Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1901-04-26

much extol the mer. 4 God, but we who
have been such veI 'vful sinners praise
His grace the mQ/ ow that we have been
redeemed" Ca |be that you are so DIES.
perately eroti y that you feel yourself
in first rate 1tual trim, and that from
the root q hair. to the tip Of the toe
Won are ess and immaculate? What
YOU nee pa looking glass, and here it .is
in the Re. Poor and wretched and mis-.
erabl n blind and naked from the crown
of head to the sole of the foot, full
of hds and putrefying sores. No health
And then take the fact that Christ
hered up all the notes against US and
I'D them and then offered us the receipt
4 And how much we need Him in our sor'
|rows We are independent of circum'
stances if we have. His grace. Why, He
made Paul sing in the dungeon, and under
that grace st. John from desolate Patmos
heard the blast of the apocalyptic trum.
pets. After all other candles have been
snuffed 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
tan, from cups of granite, lily rlmmed
and vine covered, puts out the thirst OF
his soul.
Again remark that Christ is above all
in dying alterations. | have not any sym
pathy with the morbidity abroad about
our demise. The Emperor of Constantine
pie arranged that on the day of his coron..
nation the stonemason should come and al
consult him about his tombstone that after
a while he would need, and there are men
who are monomancal on the subject OF
| departure from this life by death, and the
more they think of it the less prepared
are they to go. This is AN unmanliness
not worthy of you, nor 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
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 accumu-
lated, nothing did he retain but this
| shroud!"
1 have no sympathy with such behavior
or such absurd demonstration, or with
much that we hear uttered in regard to de-
parture from this life to the next. There
| is a common-senscal idea on this subject
that you and 1 need to consider - that
| there are only two styles of departure.
A thousand feet under ground, by light
| of torch toiling in a miners shaft, ledge
of rock may fall upon us, and we may die
| a miners death. Far out at sea, falling
| from the slippery ratlines and broken on
| the halyards, we may die a sailors death.
| On mission of mercy in hospital, amid bro
| ken bones and Keeling leprosies and raging
| fevers, we may die philanthroplsts
| death.
On the field of battle, serving God and
| our country, slugs through the heart, the
gun carriage may roll over us, and we may
die patriots death. But, after all, there
are only two styles Of departure-the. death
| of the righteous and of the wicked, and
we all want to die the former.
What did the dying Janeway say! Il
can as easily die as close my eyes or turn
INV head in Sleep Before few hours have
| passed l shall stand on Mount Zion with
the one hundred and forty and four thou
sand and with the just men made perfect,
and we shall ascribe riches and honor and
glory and majesty and dominion unto God
and the Lamb" DR.. Taylor, condemned
to burn at the stake, on his way thither
broke away from the guardsmen and went
bounding and leaping and jumping toward
the fire. Glad to 60 to Jesus and to die for
Him. Sir Charles Hare in his last moment
had such rapturous vision that ne crled'
Upward, upward, upward! And SO
great was the peace of one OF Chrlsts as
ciples that he put his finger upon the
pulse in his wrist and counted 1t and 90,
served its halting beats until his life had
ended here to begin in heaven. But
grander than that was the testimony OF
the wornout first missionary when In the
Mamartine dungeon he cried: 81 am now
| ready to be offered, and the time OF my
| departure is at hand l have fought the
good fight. have finished my course. l
| have kept the faith. Henceforth there is
| laid I'D for me a crown of Righteousness,
| which the Lord, the righteous Judge, Will
give me in that day, and not to me only,
| but to all them that love His appearing!
| Do YOU not see that Christ is above all In
! dying alleviations!
dence we are speeding. When I see the
snrino blossoms scattered, say, "Another
season gone forever" When l close the
B;ble on Sabbath night, I say, Another
Sabbath departed" When bury friend,
7 saw "Another earthly attraction gone
| forever" What nimble feet the years
The roebucks and the lightnings. run not
| 50 fast, From decade to decade, from SKY
to skv, they 20 at bound. There is
place for us, whether marked or not, where
Won and will sleep the last sleep; and the
| men are now living who will with solemn
| tread carry us to our resting place,
| So, ALSO Christ is above all, IN - heaven
| The Bible distinctly says that chris! Is
| the chief theme of the celestial ascrlPt'tU1h,
all the thrones facing HIS throne an the
| palms waved before His face, an tne
crowns down at His feet. Cherubim to
cberubim, seraphim to seraphim, redeemed
| spirit to redeemed spirit, shall reclte the
| Saviour's earthly sacrifice.
Stand on some high hill of heaven, ana
in all the radiant sweep the most glorious
object will be Jesus. Myriads gazing on
the scars of His suffering, in silence hrst'
| afterward breaking forth into acclamanIlon.
The martyrs, all the purer for the tame
through which they passed, will say, Inls
is Jesus, for whom we died" The apps,
ties, all the happier for the shipwreek ana
the scourging through which they went,
will say, "This is the Jesus whom we
preached at Corinth, and in Capp,s1doIci:aa'
and at Antioch, and at Jerusalem. ..T ny.
tie children, clad in white will say, lnis
is the Jesus who took us in His arms ana
blessed ms, and when the storms OF the
world were too cold and loud brought us
into this beautiful place" The multitudes
of the bereft will say, This IS the Jesus y
who comforted us when our heart 6roke.
MANY who had wandered clear off from
God and plunged into vagabo3TnEd,ism' put 1St
we're saved by grace, will say This Is t ne
Jesus who pardoned us. We were lost on
the mountains, and He brought us home.
We were guilty and He made us white as
snow" Mercy boundless, grace unpa;t tai
leled. And then, after each one has reclteo
his peculiar deliverances and pecuhar IHe,,
cies, recited them as by solo, all the voices
will come together in a great choruI,
the 'C eternal reverberation of gladness and
peace and triumph. - TIM
Edward /. was so anxious t., go to inc
Holy Land that when he was about TO e ei.
nire he beoueathed 100000 to nave ms