Milford chronicle., 1901-12-20

AL0AAA a pohlllUu huElE ne received 0AOU q
year salary into a position where ne has
ever since received $500 a year. He
never forgave me. but has pursued me
with pen vitriolic ever since The worst
enemy you ever had is the man you in
troduced and favored and helped. But be
not disturbed or even irritated. You are
no better than your Lord. If the world
had had any thankful appreciation of his
coming, it would have filled that Bethle-
hem caravansary with flowers which
bloom there clear on into the December
month. and Herod. instead of attempting
his death. would have sent a chariot to
fetch the infant to the palace. and the
oyer and terminer of Pilates courtroom
would have pronounced him not guilty.
and instead of a cross and a crown Of
tbOrns it 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 passed 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 slow
est to make up. Who wrote them know
not. hut | cut these two lines out and
pasted them in my scrapbook twenty
years ago. for the words are so strikingly
true:
Forgiveness to the injured does belong.
But they meier pardon who have done the wrong.
We talk about the great discoveries of
the age, the electric power, the steam
power, the telescope and microscopic
power. but do not say anything about the
discoveries we all make year by year and
day by day. There are surprises all the
time. 1t is new road we are travelling
"fe have not passed this way before"
Our Last journey.
But closely allied is the other fact
which we limited at in the opening-that
we will not pass this way again. This is
our only opportunity for doing certain
things that ought to be DONE On all sides
there are griefs we ought to solace hun
ger we ought to feed, cold that we ought
to warm. kind words that we ought 10
speak, generous deeds we ought to per-
: form. All that you and do toward max
ing this world better and happier we
must do very soon or never do at all
Joshua and his troops never came hnck
over the way they were marching toward
the crossing of the Jordan The impress
Of the sandal or the bare feet OF each sol
der showed in what direction he was go
ing, but never did the impress of the san
/ dal of any one Of them show that he had
i returned. We are all facing eternity TO
come. There is no retreat. Alertness and
/ fidelity would not be so important if we
could truthfully say: Il will be back here
again. The things neglect now will do
the next time | come ! will be reincar-
mated, and | will resume my earthly obi
cations. Having then more knowledge
than ! have now. | will discharge my
earthly duties better than | can now dis.
charge them. ! do not give solemn fare
well to these obligations and 0pportuni-
ties but a smiling and CHEEKY gOodby I'M
I'll see them again" 30: we cannot say
that. There will be no new and corrected
edition Of the volume of our earthly life.
After we make exit from the stage at the
close of the fifth act we cannot rp-enter
How many millions of people have lived
and died ! know not. but Of all the hui
man race who have gone only seven per.
sons that | now think of have returned
the son of the widow at Zarpphath, the
young man Of Main. the rulers daughter
Tabitha, Eutychus, Lazarus and Christ
Among all the ages to come do not sup
pose there will be one more who will re
turn to this life. having once left it.
Lord Bacon said that he who shall dis
cOver-the Wy TO make myrrh soluble by
human blood will discover immortal lif,
on earth. hut no such discovery will eve
: be made. With what suggestive sOlemnity
does this thought charge every hour o.
our earthly existence. 1t is said that it il
possible to know which way the wine
blew at the time of the deluge by tn,
mark of the wave still TO be found in tn,
sand, and the direction Of our influence
however slight, will leave a mark tina
will last forever.
Crossing the Jordan,
At this point | ask you to notice tn
fact that my text does not call attentio
to the crossing Of the Jordan, but to tn
way leading thereto. We all think muc
of our crossing of the Jordan when tn
march Of our life is ended, but put too Iii
tie emphasis on the way that leads to til
! crossing. What you and | need most
rare about is the direction of the road W
are travelling. We need have no fear {
the crossing if we come to it in the rigl
way. In other words, we need not car
about death if our life has been what
ought to be. We will die right if we liz
right That was a glorious thing thi
Montmorency, constable Of France, sal
: when dying from his wounds in battl
Some one standing by advised him
> show the same courage in dying that
had shown during his lifetime. To tn
he replied. "Gentlemen and fellow Sc
diers, / thank you all very kindly f.
your anxious care and concern about m
but the man who has been enabled to e
deavOr to live well for fOurscore yea
/, past can never need to seek now how
die well for a quarter Of an hour"
U What an absurdity it would have bee
for Joshua and his men to have ask
each other questions like these: "Ho
- can we cross the Jordan if we get Their
Will not the water be too deep to allo
us to wade? Will we not all be so sat
rated that we may lose our lives by exp
sure? How many of us can swim? II;
we better not wait until the annual fires
eft has subsded?' No such folly did tn
i commit. They were chiefly anxious abO
the way that they had mot passed
j. fore" and were ignorant Of and to ke
l their eyes on the golden covered acaC
box, wing mounted, which was the ark
= the covenant.
o hearer, stop bothering about 70
exit from sublunary scenes! By t
grace of God get your heart right al
then 90 ahead. If the Lord takes care
5. you clear on to the bank on this side
the river, | think you can trust him
take you from bank to bank, from t
- willows on this side the stream to t
palms on the other side. from the Ia
kiss of sorrowing ones on this side to
welcome. sanity, cherubic. seraphic, {
ifc, on the other side. Keep your eye
s+ the ark. and, whatever betides, you "
20 through all right.
IS One Easter morning Massena, the mi
&c shall of France. appeared with $50
- armed men on the heights above I
town Of Feld5irch. There were no arr
to defend the town. and the inhabitaI
were wild with terror. Then the old de
Of the church cried out: My brothe
this is Easter day! We have been
pending on our own strength, and II
in fails Let us turn to God. Ring the be
and have service as usual" Then
bells rang out sweetly and nightly FRI
q the church towers of Feldkirch, and
q people thronged to the houses of pra!
for worship. The sound Of the bells ma
the enemy think that the Austrian ar
e. had come in to save the place, and NJ
sena and his $4,000 soldiers retreat