The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1902-02-19


tins of chloral and morphine. Sleepless-
ness is an American disorder. II it has
not touched you and you can rest for seven
or eight hours without waking-if for that
length of time in every twenty.four hours
you can be free of all care and worriment
and your nerves are retuned and your
limbs escape from all fatigue and the ris.
ing sun finds you new man, body, mind
and soul-you have an advantage that
ought to be put In prayer and song and
congratulation.
The French fnancier, almost wealthy
enough to purchase kingdom, but the
victim of insomnia, wrote, "No slumber
to be bought in any market" He was.
right. Sleep is a gratuity from Him who
never sleeps. Oh, the felicities of sumberl
Let all who have this real benefaction eel.
ebrate it. This is one of the sweetest;
strings in all the instrument of ten strings.
Further, let US gratefully acknowledge
the power of physical locomotion. To,
be able to 70 where we wish and all ur.
aided-what kindness! What muititudes-
have to call in the aid of cane and cruteh
and invalid's chair. and their whole life
is Underwent! How hard to get about
with .ack of strong and healthy and sup
be if you have the usual physical eudow.
ment. and sympathized with ought all
those TO be who can neither walk nor
climb nor enter upon any great activities.
That is ono OF the thousands of reasons
why I hate war with complete hatred.
As long as you collect vast dividends
and have health jocund and popularity un-
bounded you will have crowds of seeming
friends. but let bankruptcy and invalid
ism and defamation come, and the num-t
ber OF your friends will be ninety-fve per
cent. off. II you have been through some
great crisis and you have one friend left,
thank God and celebrate it on the sweet
est harpstring.
"While all this is so," says some one,
"there are so many things that others
have which have not" reply, it is not
what we get, but what we are, that de-
cides our happiness. With the bare neces-
sites of life many are unspeakably happy,
while others with all the luxuries are inn
presentations of misery. In the Roman
empire there was no man more wretched
than the Nero who ruled it. The porricoes
of his palace were a mile long. A statue
of him in silver and gold l20 feet high
stood in the vestibule. The walls of his
The ceiling was arranged to shower how-
ers and pour perfumes upon the guests.
His wardrobe was so large that he never
wore garment twice. His mules were
shod in silver. He fshed with hooks of
gold. A thousand carriages accompanied
him when he travelled. His crown was
worth s5OO,OO0. He had everything but
happiness That never came. Your heart
right, all is right; your heart wrong, all
is wrong. -N' !
But we must tighten the cords of our
harp and retune it while we celebrate gos-
pei advantages. The highest style of civ
ilization the world has ever seen is Amer
lean civilization, and it is built out of the
gospel of pardon and good morals. That
gospel rocked our cradle, and it will epi-
taph our grave. 1t soothes our sorrows,
brightens our hopes, inspires our courage,
forgives our sins and saves our souls. It
takes a man who is all wrong and makes
him all right. What that gospel has done
for you and rue is story that we can
never fully tell.
What it has done for the world and will
yet do for the nations it will take the thou
sand years of the millennium to celebrate.
The grandest churches are yet to be built.
The mightiest anthems are yet. to be
hoisted. The greatest victories are yet to
be gained. The most beautiful Madonnas
are yet to be painted. The most trium'
plant professions are yet to march.
Oh. what world this Will be when it
rotates in its orbit redeemed planet,
grdled with spontaneous harvests and
enriched by orchards whose fruits are
speckless and redundant, and the last pain
will have been banished and the last tear
wept and the last groan uttered, and there
shall be nothing to hurt or destroy in all
Gods holy mountain! All that and more
will come to pass, for "thc mouth OF the
Lord hath spoken it,
So far I have mentioned nine of the ten
strings Of the instrument of gratitude. i
now come to the tenth and the last. ~
memorable anticipation. By the
grace o. God we are going to move into
place so much, better than this that on ar
irving VIC will wonder that we were for so
many years 50 loath to make the transfer.
After we have seen Christ face to face and
rejoiced over our departed kindred there
are some mighty spirits we will want to
meet soon after we pass through the gates.
We want to see and will see David, a
mightier king in heaven than he ever was
on earth, and we will talk with him about
psalmody and get from him exactly what
he meant when he talked about the instru-
Moses, who will tell of the law giving on
rocking Sinai and of his mysterious burial,
with no one but God present.
We will see Joshua, and he will tell US
of the coming down of the walls of Jeri-
cho at the blast OF the rams horn and ex-
plain to u5 that miracle-low the sun and
moon could stand still without demolition
of the planetary system.
We will see Ruth and have her tell OF
the harvest field of Boaz, in which she
cleaned for afflicted Naomi. We will see
Vashti and hear from her own lips the
story of her banishment from the Persian
palace by Infamous Ahasuerus.
We will see Paul and hear from him
audience of skeptics on Mars Hill were
conifounded by his sermon on the brother:
hood of man, what he saw at .Ephesus and
Syracuse and Philippi and Rome and how
dark was the Mamerti1e dungeon and how
sharp the exc that beheaded him on the
road to Ostia. Yea, we will see all the
MARTYRS, the victims of axe and sword and
fire and bilIow What thrill of excite
ment for us when we gaze upon the heroes
and heroines who gave their lives for the
truth.
We will see the gospel proclaimers Chry-
sostom and Bourdalous and Whlteheld,
and the Wesieys and John Knox: We
will see the great Christian poets, Milton
and Dante and Watts and Mrs; Hemans
and Frances Havergal. Yea, all the de-
narted Christian men and women of what
ever age or nation.
But there will be one focus toward
which all ewes will be directed. His in
fancy having slept on pillow of straw, all
the hates Of the Herodic Government plan
ming for His assassination; in after time
whipped as though He were criminal;
asleep on the cold mountains because no
one offered Him q lodging; though the
greatest being who ever touched our earth,
6erisiveiy called "this fellow" His last
hours writhing on spikes of infinite tor