Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1899-03-30

charging up the parapets to the sound
Of martial music; but 1t is not so easy
to endure when no one but the nurse
and the doctor are the witnesses Of the
Christian fortitude. Besides that, yor
never had any pains worse than
Christ's. The sharpness that sting
through his brain, through his hands,
through his feet, through his heart
were as great as yours certainly. He
was as sick and as weary. Not nerve
or muscle or ligament escaped. All the
pangs Of all the nations of all the ages
compressed into one sour cup. lie
took the vinegar!
There is also the sourness of power
ty. Your income does not meet your
outgoings, and that always gives an
honest man anxiety. There is no sign
of restitution about you-pleasant ap-
pearance and cheerful home for you;
but God only knows what time you
nave had to manage your private
finances Just as the bills run up the
wages seen: to run down. You may
say nothing, but life to you is hard
push, and when you sit down with
your wife. and talk over the expenses,
you both rise up discouraged. You
abridge here and you abridge there,
and you get things snug for smooth
sailing, and 10! suddenly there is a
| large Doctors bill to pay, or you have
| lost your pocketbook, or some debtor
has failed, and you ore thrown abeam-
| end. Well, brother. LOU are in glorious
company. ~hrist owned not house in
which he stopped, or the colt on which
he rode, or the boat in which he sailed.
He lived in a borrowed house; he was
buried in borrowed grave. Exposed
to all kinds of weather, yet he had
| only one suit Of clothes. He break
tasted in the morning, and no one
could possibly tell where he could get
anything to eat before night. He
would have been pronounced finan-
cial failure. He had to perform mir
acle to get money to pay taX-blll.
Not dollar did he own. Privation OF
domesticity; privation of nutritious
food: privation of a comfortable couch
on which to sleep; privation Of all
worldly resources! The kings of the
earth had chased chalices out of which
to drink, but Christ had nothing but
plain cup set before him, and it was
very sharp and it was very sour. He
took the vinegar.
There were years that passed along
before your family circle was invaded
by death, but the moment the charmed
circle was broken everything seemed to
dissolve. 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 rec
ord You got tie house and rejoiced
in it, but the charm was gone as soon
as the Grape hung on the door-bell
The one upon whom you most de-
pended was taken away from you. A
cold marble slab lies on your heart to-
day. Once, as the children romped
through the house, you put your hand
over your aching head and said: "Oh,
if could only have it still" Oh, it is
too still now. You lost your patience
when the tops. and the strings, and the
shells were left amid floor; but oh,
you would be willing to have the trim
kets scattered all over the floor again,
if they were scattered by the same
hands. With what a ruthless plough
share bereavement rips up the heart!
But Jesus knows all about that. You
cannot tell him anything now in re-
gard to bereavement. He had only
few friends, and when he lost one it
brought tears to his eyes. Lazarus had
often entertained him at his house.
Now Lazarus is dead and buried, and
Christ breaks down with emotion, the
CONFUSION of grief shuddering through
all the ages of bereavement. Christ
knows what it is to go through the
house missing familiar inmate.
Christ knows what it is to see an I'M
occupied place at the table. Were
there not four of them-Mary and
Martha, and Christ and Lazarus? Four
of them. But where is Lazarus? Lone
ly and afflicted 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. I sometimes have
curiosity to know how I will be-
have when I come to die-whether l
will be calm or excited; whether l will
be filled with Renaissance or with an
ticipation. l cannot say. But come
to the point must and you must. An
officer from the future world will
knock at the door of our hearts, and
serve on us the writ of ejectment, and
we will have to surrender. And we
will wake up after these autumnal
and wintry and vernal and summary
glories have vanished from our vision;
We will wake up into realm which
has only one season, and that the sea-
son of everlasting love.
But you say: Il don't want to
break out from my present associa-
lions. 1t is so~chilly and so damp to
go down the stairs of that vault. I
don't want anything drawn so tightly
over my eyes. If there were only
some way of breaking through the
partition between worlds without
tearing this body all to shreds!
wonder If the surgeons and the doc
tors cannot compound a mixture by
which this body and soul can all the
time be kept together? Is there no
escape from this separation? None;
absolutely none. A great many men
tumble through the gates of the flu
ture. as it were, and we do not know
where they have gone, and they only