together. Is
there no escape from this separation2"
None, absolutely none. A great many men
tumble through the gates Of the future, as
1t were, and we do not know where they
have gone, and they only add gloom
and mystery to the passngs, bur Jesus
Christ so nightly stormod the gates of
that future world that they have never
since been closely shut. Christ knows
what 1t is to leave this world, Of the
beauty OF which He was more apprecia-
tive than we ever could be. He knows
the exquisiteness OF tho phosphorescence
OF the sea; He trod it. He Knows the
glories Of the midnight heavens, for thew
were the spangled canopy OF His wilder
ness pillow. He knows about the lilies; He
about .he fowls Of the air; they whirred
they way through His discourse He knows
about the sorrows OF leaving this beautiful
world. Not a taper was kindled in the
darkness. az sn,1 He. He died PhysicIanless. Hedled
morhage and agony. that have put Him in
sympathy with all tho dying. He goes
through Ohrlstendom and gathers up the
stings out OF all the death pillows, and He
To all those to whom life has been an
a"erbity-a dose they could not swallow,
draft that set their teeth on edge aud a
rasping-I preach the omnipotent sympa-
schell. the astronomer, used to spend much
OF her time polishing the telescopes
through which he brought the distant
worlds nigh, and 1t is my ambition now
vision so that, looking through the dark
may behold the glorious constella-
siSn savoDr,s OF iovo sayiSuTs dS RS ,ny mercy and
try to carry all your Ills alone! Do not put
your poor shoulder under the Apennines
when the Almighty Christ is ready to lift
up all your burdens. When you have a
trouble OF any kind. you rush this way and
that way. and you wonder what this man
will say about 1t and what that man will say
about 1t, and You try this prescription and
that prescription and the other prescrip-
ton: on, why do you not go straight to
the hoart OF Christ, knowing that for our
own SHINING and suffering race He took the
vinegar?
There was vessel that had been tossed
on the seas for great many weeks and
been disabled, and the supply OF water
gave gave out. and the crew were dying OF
against the sky. They signaled 1t. When
tho vessel camo nearer, the people on the
suffering ship cried to the captain of the |
other vessel; Send US some waterl We
captain on the vessel that was hailed re- |
spcnded: dip your buckets whore you are.
You are In the mouth Of the Amaz IN, and |
there are scores OF miles OF fresh water
feet deep!' And then they cropped their |
buckets over the side O.: the vessel and |
brought up the clear, bright, fresh water |
and put out the fire OF their thirst SO 1 |
hail you to-day. aftera long and perllous |
voyage, thirsttng as you are for pardon,
and thirsting for comfort, and thirsting
for eternal life. and ask you what is the |
use Of Your going In that death struck |
state. while all around you is the deep, |
clear, wide, sparkling flood OF Gods SYM
pathetic mercy? Oh, dip your buckets
and drink and live forever! "Whosoever
will. let him come and take OF the water oil |
life freely"
Yet there are people who refuse this
divine sympathy, and they try to fight |
their own battles, and drink their own |
vinegar, ana carry tneIr own burdens. and |
their life, instead OF being triumphnl
march from victory to victory, will be a |
hobblinS on from defeat to defeat until |
they mako final surrender to retributive |
disaster oh / wi ,h I could fo- IN tbar