Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1899-03-31

their faith in God. It is comparatively
easy to fight in regiment Of thou
sand men. charging up the parapets to
the sound of martial music, but it is not
SO easy to endure when no one but the
nurse and the doctor are the witnesses
of the Christian fortitude Besides that.
you never had any pains worse than
Christ's The sharpness that stung
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
The Sourness of Poverty.
There is also the sourness Of poverty
Your income does not meet your out
goings, and that always gives an hon
est man anxiety. There is no sign OF
destitution about you-pleasant ap'
pearance and a cheerful home for you
but God only knows what time you
have had to manage your private
finances. Just as the bills run up the
wages seem to run down You may sag
nothing, but life to you is a 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. TO-
suddenly there is a large doctor s bill
to pay, or you have lost your pocket
book. or some debtor has failed, and
you are thrown abeam end Well, broth
er, you are in glorious company. Christ
owned not the house in which he stop
ped, or the colt on which be rode, or
the boat in which he sailed He lived
in borrowed house. He was buried In
a borrowed grave. Exposed to all kinds
of weather, yet he bad only one salt Of
clothes he breakfasted in The morning,
and no one could possibly tell where he
could get anything TO eat before night
he would have been pronounced ahnan-
cial failure. He had 10 perform mir
acle to get money to pay a tax bill Not
a dollar did he own Privation Of do
mesticity; privation Of nutritious food;
privation Of a comfortable couch on
which TO sleep; privation Of all worldly
resourcesl The kings Of the earth had
chased chalices out Of which to drink.
but Christ had nothing but a plain cuQ
set before him, and it was very sharp
and il was very sour. He took the vin-
egar.
There were years that passed along
before your family circle was invaded
by death, but the moment the charmed
circle was broken everything seemed 70
dissolve. Hardly have you put the black
apparel in the wardrobe before you
have again to take it ont Great and
rapid changes in your family record
You got the house and raiciced in IT,
but the charm was gone as soon as the
Grape hung on the doorbelL The one
upon whom you most depended was
taken away from you A cold marble
slab lies on your heart today. Once, as
the children romped through the house
you put your hand over your aching
head and said. "Oh. if | could only
have il still" Oh, it is too still now
You lost your patience when the tops
and the strings and the shells were LETT
amid hoor; but. oh. you would be Will
ing to have the trinkets scattered an
over the floor again if they We're scat
tered by the same hands.
With what a ruthless pl0Wshare be
reavemeut rips up the heart But Jesus
knows all about that You cannot tell
him anything now in regard TO bereaye.
ment He had only a few friends, and
when be lost one it brought tears TO bis
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 be-
reavement. Christ knows what 1t Is &c
90 through the house missing a familial
inmate Christ knows what it Is to see
an unoccupied place at the table. Were
there not four Of them-Mary and Mar
tha and Christ and Lazarusy Four OF
them. But where is LazarusY Lonely
and afflicted Christ his great loving
ewes filed with tears Oh, yes. yesl he
knows all about the loneliness and the
heartbreak He took the vinegar
None Can Escape Denth.
Then there is the sourness Of tn
death hour Whatever else we may es
cape. that acid sponge will be presse'
TO our lips l sometimes have curio5i
tv 70 know how l viii behave when
come 10 die. Whether I Will be calm o.
excited whether | will be filed will
reniuiscence or with anticipation
cannot say But come TO the point
must and you must. An officer iron
the future world will knock at the doc
of our hearts and serve on us the writ o
eiectment. and we will have to surren
der. And we will wake up after thes
autumnal and wintry and yernal am
summery glories have vanished tro1
our vision. We viii wake mp into
realm which has only one season, an
that the season Of everlasting love
But you say 81 don't want TO brea
out from my present associations 1t
80 chilly and so damp to 90 down tn
stairs of that vault don want any
thing drawn 80 tightly over my eyes
II there were only some way OF breaH
ing through the partition betwee
worlds without tearing this body all I
shredsl | wonder if the surgeons an
the doctors cannot compound mixtur
by which this body and soul can all th
l time be kept together. Il there no es
( cape from this separation None, abso
g lutely none. A great many men tumbl
through the gates Of the future, as
were, and we do not know where the
have gone. and they only add gloor
t and mystery to the passage, but Jesu
= Christ so nightly stormed the gates O
= that future world that they have neye
s since been closely shut Christ know
G what it is to leave this world, OF tn
. beauty Of which he was more apprecia
: tive than we ever could be. He know
a the exquisiteness Of the phosphorescenc
of the sea- he trod it. He knows tn
= glories Of the midnight heavens, fo
Il 1 IL s.f