The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1901-04-25
and awful sinners saved by the grace

and awful sinners saved by the grace
of God. You seem to be only slender
sinner, and you don't much eXtol the
mercy Of God, but we who have been
such very awful sinners praise his
grace the more now that we have been
redeemed" Can it be that you are so
desperately egotistical that you feel
yourself in first rate spiritual trim andl
that from the root of the hair to thel
tip of the toe you are scarless and inn
maculate? What you need is a looking\
glass, and here it is in the Bible. Poor
and wretched and miserable and blindt
and naked from the crown of the head
to the sole Of the foot, full of wounds
and putrefying sores. No health in
us. And then take the fact that Christ
gathered up all the notes against us
and paid them and then offered Us the
receipt
And how much we need him in our
sorrows! We are Independent of cir
cumstances if we have his grace. Why.
he made Paul sing in the dungeon, and
under that grace ST. John from desc I
late Patmos heard the blast Of the I
apocalyptic trumpets. After all other
candles have been snuffed out this is
the light that gets brighter and bright
er unto the perfect day, and after I'M
der the hard hoofs of calamity all the
pools of worldly enjoyment have been
trampled into deep mire at the foot Of
the eternal rock the Christian, from
cups of granite, lily trimmed and vine
covered, puts out the thirst of his
soul.
Manliness In Death.
Again, | remark that Christ Is above
all in dying alleviations. l have not
any sympathy with the morbidity
abroad about our demise. The en-
peror of Constantinople arranged that
on the day of his coronation the stone
mason should come and consult with
him about his tombstone that after
. awhile he would need And there are
men who are monomaniacal on the
subject of departure from this life by
, death, and the more they think of 1t
the less prepared are they to go. This
is an unmanliness not worthy of you,
not worthy of me.
Saladin, the greatest conqueror OF
, his day, while dying, ordered the tunic
, he had on him to be carried after his
death on a spear at the head of his
: army, and then the soldier ever and
anon should stop and say: Behold all
!. that is left of Saladin, the emperor
n and conqueror! OF all the states he
conquered, of all the wealth he ac-
. cumulated, nothing did he retain but
. this shroud." l have no sympathy
: with such behavior or such absurd
u u demonstration Or with much that we
:. hear uttered in regard to departure
~ from this life to the next. There is 6
u common-sensical idea on this subjec
D that you and l need to consider, thai
u there are only two styles of departure
X thousand feet underground, b!
'e light of torch toiling in a miners shaft
III ledge of rock may fall upon us, an
e. we may die miners death. Far on
ut at sea, falling from the slippery rat
On lines and broken on the halyards, W
or may die a sailors death. On missio
n of mercy in hospital amid broke
or bones and reeking leprosies and rag
We ing fevers we may die philanthrt
n pits cath On the field of battl
'" -'ee.'pg God and our country, SLUG
through tle heart, the gun carriag
We may roll over US, anu we may die
u patriots death. But after all there ar
40 only two styles of departure, the deaf
~ OF the righteous and of the wicked
~ ana we all want to die the former.
No Last Hours on Earth.
m Gordon HALL, lar from home, dyin
v in the door of heather temple, SAID
he GLORY to thee, o God!" What did DIV
Nv ing Wherefore say to his wife? Com
Sc and sit beside me and let us talk o
90 heaven. l never knew what happnes
to was until l found Christ" What di
he dying Hannah More say? "To 20 t
ns heaven, think what that is! To 20 t
I'd Christ, who died that l might live
or Oh, glorious grave! Oh, what a glori
ct GUS thing it is to die! Oh, the low
nd of Christ, the love of Christi" VIVA
va did Mr.. Toplady, the great hymnmak
er, say in his last hour? who ca
Ct measure the depth of the third heav
"a Ct? oh, the sunshine that fills m
~ soul! l shall soon be gone for surel
a no one can live here after such glorie
:, as God has manifested to my soul"
H. What did the dying Janeway say
10 Il can as easily die as close my eye
or or turn my head in sleep Before
,r few hours have passed shall stand o
ID Mount Zion with the one hundred an
IN forty and four thousand and with th
m just men made perfect, and we sha
n ascribe riches and honor and glor
= and majesty and dominion unto Go
II and the Lamb" DR.. Taylor, cor
- demned to burn at the stake, on hi
way thither broke away from tn
III guardsmen and went bounding an
'e leaping and jumping toward the fire
10 glad to go to Jesus and to die for him
s. Sir Charles Hare in his last momen
n had such rapturous vision that h
Is cried, Upward, upward, upward!
e And SO great was the peace of one O
Christs disciples that he put his finger
IS upon the pulse in his wrist and count
g ed it and observed its hating beat
e until his life had ended here to begi1
q in heaven. But grander than that wa
n the testimony of the wornout first mis-
It sionary, when in the Mamartine dun
y geon he cried: II am now ready to b,
IL offered, and the time of my departur,
e is at hand. 1 have fought the goot
# fight, have finished my course, hav,
r kept the faith. Henceforth there ii