The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-10-27
Would you be young again?

Would you be young again?
So would not l.
One tear of memory given
onward I'll HE.
Life's dark wave forded Ger,
All but at rest on shore,
Say, would you plunge once more,
With home so nigh?
II you might, would you now
Retrace III way.
Wander through stormy wIlds,
Faint and astray?
Nights gloomy watches fed;
Morning. all beaming red:
Hopes smile around Us shed.
H-eavenward, away.
Yes, for some people in this world
there seems nc let up. They are pur-
sued from youth to manhood and from
| manhood into old age. Very distin-
guished are Lord Stafford's rounds
and the Earl OF Y~arborough's hounds
| and the Duke of Rutland's hounds. but
all of them put together do not equal
in number or speed or power TO hunt
down, the great kennel Of hounds of
| which Sin and Trouble are owner and
! master.
But what is trouble for all those per-
sued of trouble and n
pain and bereavement? My tex gives
it to you in a word of three letters, but
| each letter is a chariot If you would
be crowned, or a lake If you would
slake your thirst-yea, a chain of three
lakes-G-o-d, the one for whom David
longed and the one whom David found.
You might as we'll meet a stag which,
after it's sixth mile of running at the
topmost speed through thicket n
gorge and with the breath of the dogs
on its heels, has come in full sight of
| Schroon lake and try to cool its pro-
jecting and blistered tongue with a
daop of dew from a blade of grass as to
attempt to satisfy an immortal soul,
when flying from trouble and sin, with
anything less deep and high and broad
and immense and infinite and eternal
than God. His comfort-why, it en-
bosoms all distress. His arm-it
wrenches off all bondage. His hand
it wipes away all tears. His Christly
atonement-it makes us all right with
the past, and all right with the future,
and all right with God, all right with
man, and all right forever.
Lamartine tells us that King MINI
rod said to his three sons: Here are
three vases, and one is Of clay, another
of amber and another of gold. Choose
now which you will have" The Oldest
son, having the first choice, chose the
vase of gold, on which was written the
word Empire" and when opened it
was found to contain human blood.
The second son, making the next
choice, chose the vase Of amber, in
scribed with the word GLORY" and
when opened it contained the ashes OF
those who were once called great. The
third son took the vase of clay and,
opening it, found it empty, but on the
bottom of it was inscribed the name
of God. King Nimrod asked his court
iers which vase they thought weighed
the most. The avaricious men of his
court said the vase of gold, the poets
said the one of amber, but the wisest
men said the empty vase, because one
letter of the name of God outweighed
a universe.
For him I thirst, for his grace I beg,
on his promise I build my all. With
out him 1 cannot be happy. I have
tried the world. n it does we'll
enough as far as it goes, but it is too
uncertain a world, too evanescent a
world. 1 am not a prejudiced wit
world. I have been one Of the most
fortunate or, to use a more Christian
word, one of the most blessed of men
blessed in my parents, blessed in the
place of my nativity, blessed in my
health, blessed in my fields of work,
blessed in my natural temperament,
blessed in my family, blessed in my
opportunities, blessed in a comfortable
livelihood, blessed in the hope that
my soul will go to heaven through the
pardoning mercy Of God, and my body,
unless it be lost at sea or cremated in
some conf1agration, will lie down
among my kindred and friends, some
already gone and others to come after
me. Life to many has been a disap-
pointment, but to me it has been a
pleasant surprise, and yet I declare
that if I did not feel that God was
now my friend and ever present help
I should be wretched and terror struck
But I want more of him. I have
thought over this text and preached
this sermon to myself until with al
the aroused energies of my body, mind
and soul I can cry out, LAS the har!
paa1teth after the water brooks, sc
panteth my sou after thee, o Cod"
Through Jesus Christ make this Goo
your God, and you can Withstand any
thing and everything, and hat which
affrights others will inspire ou-as ir
time of earthquake, when an ole
Christian woman, asked whether She
was scared, answered, mo; I am GLAD
that l have a God who can shake the
world" or as in a financial panic, wher
a Christian merchant, asked if he
did not fear he would break, answered
Yes, 1 shall break when the Fiftietf
Psalm breaks in the fifteenth verse