Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1901-08-22


| two persons have lived together for forty
| or fifty years, and one Of them Is taken
| away, VIII desolationi
I shall not forget the cry OF DR.. DE
| Witt; of New York, when he stood 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 l am here on earth. we
| shall meet again. Farewell. FAREWELL
To lean on prop for fifty years and
| then have it break under you. There were
only two years difference between the
| death of my father and mother. After my
| mothers decease my father used to 50
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 hls
| cane and start out, and some one would
| say, Father, where are you going: Aud
| he would answer, Il don't know exactly
where. | am going" Always looking for
something. Though he was a tender
| hearted man l never saw him cry. but
once, and that was at the burial of my
mother. After sixty years living together
| it was hard to part. And there are aged
| people to-day who are feeling Just such
pang as that. l want to tell them there Is
| perfect enchantment in the promises OF
| this gospel, and come TO them and offer
| them my arm, or l take their arm and l
| bring them to this gospel well. Sit down,
father or mother; sit down. See If there
is anything at the we'll for you. Come.
David, the psalmist, have you anything
| encouraging to offer them? "1e s,' says
the psalmist; they shall still bring torth
fruit in old age; they shall be fat and
hourishing to show that the Lord Is up
right. He is my rock, and there is no IN
| Righteousness in Him. Come, Isaiah,
have you anything to say out of your pro,
nh for l
says Isaiah; down to old age | am with
| thee, and to hoary hairs will l carry thee.
Well, if the Lord is going to carry you,
you ought not to worry much about your
ailing eyesight and failing limbs.
You get little worried for fear that
some time you will come to want, do you!
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 empty! VIII lie
feed the raven and the rabbit and the hon
in the desert and forget you? Why, nat
uralists tell that the porpoise will not
forsake its wounded and sick mate. And
do you suppose the Lord OF heaven and
earth has not as much sympathy 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
But l gather all the promises to-day in
group, and I ask the shepherds to drive
their focks 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 dehvereth him out of them
ALL" weeping may endure for night,
but JOY cometh in the morning" 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 Divi inc Physician.
He will not hurt you. He has been heal
ing wounds for many years, anu He will
give you gentle and omni potent medica-
ment.
But people when they have trouble, go
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
failure. There is only one well that can
s!ake the thirst of an afflicted spirit, and
that is the deep and inexhaustible well of
the gospel
But some one in the audience says,
Notwithstanding all you have said this
morning, | find no alienation for my trou-
bles.' Well, l am not through yet. l
have left the most potent consideration
Tor the last l am going to soothe you
with the thought of heaven. However
talkative we may be, there will come
time when the stoutest and most en-
! no answer. AS soon as we have closed
our lips for the final silence no power on
earth can break that taciturnity. But
where, 0 Christian, will be your spirit?
In scene of infinite gladness; the spring
morning of heaven waving its blossoms in
the bright air; victors fresh from battle
showing thair scars; the rain of earthly
sorrow struck through with the rainbow
or eternal 10y; In one group God and an
gels and the redeemed-Paul and Siias,
Latimer and Rid'.y, Isaiah and jeremiah,
Payson and John Milton, Gabriel and
Michael, the archangel; long line of chOris-
tiers reaching across the hills; seas of Joy
dashing to the white beach; conqucrors
marching from gate to gate, You among
them. Oh, what 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 we'll 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 we'll
Of heaven the Shepherd will dip reunion
hea,tis for the sick. rest for the weary.
ana ther, al the flock of the Lord sheen
Will he down in the green pastures, and
Tord wv without ed we will praise the
ina We en"t 40 Oh tn,S su.Imer Sabbath morn
Of Jacob and Rachel at the Mnii Wv stoly