Milford chronicle., 1901-04-26


"Oh, my sins, my SINS" said Martin
Luther to Staupitz. "my sins, my sins!'
The fact is that the brawny German
student had found a Latin Bible that had
made him quake, and nothing else ever
did make him quake, and when he found
how through Christ he was pardOned
and saved he wrote to a friend saying:
"COme over and join us, great and awful
sinners saved by the grace of God. You
seem to be only a slender sinner, and you
don't much extol the mercy Of God, but
we who have been such very awful sin
ners 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 and that from the root of the hair
to the tip of the toe you are scarless and .
immaculate? What you need is looking
glass, and here it is in the Bible Poor /
and wretched and miserable and blind .
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 sor-
rows! We are independent of circum- |
stances if we have his grace. Why, he
J made Paul sing in the dungeon. and I'M
I der that grace st. John from desOlate
/ Patmos heard the blast Of the apocalyptic
trumpets. After all other candles have
been snuled out this is the light that gets
brighter and brighter unto the perfect
day, and after under the hard hoOfs Of
calamity all the pools of worldly enjoy
ment have been trampled into deep mire
at the foot of the eternal rock the Chris
tian. from cups Of granite, lily trimmed
and vine covered, puts out the thirst Of
his soul.
ManIiness In Death.
Again, remark that Christ is above all
In dying alleviatiOns. have not any
sympathy with the morbidity abroad
about our demise. The emperor of Con-
stantinople arranged that on the day of
his coronation the stonemason should
come and consult with him about his
tombstone that after awhile be would
need And there are men who are mono
maniacal on the subject of departure
from this life by death. and the more
they think of it the less prepared are
they to so. 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
on n 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 and cOnquerOr! OF
all the states he conquered. OF all the
! wealth he accumulated, nothing did he
, retain but this shrOud." ! have no sym
pathy with such behavior or such abb
surd demonstration or with much that we
hear uttered in regard to departure from
this life to the next. There is a common
9 sensical idea on this subject that you aud
j / need to consider that there are only
4 two styles of departure.
. A thousand feet underground, by light
. of torch tOiling in a miners shaft, ledge
a Of rock may fall upon us. and we may die
: a miners death. Far out at sea, falling
q from the slippery ratlines and broken on
n the halyards, we may die a sailors death
!. On mission of mercy in hospital annie
= broken bones and reeking leproses anC
raging fevers we may die a philanthrO
pist's death. On the field of battle. serv
ing God and our country, slugs through
in the heart, the gun carriage may roll owe
y us, and we may die patriots death. Blu
1t after all there are only two styles OF de
re parturc. the death of the righteous an,
e. Of the wicked, and we all want to die tn
c. former.
Of God grant that when that hour come
IN you may be at home! You want tn
id hand of your kindred in your hand Yol
a. want your children TO surround you. YO
ct want the light on your pillow from eye
Sc that have long reflected your love. YO
ly want the room still. You do not wan
90 any curious strangers standing arOun
d, watching you. You want your kindre
ur from afar to hear your last prayer.
ry think that is the wish of all of US. Blu
to is that all? Can earthly friends hold U
TO when the pillows of death come up t
IN. the girdle? Can human voice char
en- open heavens gate? Can human hand
ie- pilot US through the narrows of deaf
DIS into heavens harbor? Can an earthl
ed friendship shield us from the arrows
es' death and in the hour when satan sha
M practice upon US his Internal archery
me No, no! Alas, poor SOUL If that is al
nj Better die in the wilderness, far from tr
shadow and far from fountain, alOn
~ vultures circling through the air waltz
ar. for our body, unknown to men, and
nd have no burial, if only Christ would s.
ION through the solitudes: II will never lea
ION thee. l will never forsake thee" Fro
;st that pillow of stone ladder would so
our heavenward, angels coming and goir
rio and across the solitude and the barre
ms. ness would come the sweet notes
Itch heavenly minstrelsy.
hey Last Hours on Earth.
ma Gordon Hall, far from home, dying
lese the door Of a heather temple sa
into "Glory to thee, o Godr' What did
YER ing Wilberforce say to his wife? Go
men and sit beside me and let us talk
ach heaven. / never knew what happin
gcsr was until l found Christ" What
only dying Hannah More say? ITO got
ny. heaven, think what that is! To go
in Christ, who died that might live!
and glorious grave! Oh, what a glori
sub thing it is to die! Oh the love of Chr
Ed the love of Christg' What did Mr.. I
can lady, the great hymnmaker, say in
and last hour? "Who can measure the de
Drge of the third heaven? Oh, the sunsE
the that fills my souli / shall soon be g
yer for surely no one can live here after S
lave glories as God has manifested to
Ed soul"
hont What did the dying Janeway say?
astia, can as easily die as close my eyes or
d an my head in sleep. Before a few he
have passed l shall stand on Mount
with the one hundred and forty and
than thousand and with the just men n
. are perfect, and we shall ascribe riches
meIo- honor and glory and majesty and
unset minion unto God and the Lamb"
these Taylor, condemned to burn at the st
8 of on his way thither broke away from
, can guardsmen and went bounding and
their ing and jumping toward the fire, gla
their 60 to Jesus and to die for him.
their Charles Hare In his last moment
lt for such rapturous vision that he cried,
rilling ward, upward, upward!' And so {
offer was the peace of one Of Christs disc
artist, that he put his fingers upon the pull
If the his wrist and counted it and observe
on for hating beats until his life had e
TT for here to begin in heaven. But gre
e for than that was the testimony of the '
'ection out first missionary, when In the Ma
a Cos tine dungeon he cried: II am now
His to be offered, and the time Of my d
8. his ture is at hand. I have fought the
blood, fight, / have finished my course,
what kept the faith. Henceforth there il
faith? up for me a crown Of righteous
love? which the Lord, the righteous Judge
. fond give me in that day, and not to me
Christ but to all them that love his appear
eayen2 Do you not see that Christ Is above
Aa has- dying allRFiatiOAa1 ---------