The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1901-08-15


Lords sick and bereft ones have come
"Ah," says some one, you are not old
enough to understand my sorrows. You
have not been in the world a. long as
have, and You can't talk to me about my
rnisfortunes in the time of old age" Well,
l may not have lived as long as you, but
have been great deal among old people,
and / know how thcv feel about their fail
ing hea1tn ana about iner departed
friends and about the loneliness that some
times strikes through their souls. After
two persons have lived together fO. forty
or fifty years, and one of them is taken
away, what desolation!
! shall not forget the cry of DR.. De
Witt, of New York, when se sto d by the
open grave OF his beloved wife, and after
the obsequies had ended he looked down
into the open place and said: Farewell
my honored faithful and beloved wife.
The bond that bound us is severed. Thou
art in glory. and ] am here on earth. We
shall meet again. FAREWELL FAREWELL"
To lean on a prop for fifty years and
then have il break under you'll There were
only two years difference between the
death of my father and mother. After my
mothers decease my father used to go
around as though looking for something.
He would often get up from one room
without any seeming reason and go to an
other room, and then he would take his
say, Father, where are you goingT And
he would answer 81 don't know exactly
where | am going" Always looking for
something. Though he was tender
hearted man | never saw him cry but
once, and that was at the burial Of my
it was hard to part. And there are aged
people to-day who are feeling Just such a
pang as that. ] want to tell them there is
perfect enchantment in the promises of
this gospel, and | come to them and offer
them my arm, or / take their arm and |
bring them to this gospel well, Sit down,
father or mother; sit down. See If there
David, the psalmist, have you anything
encouraging to offer them? Yes" says
the psalmist; "they shall still bring forth
fruit in old age; they shall be fat and
fiourishing to show that the Lord is up
right. He is my rock, and there is no un-
Righteousness in Him" Come, Isaiah,
have you anything to say out Of your pro.
phecies for these aged people? Yes"
says Isaiah down to old age | am with
thee, and to hoary hairs will | carry thee"
Well, If the Lord is going to carry you,
you ought not to worry much about your
ailing eyesght and failing limbs.
You get a little worried for fear that
some time you will come to want, do youy
Your children and grandchildren some
times speak little sharp to you because
of your ailments. The Lord will not
speak sharp. Do you think you will come
to want? What do you think the Lord
is? Are His granaries emptyy Will He
feed the raven and the rabbit and the lion
in the desert and forget you? Why, nat
uralists tell us that the porpoise will not
forsake its wounded and sick mate. And
do you suppose the Lord OF heaven and
earth has not 9s much sympathy as the
fish of the sea? But you say, Il am so
near worn out, and | am of no use to God
any more" think the Lord knows
whether you are of any more use or not
If you were of no more use He would have
taken you before this. Do you think God
has forgotten you because He has taken
care OF you seventy or eighty years! He
thinks more of you to-day than He ever
did because you think more of Him May
the God OF Abraham and Isaac and Jacob
and Paul the aged be your God forever
But gather all the promises to-day in
group, and ! ask the shepherds to drive
their hocks of lambs and sheep up to the
sparkling supply. Behold, happy is the
man who God correcteth." Though He
cause grief, yet will He have compassion"
Many are the Affections of the righteous,
but the Lord delivereth him out of them
all. weeping may endure for a night,
but JOY cometh in the morning" l am
determined that no one shall go out of
this house uncontrolled.
So | come to your timid and shrinking
soul to-day and compel you to come out
in the presence of the Divine Physician
He will not hurt you. He has been heal
ing wounds for many years, anu He will
give you gentle and omnipotent medica-
ment.
But people, when they have trouble, 40
anywhere rather than to God De Quin-
cey took opium to get rid OF his troubles
Charles Lamb took to punch, Theodore
Hook took to something stronger. Edwin
Forrest took to theatrical dissipation, and
men. have run all around the earth, hop
ing In the. quick transit to get away from
their misfortunes. 1t has been dead
failure. There is only one well that can
slake the thirst of an afflicted spirit. and
that is the deep and inexhaustible well of
the gospel.
But some one in the audience eays.
Notwithstanding all you have said this
morning. ] find no alienation for my trou-
bles.' Well, | am not through yet /
have lett the most potent consideration
for the last. am going to soothe you
with the thought of heaven. However
talkative we may be, there will come a
time when the stoutest and most en-
phatic interrogation will evoke from us
no answer As soon as we have closed
our lips for the final silence no power on
earth can break that taciturnity. But
where, . Christian, will be your spirit?
In scene of infinite gladness: the spring
morning of heaven waving its blossoms in
the bright ain; victors fresh from battle
showing their scars: the rain of earthly
sorrow struck through with the rainbow
of eternal Joy; in one group God and an
gels and the redeemed-Paul and Sias.
Latimer and Rid,y, Isaiah and Jeremiah
Payson and John Milton Gabriel and
Michael, the archangel long line of choris.
ters reaching across the hills; seas of ioy
dashing to the white beach; conquerors
marching from gate to gate, you among
them. Oh, whit great flock God will
gather around the celestial well! No stone
on the wells mouth while the shepherd
waters the sheep. There Jacob will rec
ognize Rachel the shepherdess. And.
standing on one side of the well of eternal
rapture your children and standing ON the
other side of eternal rapture your Chris
tan ancestry, you will be bounded on all
sides by Joy so keen and grand that no
other world has ever been permitted TO
experience it, Out of that one deep well
OF heaven the Shepherd will dip reunion
for the bereaved, wealth for the poor.
health for the sick, rest for the weary
And then all the flock of the Lords sheen
will lie down in the green pastures, and
world without end we will praise the
Lord that on this summer Sabbath morn.
inc xra xvQra farn. ,ffad 10 .4.,1.. AZ.