Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-11-19
Robert McCheyne was a consumntirs

! preached he cOughed so it seemed as if
he would never preach again. His
name is fragrant in all Christendom.
/ That name is mightier today than was
ever his living presence. He lived to
preach the gospel in Aberdeen, Edin-
! burgh and Dundee, but he went away
! very early. He preached himself into
the grave. Has Robert McCheyne's
| sun set? Is Robert McCheyne's day
! ended? Oh, no! His dying delirium
| was filled with prayer, and when he
! lifted his hand to pronounce the bene-
dictiOn upon his family and the bene-
diction upon his country he seemed to
say: II cannot die now. I want to live
! on and on. I want to start an influence
for the church that will never cease. 1
am only 80 years of age. Sun of my
Christian ministry, stand still over
Scotland" And it stood still.
But Joshua was not quite through.
There was time for five funerals before
the sun of that prolonged day set. Who
will preach their funeral sermon? Mas
sillon preached the funeral sermon
over Louis XVI. Who will preach the
funeral sermon of those five dead kings
king of Jerusalem, king of Hebron,
king of Jarmuth, king of Lachish, king
of EglOn? Let it be by Joshua. What
is his text? What shall be the epitaph
put on the door of the tomb? "There
shall not any man be able to stand be-
fore thee all the days of thy life" Be-
fore you fasten up the door l want five
more kings beheaded and thrust in
King Alcohol King Fraud, King Lust,
King Superstition, King Infidelity. Let
them be beheaded and hurl them in.
Then fasten up the door forever. What
shall the inscription and what shall the
epitaph be? For all Christian philan-
thropists of all ages are going to come
and look at it. What shall the inscrip-
ton be? ''There shall not any man be
able to stand before thee all the days
of thy life.''
Joshua's Greatest Battle.
But it is time for Joshua to go home.
He is 10 years old. Washington went
down the Potomac and at Mount Yer
non closed his days. Wellington died
peacefully at Apsley House. Now,
where shall Joshua rest? Why, he is
to have his greatest battle now. After
40 years he has to meet king who
has more subjects than all the present
population Of the earth, his throne a
pyramid of skulls, his parterre the
graveyards and the cemeteries of the
world, his chariot the worlds hearSe-
the king of terrors. But if this is JOSH
ua's greatest battle it is going to be
Joshua's greatest victory. He gathers
his friends around him and gives his
valedictory, and it is full of reminis-
cence.
Young men tell what they are going
to do; old men tell what they have
done. And as you have heard a grand
father or great-grandfather seated by
the evening fire tell of Monmouth or
Yorktown and then lift the crutch or
staff as though it were a musket to
fight and show how the old battles
were won, so Joshua gathers his trends
around his dying couch, and he tells
them the story of what he has been
through, and as he lies there, his white
locks showing down on his wrinkled
forehead | ask if God has kept his
promise all the way through. AS he
lies there he tells the story one, two or
three times-yOu have heard old people
tell a story two or three times over
and he answers, Il go the way of all
the EARTH and not one word of the
promise has failed, not one word there
of has failed; all has come to pass, not
one word thereof has failed" And
then he turns to his family, as a dying
parent will. and says: Choose now
who you will serve, the God of Israel
or the God of the AmOrites. AS for me
and my house, we will serve the Lord"
A Twin rn0lylpSC
thoughtIess of his children. Consent
to part with them forever at the door
of the tomb we cannot. By the cradle
in which their infancy was rocked, by
the bosom on which they first lay, by
the blood of the covenant, by the God
Joshua, it shall not be. We will not
part we cannot part. Jehovah-Jireh,
we take thee at thy promise. 81 will
be a God to thee and thy seed after
thee"
Dead, the old chieftain must be laid
out Handle him very gently. That
sacred body is over ITO years of age.
Lay him out, stretch out those feet
that walked dry shod the parted Jor
dan. Close those lips which helped
blow the blast at which the walls of
Jericho fell Fold the arm that lifted
the spear toward the doomed city of
Al. Fold it right over the heart that
exulted when the five kings fell. But |
where shall we get the FURNISHED gran
lite for the headstone and the foot
stone? 1 bethink myself now. 1 imag-
inc that for the head it shall be the sun
that stood still upon Gideon and for the
foot the moon that stood still in the |
valley of AjalOn.
Copyright 1900, Louis Klopsch, N. VI