The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1900-06-27

from S2lauIC aSSaoAS' AVo olo 'SAJ
much mistaken. A man at S. years of
age has as many temptations as man
at %. They are only different styles
of temptation. Ask the aged Christian
whether he is never assaulted Of the
powers Of darkness, If you think you
have conquered the power Of tem?ta-
ton, you are very much mistaken.
A man who wanted a throne pretend,
ed he was very weak and sickly, and II
he was elected he would soon be gone.
He crawled upon his crutches to the
throne, aud having attained It he was
strong again. He said, IT was "e!l
for me while l was looking for the scep-
ter of another that should stooop, out
now that have found It, why should
stoon anv longer?" and he threw away
his crptches and vas we'll again. How
illustrative of the power Of temptation.
You think it is weak and cripple in.
auence, but give it chance and it will
be tSraut in your soul; it will grind
YOU TO atoms. No man has finally and
forever overcome temptation until he
has left the world. But what are you
to DO with these temptations? Tell
every ybody about them? All, what
silly man you would be. AS well might
commander in fort send word to the
enemy which gate Of the castle is least
barred as for YOU co 60 and tell what
all Your frailties are and what your
temptations are. The world will only
caricsture you, will only scoI at you.
What, then, must man do? When the
wave strikes him with terrific dash shall
he have nothing to- hold onto? In this
contest with "the world, the flesh aud
the devil" shall man have no help
no counsel? Our text intimates some
thing different. In those eyes that
wept with the Bethany sisters ! see
shining hope. In that voice which
spake until the grave broke and the
widow of Main had back her lost son
and the sea slept and soIrow stupendous
woke up in the arms of rapture-in that
voice | hear the command and the
promise, Cast thy burden on the Lord,
aad he will sustain thee" Why should
you carry your burdens any longer?
Oh, you weary soul, Christ has been in
this conflict. He says: My grace
shall be sufficient for you. You shall
not be tempted above that you are able
to bear" Therefore with all your
temptations, go, as these disciples did,
and tell Jesus.
Again. l commend the behavior Of
the disciples to all the bereaved. How
many in garb Of mourning? How many
emblems of sorrow you behold every
where? God has his own way of tax
ing apart family. We must get out
Of the way for coming generations. We
must get of the stage that others may
come on, and for this reason there is a
long procession reaching down all the
time into the valley Of shadows. This
emigration from time into eternity Is
so vast al enterprise that we cannot
understand it. Every hour We hear
the clang Of the sepulchral gate. The
sod must be broken. The ground
must be plowed for resurrection har-
vest. Eternity must be peopled. The
dust must press our cyelids. 1T
is appointed into all men once to die. "
This emigration from time into eter-
nifty keeps ree-fourths of the families
of the earth in desolation. The air IS
rent with farewells, and the black tas-
seled vehicles If death rumble through
every street. The body Of the child
that was folded so closely to the moth
er's heart is put away in the cold and
the darkress. The laughter freezes to
the girls lip, and the rose scatters.
The boyiu the harvest field of Shumem
says: My head! My head!' And
they carry him home to die on the lap
of his mother. Widowhood stands with
tragedies OF voc struck into the pallor
of the cheek. Orphanage cries in vain
for father and mother. Oh, the grave
is cruel! With teeth Of stone it clutches
for It's prey. Between the closing gates
Of the sepulcher cur hearts are mangled
and crushed.
Is there any earthly solace? None.
We come to the obsequies, We sit with
the grief stricken, NE talk psthetically
to their soul; but soon the obseQuies
have passed, tie carriages have left US
at the door, the friends who staid for
few days are gone, and the heart sits in
desolation listening for the little feet
that will never again pstter through the
hall, or looking for the entrance of
those who will never come sgain-sigh-
ing into the darkness-ever and anon
coming across some book or garment or
little shoe or picture that arouses for
tuer association, almost killing the
heart. Long days and nights Of suffer
ing that wear out the spirit and ex-
punge the bright lines of life and give
haggardness to the face and draw the
flesh tight down over the cheek bone
and draw dark lines under the sunken
eye, and the hand is tremulous, and the
voice is husky and uncertain, and the
grief is wearing, grinding, accumulatiDg,
exhausting.
Now, what are such to do? Are they
merely to look up into brazen and un-
plying sky? Are they to walk blast
ed heath unfeG of stream, unsheltered
by overarchIDg trees? Has God turned
US out oD the barren common to die?
Oh, no! no, uo! He has not. He
has not. He comes with sympathy
and kindness and love. He understands
all our grief. He sees the height and
the depth and the length and the breadth
Of it. He is the only one that can full
ly sympathize. Go and tell Jesus.
Sometimes when We have trouble we 80
to our friends and We explain it, and
they try to sympathize; but they do not
understand it. They cannot under
stand it. But Christ sees all over it
and all through it. He not only counts
the tears and records the groans, but