The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-08-05

their brightest hopes are about to be
realized. Moses has led Israel through
the wilderness. He has borne up under
their murmurings and backslidings, and
at times he has had to stand alone when
1T seemed as though his shoulders could
not carry the care and responsibility
placed upon them. Yet be has looked for
ward to this glad moment as the time
when his character shall be vindicated
and he shall lead the people, triumphantly
lead the people into the Promised Land.
But now the command comes from heapen.
Moses. ascend Nebo to die! Ali this
n tragedy surprising anything Shake
spearean, yet it occurs almost every day.
A vessel wrecked at sea, a train has
jumped the track, a hotel has taken fire
and men and women just on the eve of
realizing their highest ambitious are
snatched from this into another world.
Nv. The Leaves Fade in Concert Though
They Fall One by One.
Zone cannot count the number of plumes
which those frosts are plucking from the
hills" The aislese of the woods will be
cIvered with beautiful carpet of many
colors. The imagination can scarcely COM
prehend the number of leaves that are
falling. The grave is the great city. IL
has the largest population, the. longest
streets, the greatest number OF hands,
billions of eyes, though they see not.
KingI and queens are there, orators,
statesmen, yea, men of every rank and con-
dition, yet it is the great city of silence.
nor wisdom are there. The multitude of
the dying and the dead are as the autumn
nal leaves drifting under our feet to-day.
"One hv one, one by }, we shall soon,
yes soon be there"
V. Let Us Proceed to Inquire, How Do
the Leaves Fade?
l. They fade naturally. 1t 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 oil woman hath but
a short time to live, and is full of misery.
h cometh up, and is cut down ike a
flower; he heeth as it were shadow, and
never contrnuetK in one stay. In the
midsy 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 md 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
Christian, as he looks him in the eyes,
can cry out: ooh, death, where is thy
sting?" II have been dying for many
years, row l shall begin to live"
2. They Fade Gradually.
The different periods of life are 2om
pared to the revolving seasons Of the
year. Chill dhood and youth when life ia
all expectation and hope, are like beautl-
full llay 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
summers glory yet to come. 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 ever-enduring man
hood. eve pursue our course, from child
hood, with its vigor and beauty, to age
with its feebleness and decay, with the
unfailing continuance of the rounding sea-
sons. Our march is an uninterrupted one
from the cradle 20 the crave" But, oh,
now we shrink at the fought of gong
down the western horizon OF our physl-
cial strength! The lsayes;. 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 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,
IRON Cay to day we hardly notice the
change, but the frosts have touched US,
VI. There is a Greater Beauty and Glory
Attached to the Leaf in Its Fading
and Dying Condition Than at Any
Time in Its Lie.
Along the lake shores and river banks.
and up the slopes of the mountains, there
is an inoescribable mingling of gold, and
orange, and crimson and saffron, now So
bering into drab and maroon, now flaming
into solferino and SCARLET" In the morn
ing the forests look as if they were trans
figured, "and in the evening hour
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. G.. G. Townsend, as he stood by the
parsonage gate and looked upon the scene:
isn't that beautiful? / must bring my
wife up Lere to see that foliage" How
often while driving along the road we no.
tice a tire where the leaves have faded
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
Dlackness, and darkness, and despair with
out ray of light cheer the gloom.
But, thank Cod such is not the death of
the Christian, for, "the path of the just
is as the shining light, which sshinteth 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