The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-04-13

a,ben she went. and, as the shadow OF
death gathered on her eyelid she
thought it was evening and time TO &c
to bed, and SO h said, Good night,
papa, Good night. mammal And
hen she was gonei Ii was good
night" to plain and good night to
tears and good night" TO death and
good night" to earth, but ii was good
morning" to Jesuit was good morn
ing" to heaven I can think OF no
cradle song more beautiful than Jesus.
SONG FOR THE OLD
l next speak of Christ as the old
mans song Quick music loses It's
charm for the aged ear. The schoo
girl asks for a schottish or a glee, but
her grandmother asks for "Balerma"
or the Portuguese Hymn" Fifty
years of trouble have tanned the spirit.
and the keys of the music board must
have a solemn tead. Though the voice
may be tremulous, so that grand
father will not trust it in church, still
he has the psalm book open before
him, and he sings with his soul He
huns his grandchild alseep with the
same tune he sang 40 years 6 in the
old country meeting house. Some day
the choir sings q tune so old that the
young people do not know il, but 1t
starts the tears down n cheek or the
aged man, for il reminds him OF the
revival scene in which he participated
and of the radiant faces that long since
went to dust and of the gray haired
minister pleading over the pulpit n
sounding the good tidings of great joy.
i was one Thanksgiving day in my
pulpit in Syracuse, and Rev. Daniel
Waldo, at IS years of age, stood beside
me. The choir sang a tune. / said.
II am sorry they sang that new tune;
nobody seems to know it," BLESS you,
son.. said the old man, II heard that
20 years ago."
There was a song today that touched
the life of the aged with holy fire and
kindled a glory OF their vision that
your younger eyesight cannot see. 1t
was the song of salvation-JeSuS, who
fed them all their lives long; Jesus.
who wiped away their ears; Jesus,
who stood by them when all else fail
ed; Jesus, in whose name their marri-
& was consecrated and whose resur-
rection has poured light upon the
graves OF their departed. DO you
know me?" aid the wife to her aged
husband who was dying, his mind al
ready having gone out. He said,
No" And the son said, Father, do
you know me?" He said. No" The
daughter said, Father, do you know
me?" He said, NO" The minister
you know Jesus?" "Oh, yes" he said,
Il know him, chief among 10000, the
one altogether lovely!'" Blessed the
Bible in which specialized old age reads
the promise, Il will never leave you,
never forsake youi" Blessed the staff
OIL which the wornout pilgrim totters
on toward the. welcome of his Redeem
err. Blessed the hymn book in which
the faltering tongue and the failing
eyes find Jesus, the old mans song!
When my mother had been put away
for the resurrection, we, the children
came to the old homestead, and each
one wanted to take away a memento
of her who had loved US so long and
loved us so we'll. I hin / took away
the best of all the mementos; it was
the old fashioned, round glass spec
tacleS through which she used to read
her Bible, and I put them on, but they
were too old for me, and 1 could not
see across h room. But through
them 1 could see Jack to childhood
and forward to the hills of heaven,
where the ankles that were stiff with
age have become Timber again, and the
spirit, with restored eyesight, stands
in rapt exultation, crying, This is
heaVeni"
WORDS OF PEACE.
| 1 speak to you again of Jesus as the
night song. Job speaks of him who
giveth songs in the night. john WEIGH
N old Scotch minister, used to put a
| pIdlu dCTOSS HIS DeO on COLO nlSnIS,
! and some n asked him why he put
that there. He said, "Oh, sometimes
in the nightI want to sing the praise
of Jesus and to get down and pray.
Then l just take that plaid and wrap
1t around me to keep myself from the
cold" Songs in the night Night of
trouble has come down upon many of
you. Commercial losses put out one
star, ~SlanderouS abuse puts out an
! other star domestic hnrna y-annant hot
put out 1000 lights. and gloom has
been added to gloom and chill to chill
and sting to sting, and one midnight
has seemed to borrow the fold from
another midnight to wrap itself in
more ~unbearable darkness, but Christ
has spoken peace to your heart. and
o sing:
Jesus, lover of my soul,
Let me to thy bosom fly,
While pillows ear me roll,
While the tempest still is high.
Hide me, o my Saviousi Hide
Till the storm of life is past,
Safe into the heaven guide;
Oh, receive my soul at last.
Songs in the night! Songs in the
night! For the sick, who have no one
the taper on the stand, no one to put
the tper on the stand, no one to put
ice on the temples or pour out sooth.
lhS dilOQy AZ Vi uUlSI Out Cheerful
word. Yet songs in the night Fol
the poor, who freeze in the winters
cold and swelter in the summers hea'
and MUNICH the hard crustS that bleed
the sore gums and Shiver under blank.
cts that cannot any longer be patched
and tremble because rent day is com
and they may be set out on the side
walk and looking into the starved fac.
of the child and seeing famine Their
and death there, coming home from
the bakery and saying in the presence
of the little famished Ones, "Oh, m!
God, flour a gone up!" Yet songs
in the night! Songs in the night, Flo,
the widow who oes to get the bacl
pay of her husband, slain by tn,
"sharpshooters," and knows it is tn,
last help she will have, moving out o
a comfortable home in desolatiion
death turning back from the exhaust
ing cough and the pale cheek and tn,
lusterless y and refusing all relief
Yet songs in the night, Songs in tn,
night For h soldier in the field hos
pltal, no surgeon to hind d, tho 0,,p