The Penn's Grove record., 1904-07-08

- - 49, 1000 49, 80 NAk aA%AA
nal leaves drifting under our feet to-day.
One ny one, one by ? =, we shall soon,
yes soon be there"
Y. Let Us Proceed to Inquire, How Do
the Leaves Fade?
/. They fade naturally. It is what con-
stantly occurs. After the summer is gone
and the fruits are fully ripe, they change
their color, lose their interesting hue and
drop In rapid succession to the ground.
Man that is born OF a woman hath but
a short time to live, and is full Of misery.
Il cometh up, and is cut down like a
flower; he feeth as it were a shadow, and
never ~contlnueth IN one stay. In the
m1dsS of life we are in DEATH" and science
teaches that we are more apt to die than
to live, all our tendencies are toward
death, and it is one continual struggle to
keep soul and body together. Where are
now the builders Of Babel? Abraham and
his seed? David and Solomon? Daniel, the
prophets, the apostles and the great men
OF the past? Only remembered by what
they have done. They being dead are
still speaking. The serpent comes to the
sinner, coils about his body, presses his
heart tightly, and then comes the awful
sting. The same serpent comes to the
Christian. But oh, how changed The
can cry out: ooh, death, where is thy
sting?" Il have been dying for many
years, now l shall begin to live"
2. They Fade Gradually.
The different periods of life are COM
pared to the revolving seasons of the
year. Childhood and youth when life is
all expectation and hope, are like a beauti-
tul May morning when the sun shines
brightly, and the dew is upon the flowers,
and everything is beautiful and lovely.
Nature is bursting her bars and is giving
promise of the unfolded splendors of a
summers glory yet to m But oh, how
quickly time passes by! TIL, boys and
girls OF yesterday are the men and women
OF to-day. Then, for none of US is there
such a thing as an e~ver-enduring man
hood. I'VE pursue our course, from child
hood, with its yigor and beauty, to age
with its feebleness and decay, with the
untalllng continuance of the rounding sea-
sons. Our march is an uninterrupted one
from the cradle 20 the grave" But, oh,
how we shrink at the thought of geing
down the western horizon Of our physi-
cial strength! The leaves, which a few
days ago felt the first touch Of the frost
have day by day been changing in tint.
The work was not completed in a day.
No, it has been going on gradually and
after awhile, leaf after leaf, they will fall
to the ground. So with you and me.
From Cay to day we hardly notice the
NAoA5Og u II 4AOSLo nave LOuCuCQ Use
Now a rheumatic pain, then a lung
trouble, later, a heart weakness, the
hand begins to tremble, the limbs begin to
%totter, the eyes need the aid of glasses,
the mental powers are clouded, and breath
grows shorter, and thus we fade. Solomon
has beautifully set forth man in his fading
eAndition: 'In the day when the keepers
of the house shall tremble, and the strong
men shall bow themselves, and the grinders
| apasa hp0ausa thou ara favw and fbn5a that
look out of the windows be darkened
the grasshopper shall become a bur
den, and desire shall fail, because man
goeth to his long home"
8. They Fade Imperceptibly.
We scarcely realize that they are fading
till they lie at our feet, fallen and dead.
Why it seems but as yesterday when they
doomed in vernal pride and beauty, but
to-day they are gone. An, my aged friends,
is not this very much like the noiseless
and lmperceptible manner In which age
oyertakes you as it steals behind you with
mutled footsteps and whitens your hair,
and wrinkles your brows, and stifels
your joints before you are well aware
that it Is on your track at all. How long
does 1t seem since you were a careless
child and a t~houghtless youth, and a buoy
ant man? Not long, I trow. Some of you
viii say, at seems but as yesterday" Ny
young friends, this ought to be a lesson to
you and me, that what we are going to do
in this life we must do quickly, for we all
do fade" fade with the rapidity and in
perceptibihty Of a leaf.
VI. There is a Greater Beauty and Glory
Attached to the Leaf in Its Fading
and Dying Condition Than at Any
Time in Its Life.
Along the lake shores and river banks,
and up the slopes of the mountains, there
is an indescribable mingling Of gold, and
orange, and crimson, and saffron, now So
bering into drab and maroon, now flaming
into solferino and s~clrlet." In the morn
ing the forests look as if they were trans
figured, ''and in the evening hour
as il the sunset had burst and dropped
upon the leaves" Some OF the mountains
appear to be all on fire, as if they were
submerged in the glory Of the Lord. Said
Rev. c. G.. Townsend, as he stood by the
parsonage gate and looked upon the scene
isn't that beautiful? l must bring my
wife up Lere to see that foliage" How
often while driving along the road we no.
tice a tr-e where the leaves have fadeI
at the first touch OF the frost, all turning
a russell brown. mo one stops 20 study
then. They are gathered in no vase.
They are hung on no wall" No one cares
anything at all about them. Such is the
death Of the wicked. They do not live
out half their days, but pass away into
olackness, and darkness, and despair with
out a ray of light : , cheer the gloom.
But, thank God, such is not the death Of
the Christian, for, "the path Of the Just
is as the shining light, which shineth more
and more unto the perfect day." What
a beautiful sight it is behold a father and
mother in Israel who have spent their
lives in the service of Christ come down to
cross the river. Oh, what halo Of glory
there is about them! What words of peace
and joy and comfort proceed from their
lips, and how strangely near the Holy
Spirit is as the Angels gently loose the
"Fade, fade, each earthly joy
Jesus is Nine"
And the fading body lutters and falls
downward as the leaf, while the spirit
returns to God who gave it." Oh, that in
this sense, too, we may all fad with the
beauty and glory of the leaf.
VII. The Leaves Fall Only to Rise Again.
1t is one of the laws of nature that
nothing is really lost. Things change their
condition, but exist in another form. In
the Juice and sap and life of the tree the
leaves will come up again. Next May the
South wind will blow the resurrection
''trurSpet and they viii rise" So with
our loved ones who sleep in Jesus.
1uGN Shall AON Gil G4GNEs "a my oA@
be changed. For if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so them also
which sleep in Jesus viii God bring with
Him. For the Lord Himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout. with the voice
of the archangel, and with the trump of
God; and the dead in Christ shall rise
first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them IN
the clouds, to meet the Lord IN the AR,
and so shall we ever be with the Lord"
H%alleluiah! Hallelujah!
VIII. In the Heavenly Jerusalem the
Leaves Shall Never Fade.
"Soon will the shadows of earth's life be
past,
Sorrow and p~artings be over at last;
Soon shall we meet in the Mansions OF
Day.
Meet where our loved ones can ne'er fade
away"
When Ezekiel foretold the blessings of
the Messiah's kingdom he spoke of them
under the figure Of trees growing on 9
bank whose leaves should not wither, but
be for medicine. When John saw In apo
"a lvDt;o vision the heavens oDeued. n