The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-22

his back to Rome, we would not thank Him for his pains If he did not also set never be happy in this world if you do not do all the good you can and look fer no sesp onsive gratitude. All the dam age ! did man who is my enemy. was tc take him from a position where he re- ceived zoo year salary into . position where he has ever since received s2,5oo a yssr, He never fergave me, but has pur- sued me with pen vitriolic ever since The worst enemy you ever had is the helped, But be not disturbed or even ir- ritated. You are no better than your Lord. If the world had had any thank full appreciation of his coming 1t would with flowers. which bloom there clear on into the December month and Herod, in- stead of attempting his death, would have sent a chariot to fetch the infant to Pilates i % court q room @ would S nave s1 pronouD- D ced him not guilty. and instead of cross and a crown of thorns 1t would have, been a coronation, with all the mighty ones of the earth kneeling at the foot of his throne.
 Another discovery that surprises us be- cause we had not pass ed this way before Is the fact that if two be in quarrel or In war with each other the one who is the most wrong Is the hardest and the slowest to make up Who wrote them know not, but cut these two lines out and pasted them in my scrap book tweFi- tv years ago, for the words are so strik- ingly true:
 Forgiveness to the injured 1oes belong. But they ne'er pardon who have done the wrong.
 We talk about the great discoveries of the age. the electric power, the steam power, the telescopic and microscopic power, but do not say anything about the diseoveries we all make year by year the time: It is a new road we are trav- cling. t"Ye have not passed this way be-
 Our Only Opportunity. '
 But closely allied is the. other. fact which We htnted at in the opening-that our only Opportunity for doing certain things that ought to be done. On all sides there are griefs we ought to solsce, hunger We ought to feed. cold that we to speak, generous deeds We ought to perform. All that you and I do toward making this world better and happier | we must do very soon or never do at all. over the way they were marching toward the crossing of the Jordan. The impress | of the sandal or the bare feet of each sol dier showed In what direction ne was go- sandal of any one of them show that he had returned. We are all facing eIer- nifty to come. There Is no retreat. Alert ness and fidelity would not be so import be hack here again. The things I neglect now l will do the next time l come, will be reincarnated,T and 1 will resume my earthly obligations. Having then more knowledge than 1 have now, l will discharge my earthly dudes better than l can now discharge them. I do not give solemn farewell to these obligations and opportunities, but 8 smiling and cheery goodby until see them again" No, we cannot say that. There will be no new and corrected edition of the volume oi our earthly life, After we make exit from the stage at the close of the fifth act we cannot re-enter. How many mil lions of people have lived and died know not, but of all the human race who have gone only seven persons that l now | think of have returned, the son Of the widow at zarephatn, the young man oi Main, the ruler daughter, Tabitha, Flu. tychus, Lazarus and Christ. Among all the ages to come l do not suppose there will be one more who will return to this life, having 9nce left 1t:
 Put Your Trust in God.
 At this point I ask you to notice the fact that my text does not call attention to the crossing of the Jordan, but to the. way leading thereto. We all think much of our crossing vi the Jordan wheT the march of our life is ended. but put too little emphasis on the way that leads to the crossing. What you and 1 neoc most to care about is the direction of thu road we are travelling. We need have nc fear of the crossing If we come to it 1T the right way. In other words we nee6 not care about death if our life has beer what 1t ought to be. We will die rish if We live right.
 What an absurdity it would have beer for Joshua and his men to have asked each other questions like these: How can we cross the Jordan if we get there
 VIII not the water be too deep to allow us to wade? Will We not all be so satur ated that we may lose our lives by ex posture? How many of us can swim? Had We better not wait until the annual fresh
 ct has subsided?' No such folly did theN commit. They were chiefly anxious about the way that they had ''not passed be fore" and were ignorant of and to keel their eyes on the golden covered acacii box, wing mounted, which was the aTl of the covenant.
 o nearer, stop bothering about you
 exit from sublunary scenes! By tn, grace of God get your heart right ant then go ahead. If the Lord takes car, of you cleaf on to the bank on this sid
 of the river. think you can trust hin to take you from bank to bank, from th' willows on this side the stream to tn
 palms on the other side, from the las kiss of Serrowing ones on this side to thu welcome. Saintly cherubic, seraphic, de
 ific on the other side, Keep your eye oi the ark, and, whatever betides, you will
 go through all right.
 one Easter morning Masena the mar
 shal of France, appeared with 1S.0O0 arm
 ed Hlep on the heights above the town o Fetdklrch. There were no arms to de
 fend the town and the inhabitants wer
 wild with terror. Then the old dean Q
 the church cried out: My brothers, thi is Easter day! We have been dependin.
 on our own strength. and that fails. l4e
 us turn to God Ring the bells and hay service as usual" Then the bells ranl out sweetly and nightly from the churcl
 towers of Feldkirch. and the peopl thronged to the houses of prayer fol ) worship The sound of the bells mad the enemy think that the Austrian arm had come in to save the place, and Mas
 sena and his ls. 000 soldiers retreated. B } the time the bells had stopped rlngin there was not one soldier in sight St put your trust in God. and when host of troubles and temptations march fo your overthrow ring all the bells of hop and faith and Christian triumph. and tn l threatening perils of your life will fal
 back, and your deliverance will be cele brated all up and down the skies. Tn God who led you through the way yo ) never passed before will be with you a all the crossings
 Copyright. 1901. Louis KloDsch. N. Y.) THE ONEIDA COMMUNITY.