Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1899-03-25

took the vinegar
thrtsts rrtsations,
There - also The pnurncss ~ poverty.
Your Income does not mcrt your outgo.
inRa and that slways siVes an honest man
anxiety There II no sign " destitution
about youw pleasant appearance and
checriul home for ynu=hut tied only
knows what time you have had Ia man
agc Your private finances Just ~ tho
bills run M the wagrs recm 90 run down,
You may SAY nothing, hut life Ca you Il n
hard push, and when YOU At down with
your wife and talk over the expenses YOU
both rise up discouraged, You ahridge
hcrc and you Ahridgc there, and you get
things snug for smooth sailing, and, 10,
suddenly there Is u large dOctor's bill 90
pay, ar you have lost yor pockothook, ar
some debtor has failed and You arr
thrown ahcam end Well, brother YOU arr
In glorious company Christ owned not
the house In which he stopped or the colt
ON which he rode or the boat In which no
sailed. lie lived IN borrowed house; no
was buried Ia a borrowed grave Exposed
Ca NIL kinds IT weather, yet he had only
one suit of clothes lie break tasted In the
morning, and no ono could possibly toll
whore he conld get anything 10 cat before
night lie would have been pronounced "a
financial failure. lie had Ia perform
miracle to get money 10 pay tax bill.
Not dollar did he own. privatiOn ~
domesticity, privation of nutritious food.
privation of a comfortable couch ON which
20 sleep, privation OF all worldly resources.
The kings of the earth had chased chaliccs
out Of which Ia drink. but Christ had
nothing but plain cup set before him,
and II was very sharp. and IL was very
sour. lie took the vinegar.
The vacant Chair.
There We're years that passed along be-
fore your family circle was invaded by
death, hut the moment the charmed circle
was broken everything seemed 10 dissolve.
Hardly have you put the black apparel In
the wardrobe before you have again 10
take IL out. Great and rapid changes In
your family record. You got the house
and rcjoiced In IL, 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 rompcd through the house,
you put your hand over your aching head
and said. oh, II ! could only have IL
stilll" oh. IL Is too still now! You lost
your patience when the tops and the
rNfiHkn anu Niit NutitS NtIt ltiA billll uONTs
but, oh, you would be willing 10 have the
trinkets scattered all over the floor again
II they were scattered by the same hands
With what a ruthless plowshare be-
rcavement rips up the heart, But Jesus
knows all about that You cannot tell
him anything new in regard to bcrcave-
ment He had only n few friends, and
when he lost one IL brought tears To his
eyes. Lazarus had often entertained him
ut his home Now Lazarus Is dead and
buried. and Christ breaks down with emo
ton, the CONFUSION Of grief shuddering
through all the ages of bereavement
Christ knows what IL is Ia go through the
house missing familiar inmate. Christ
knows what il is to see an unoccupied
place at the table We're there not four
of thcm-Mary and Martha and Christ
and Lazarus! Four of them. But where
is Lazarusg Lonely and afflicted Christ,
his great loving eyes filled with tears! Oh,
yes. yes He knows all about the loneli-
ness and the hcartbrcak. lie took the
vinegar
Gates of the Future.
Then there Is the sourncSs Of the death
hour. Whatever else we may escape, that
acid sponge will be pressed To our lips.
sometimes have curiosity To know how
4 VIII HtiAsiNt Nntll Npult. hnttItT
will be calm or excited, whether will
be filled with "Reminiscences or with antici-
patton, ! 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 MS the
writ Of cjcctment, and we will have TO
surrender And we will wake up after
these autumnal and wintry and vcrnal
and summary glorics have vanished from
our vision. We will wake up into realm
which has only one season and that the
season of everlasting love.
But you say: Il don't want To break
out from my present associations. IL Is so
chilly and so damp To 90 down the stairs
of that vault. l don't want anything
drawn so tightly over my eyes II there
were only some way of breaking through
the partition between worlds without tear
ing this body all to shrcds. ! wonder IL
the surgeons and the doctors cannot com
pound "A mixture by which this body and
soul can all the time be kept togcthcrg Is
there no escape from this separations"
None, absolutely none. A great many
men tumble through the gates of the flu
turc, as IL We're, and we do not know
where they have gone, and they only add
gloom and mystery to the passage, but
Jesus Christ SO nightly stormed the gates
Of that future world that they have never
since been closely shut. Christ knows
what il Is TO leave this world. of the beauty
OF which he was more apprcciatiye than
we ever could be. He knows the exquisite
ness OF the phnsphoresccnce Of the sea He
trod It, He knows the glories OF the mid
Z night heavens, for they were the spanglcd
canopy of his wilderness pillow. He knows
about the lilies. He twisted them into his
sermon. He knows about the fowls Of the
air. They whirrcd their way through his
discourse He knows about the SORROWS OF
leaving this beautiful world Not "a taper
was kindlcd In the darkness. He died
u physicianless. He died in cold sweat and
dizziness and hcmorrhage and agony, that
have put him In sympathy with all the
dying. He goes through Christendom, and
he gathers up the stings out of all the
death pillows, and he puts them under
his own neck and head He gathers on his
own tongue the burning thirsts of many
I generations. The sponge is soaked in the
sorrows Of all those who have died In their
( beds as well rs soaked in the sorrows Of
all those who persisted in icy or fiery mar
/ tyrdom. While heaven was plying and
earth was mocking, and hell was dcriding,
he took the vinegar
Carry SORROWS 10 Jesus.
To all those 70 whom life has been an
acerbity-a dose they could not swallow,
draft that set their teeth on edge and
a-rasping-I preach the omnipotent sym
pathy Of Jesus Christ The sister Of Her
schel the astronomer, used 10 spend much
Of her time polishing the telescopes
through which he brought the distant
worlds nigh, and IL is my ambition now
this hour 10 clear the lens of your spiritual
vision, 80 that. looking through the dark
night Of your earthly troubles, you may
behold the glorious constellation Of n Saw
tours mercy and "A Saviours love. Oh,
my friends, 'lo not try a. 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 trouble 81 any kind, you