The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-05-04

One Of u first realizations in getting
out of this world. / think. VIII be that
up and had cramped apartments and
were kept on the limits. The most,
even OF our small world, Is water. and
the water says to the human race.
Don't come here or you Will drown"
A few thousand feet up the atmos-
phere is uninhabitable, and the atmos-
phere says to the human race, Don
come up here or you cannot breathe"
A few miles down the earth is a furn-
ace Of fire. and the fire, says, Don't
come here or you will burn The
caverns of the mountains are full OF
poisonous gases. and the gases say.
Don come here or you will be as
phyxiated." And. crossing a track.
you must look out or you will be crush
ed And, standing by a steam boiler.
you must look out or v0- will be blown
up. And pneumonias and pleurisies
and c~onsumptions and apoplexies go
across this earth in fiocks, in droves,
in herds, and 1t is a world Of equinoxes
and cyclones and graves Yet we are
under the delusion that il is the only
place ft to stay in. We want to stick
to the wet plank in midocean while the
great ship, the City of God, of the
Celestial line, goes sailing past and
would gladly take Us up in a lifeboat.
My Christian friends. let me tear of
your dependencies and rights about
dissolution. Ny Lord commands me
regarding YOU, saying, Loose him. and
let him CO."
Heaven is 50 per cent better than
this world, a thousand per cent better,
a million per cent better. Take the
gladdest, brightst, most jubilant days
you ever had on earth and
them all into one hour, and that hour
would be a requiem, a fast day, a
gloom, a horror, as compared with the
| poorest our they have had in heaven
since it's first tower was built or it's first
gates swung or it's first song caroled.
''Oh," you say, that may be true, but
1 am so afraid of crossing over from
this world to the next, n / fear the
swapping Of the cord between sou n
body" Well, the surgeons n ply
sicians n scientists declare that there
is no pang at the parting Of the body
and soul, and all the restlessneSs at the
closing hour of life is involuntary n
no distress at all. And / agree with
the doctors, for what they say is con-
firmed by the fact that persons who
were drowned or were submerged until
all consciousness departed and were at
terward resuscitated declare that the
sensation of passing into unconscious
ness was p~leaSurable rather than dis
tressful. The cage of the body has q
doc or asy hinges, and when that
door of the physical cage opens the soul
SlIllply puts oul IlS Wigs dllu SodiS.
GETTING INTO THE LIGHT.
But" you say, Il fear to go because
the future is so full of mystery" Well.
/ will tell you how to treat the mystic
ries. The mysteries have ceased both
ering me, for 1 do as the judge of your
courts often do. They hear all the ar
gumentS in the case n they say, i
will take these papers and give you
my decision next week" So l have
| n rl II ~ in rnOnr RI
the next world, and some things are
uncertain n full Of mystery, and so
I fold up the papers n reserve until
the next world my decision about them.
I can there study all the mysteries to
better advantage, for the light will be
better and my faculties stronger, and
I will ask the Christian philosophers,
who have had all the advantages OF
heaven for centuries, to help me, and ]
may be permitted myself humbly to
ask the Lord, and / think there will be
only one mystry left; that will be how
one so unworthy as myself got into
such an e%nraptured place. Come UP
out of the sepulchral shadows. If you
are not Christians by faith in Christ,
come up into the light; and if you are
already like Lazarus, terminated, but
still have your grave clothes on, get rid
Of them. The command is, Loose him,
and yet him CO."
LAX Willy PS2 III Yin JooAA AAAN
years ago to Palestine hat l really
dreaded was the landing at JOppa. h
is the port of entrance for the Holy
Land, and there are many rocks, and
in rough weather people cannot and
at all. The boats taking people from
the steamer to the docks must run be-
tween reefs that looked to me to be
about so feet apart, and one misstroke
of an OarSman or an unexpected wave
has sometimes been fatal and hundreds
have persisted along those reefs. Be.
sides that, as we left Port Said the
evening before, an old traveller said
THE win is just right to give you {
rough landing at Joppa; indeed I thinl
you will not be able to land at ALL
The fact was that when our Mediter-
ranean steamer dropped anchor neal
Joppa and we put out for shore in thu
small boat, the water was as still az
though it a been sound asleep {
hundred years, and we landed as easily
as 1 entered this pulpit. Well, YOU
fears have pictured for you an appal
ling arrival at the end of your voyage
| Of life, and they say that the seas will
run high and that the breakers will
| swallow you up, or that if you reach
/ Canaan at all, it will be a very rough
landing. The very opposite will be true
If o have the eternal God for YOU
portion. Your Decentralization for TIT
promised land will be as smooth a!
"oS JUL az olCOllllS L i A1CC
[ you far out at sea and pilot you into
: complete safety, and you will land will
l a hosanna on one side of o and. {
! halleluiah on the other.
Land aheadi' It's fruits are waving
Ger the hill of fadelesS green
And the living waters LAYING
Shores where heavenly forms are see
! Rocks and storms I'll fear no more
When on that eternal shore.
Drop the anchor, furl the SAIL
! 1 am safe within the veil!
Copyright, 1900, by Louis Klopsch.)
Mckinley Invited to Charlotte.
: Washington, April 30.-Presiden
Mckinley was visited today by a larg
delegation of citizens of Charlotte
N. c., who urged his acceptance of al
invitation to visit Charlotte on the oc
: sion of the anniversary of the Neck
, lenburg declaration of independence
/ Mr.. Mckinley has the invitation unde
consideration and hopes to be able t
accent