The Penn's Grove record., 1899-05-12
XII PENIS GROVE. N. j.. FRIDAY. MAY r.. 1899.

SN' 49, - "a -" ' - NV III ~ q u 4"
smooth life. Some Of you are now In the
shadow. Others had their troubles years
agoi you are a mere wreck of what you
once were. l must gather up the sorrows
of your past life, but how shall I do IT.
You say that 1t is impossible, as you have
had so many troubles and universities.
Then | will Just take two-the 1rst trouble
and the last trouble. AS when you are
walking along the street, and there has
been music in the distance you unconscious.
ly md yourselves keeping step to the mu-
slti 30 when you started life your very life
was d musical time beat. The air was
full of joy and hilarity: with the bright,
clear oar you made the boat skip. You
went on, and life grew brighter, until, af-
ter awhile, suddenly a voice from heaven
said, "Haltl' and quick as the sunshine
you halted, you grew pale, you confronted
your first sorrow. You had no idea that
the flush on YOU child's cheek was an un-
healthy flush. You said 1t cannot be any
thing serious. Death In ~sllppered feet
walked around the cradle. You did not
hear the tread, but after awhile the truth
flashed on you You walked tho floor.
oh. IL you could, with your strong, stout
hand, have wrenehed that child from the
Destroyer You went to your room and
you said, God, save my chlldi God, save
my ehildi' The world seemed going ont
In darkness. You said, II can't bear it, l
can't bear it, You felt as II you could not
put the long lashes over the bright eyes,
never to sec them again sparkle. II YOU
could have taken that little one In your
arms, and with it leaped the grave. how
gladly you would have done i'll II you
could let your property go, your houses
go, how gladly you would have let them
depart III you could only have kept that
one treasured
But one day there came up a chill blast
lfhat ctrapt thrOJph ffa haIrpngn u,l in
stantly all the lights went out, and there
was darkness-thick, murky, impenetrable,
s%hudderlng darkness. But God did not
leave you there, Mercy spoke. As you
took up the bitter cup to put 1t to your
lips God said, "Let 1t pass, 80 and forthwith,
as by the hand Of angels, another cup was
put into your hands. 1t was the cup of
Gods consolation. And as you have some.
times lifted the head Of a wounded soldier
and poured wine into his lips, so God butts
His left arm under your head and with
His right hand He pours into your lips the
wine of His comfort and His consolation,
and you looked ut the empty cradle and
looked at your broken heart, and you
looked at the Lords ehastisement, and
you said, "lIveD so, Father, for SO it
seemeth good in Thy sight"
All, 1t was your first trouble. How did
you get over it2 God confronted you. You
have been a better man ever since. You
have been a better woman ever since. In
the jar of che closing gate of the sepuleher
YOU heard the changing of the opening gate
of Heaven. n you felt an irresistible
drawing heavenward. You have been
spiritually better ever since that night
when the little one for the last time put
Its arms around your neck and said;
Good night, papnl Good tight, mamma
Meet me In Heayeni"
Perhaps your last sorrow was a financial
h-ah ar r H,ya n,.trr+,sIn . am 90
you on your lucrative profession or occu-
patton, on ornate apparel, on u commodi-
Gus misunderstanding you put your
hands on seems to turn to gold. But there
are others of you who are like the ship on
which Paul sailed whore two seas met, and
you are broken by the violence of the
waves. BY an unadyised Endorsement, or
by aaconjunction OF Unforeseen events, or
by fire or storm, or a sense!ess 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
days OF prosperity, and that through your
trials 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 nres Of n burning
world2 Have you, amid all your losses
and Heterogeneous, forgot that there was
bread on your table this morning, and that
there shall be a shelter for your head from
the storm, and there is air for our lungs,
and blood for your heart, and light for
your eye, and a glad and glorious and
triumphant religion for your soul2
Perhaps your last trouble was q bereave-
ment. That heart which In childhood was
your refuge, the parental heart, and which
has been source Of the quickest sympathy
ever since, has suddenly become silent for
ever. And now sometimes, whenever in
,,,l r, - 49, .-iNIr,,E Ia1gIa,nNfa,
you say, Il will go and tell mother" the
thought flashes on you, II have no
mother" Or the father, with voice less
tender, but with heart as loving, watchful
of all your ways, exultant over your success
without Saying much, although the old peo-
pie do talk 1t over by themselves, his from
bling 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 ~eampanlon in life, sharer Of
your joys and sorrows, taken, leaving the
heart an old ruin, where the Ill winds blow
over Il 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 at
the cave OF Machpelah. As you were NOV
ing along YOU path In life, suddenly, right
before you, was an open grave. People
looked down, and they saw It was only q
few feet deep aud a few feet wide, but to
you 1t was a cavern down which went all
your hopes and all your expectations. But
cheer up in the name OF the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Comforter.
There is one more point of absorbing
reminiscence, and that Is the last our of
life, when we have to look over all our
past existence. What a moment that will
bel l place Napoleon's dying reminis-
cence on st. Helena besides Mrs. Judson's
dying reminiscence in the harbor OF st.
Helena, the same island, 20 years after.
Napoleon's dying reminiscence was one of
delirium-"Hete 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
torlan says she fell into a sound sleep
for an hour and woke mid the songs
of angels. l place the dying reminis-
cence of Augustus Cesar againt the
dying "Reminiscences of the apostle Paul.
The dying Renaissance OF Augustus
Caesar was, addressing his attendants,
Have | played my part well on the stage
of life?" and they answered in the affirma-
tive, and he said, "Why, then, don't you
applaud me2" Tue dying Renaissance of
good fight, | AVE finished my course, /
have kept the faith; henceforth there is
laid up for me q crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will
give me in that day, and not to mo only,
but to all them that love His appearing"
Augustus Cesar died amid pomp and great
surroundings, Paul uttered his dying rem
iniscence looking up through the wall of n
dungeon. God grant that our dying pillow
may be the closing of a useful life and the
opening Of a glorious eternity.
SANG ROCK OF AGES" FOR HOURS.