The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-01-24

"Is the gentleman ChrlstianW "Why do
| you ask that?" said the messenger. The
nurse replied, "I am the nurse who attend:
ed Voltaire in his last illness, and for all
the wealth OF Europe would never gee nm.
other inidel die" What discourse In its
moral and spiritual effect could equal o.
! tale like that?
You might argue upon the fact that those
fallen are our brothers and sisters, but
| could we impress any one with such truth
80 we'll as by the scene near Victoria PARK
London, where men were digging deep
drain, and the Snoring gave way and
great pile OF earth fell upon the workmen.
man stood there with his hands In his
pockets, looking at those who were trying
to shovel away the earth from those who
were buried, but when some one said to the
spectator, "Bill, your brother is down
there" then the spectator threw of his
coat and went to work with an agony OF
earnestness to fetch up his brother. What
course OF argument could 80 we'll az that
incident set forth that when we toll for the
salvation Of O soul 1t Is u brother whom we
are trying to save?
! A second rea,linS OF nv teAt reminds me
| that life Is not only story told, but that
1t Is o brief story. A long narrative
stretched out indefinitely loses Its interest.
It Is generally the story that takes only
minute or half u minute to rehearse that
dltional interest 70 the story OF our life.- It .
is u short story. Subtract from our life all
| the hours OF necessary sleep, oil the hours
OF incapacity through fatigue or Illness, ak
| the hours OF childhood and youth before
| We get fairly to work, and you have abbre-
Waited the story OF life so much that you
can appreciate the psalmist's remark when
he says, ''Thou hast made my days as a
| hands BREADTH" and can appreciate the
apostle James expression when he COM
| pares life to "a vapor that appeareth Tor !
little season and then vanishes away"
It does not take long to tell all the vi
cissitudes OF lile-the glndness and the
grtefs, the arrivals and tho departures,
the successes and the failures, the victor.
les and the defeats, the ups and the downs. i
Tho longer we live the shorter the years.
| We hardly get over the bewilderlng fatigue
Of selecting gifts for children and friends
| and see that the presents get on In
| time to arrive on the appropriate day
than we see another advancing group
OF holidays. Autumnal fruit so sharp
| ly chases the summer harvest, and the
snow OF the whito blossoms OF spring
litima come too soon after the SHOWS OF
| winter. It Is a remark so often made
that II fails to make any impression and
the platitude that calls forth no reply,
Glow rapidly time goes." IA
Every century is q big wheel OF years
which makes a hundred revolutions and
breaks down. Every year.is big wheel OF
then ceases. biologists and theoiogians
kgo into elaboratiops OF guesses as to how
lslopge the world will probably last; how
E16ng before the volcanic forces will explote
or meteohc stroke demolish It., or the
i56old OF aslong winter freeze out its popula. I
k40n or the fires OF last oonfagration
fSffn &c. Thnt is oil very well, but so fal
The present population Of the earth fs
{568o6qk1ed the world will lust but little
6f9 We begin life with cry and end
$dfhHXfo8n, and the cry and the groan
16Ipt far apart. Life. Job says, is like
ght Of wenver's shuttle,-%r, az
lntfmates In my text, story quick
y &knd laughed ut and gone and dis
| pi5 )by another story as tale that Is
Effiort as time Is 1t Is long enough ff
we8kktiy employ It. The trouble Is we
wast6xso much time We cannot catch up,
SomGl Mus have been chasing timew lost
att ty years OF nge, or thirty years OF
| NGS< {orty years Of .age, and II We lived
/ ya&fs We could never ovsrtake 1t. 3
E3pseph,a poor apprentice, every morning
EpnSSedia certain store rs the church clock
{aStx1&k six, at the moment when the mer.
E&Hldt took down his shutters, each OF
saying "Good morning, SIP" and
b05Hfng else What was Joseph's surprise
Ef6Nlnd that tie merchant had suddenly
isdted and left him his store and business.
EThatJsnot the only instance where q man
E6as made fortune by punctuality. The
Ep6ets tssyerse reads: g
Time flies away fast, ..
Th84hile wo ever remember,
t} Low; soon our life here
|5Sl Grows old with the year :,
dies with the next December.
S& third fSadihg OF my text reminds me
my 1ife s. mol 1only story told, but Q
{} tenad to- There is nothing moro !.
15eqS tosaa34ne than to tell story i
scpie araHpt attending. They may
! be! F4ring on8Bome other subject. or
Ethey W freoccupfed. One cannot tell a.
ltstory Ahectual1y unless there are good
F}fstelers Well that which In my text Is 8
Etd1ied thHin tale that Ia told" has plenty OF
sfenax8 here Is no such thing az .
no such thing as being alone,
/ God stems and thesair Is full OF spiritual
Etnt61l ences. all listening, and the world
10 the story of our life, some hoping
be successful, others hoping 1t Will
ibilare. $
lid blt there is no private life. The story
life, however Insignificant 1t may =
to be, will win the applause or hiss 3
|26f& Kkfats multitude that no man can num-
Az o stale that Is told" among ad. :
gfIfbts or antagonists, celestIals or pande-,S3
61Acs, the universe Is full Of Jisteafng ].
rs we'll as OF cleaning eyes. II &
EVe}REsor do the right thing, that Is known
FAt31a say or do the wrong thing, that fs &
nm. suppose the population OF the .
gencesl In the air is more numerous g
than the population of intelligences on.the s
|teArth. oh, that the story OF our lie MIGHT =
ebe tfor such an audience In such an au.
etiltcifumi God grant that wisdom and !
E5delity and carnestness and truth may z
kchafacterize the "tale that Is told" nj
Through medical science the world'sr
b1ongestty may be greatly improved in the
sstnture, as It has been IN the past, bat II Ne
would not be well for the people to live too 4.
long. Some OF them would, through their
sakitl at tfacquisitfyeness, gather too much. I
and come multimillionalros would become
sbiItonatres and triIllonaires, and SOME
would atter awhile pocket hemisphere
No.. Death Is useful In its financial limita.
lions, and then all have enough sorrows
sand annoyances and sufferinSs 5y tho time
they become nonagenarians or centsnar-
1ans to make 1t desirable to quit. Besides
that, It would not be fair so loug to keep so s.
many good old people out OF heaven. So z
1t Ia we'll arranged that those who stand by Il
the deathbed OF the nineteenth centu9s>-
will not be called to stand by the deathbed
Of the twentieth century. -
Oh, crowd this last year with prayers,
with hosannas, with kind words, with help Z
fulness. Make the peroralion Of the CEN
tury tue climax OF ChristlIlle deeds. Close
up the ranks OF God, and during this re- e
naming twelve months charge nightly Z
against tho host Of Abaddon. Have no .
reserve corps. Let swiftest gost ell cavalry
gallop, and heaviest moral artillery roll,
and mishtiest evangelistic batteries thun-
der on the scene. Let ministers OF the
coSpel cult all controversy With each