The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1904-07-06

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yes soon be there"
V. Let Us Proceed to Inquire, How Do
the Leaves Fade!
I. They fade naturally. II 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
irop in rapid succession to the. ground.
Man that is born OF a woman hath but
short time to live, and is full of misery.
b cometh up, and is cut down like
flower: he fleeth as it were a shadow, and
never contnueth in one stay. In the
mlds. of life we are in death" and science
teaches that we are more apt to e than
to live, all our tendencies are toward
death, and it il one conticia 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
Christian, as he looks him in the eyes,
can cry out: ooh, death, where is thy
sting" II have been dying for many
years. now | 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 beauti-
ful Ilay 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 unfoded splendors OF a
summers glory yet to come. But oh, how
! quickly time passes by! Th, boys and
uirls of yaotarIau ha and
of to-day Then, for none of us is there
such a thing as an ever-enduring man
| hood. I'VE 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 to the grave" But, oh,
| how we shrink at the thought of going
down the western horizon OF our physi-
cial strength! The leaves, which 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
to the ground. So with you and me.
From 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 Life.
! Along the lake shores and river banks,
and up the slopes of the mountains, there
is an inuescribable 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 :.
as ia 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. c. Townsend as he stood BY the
parsonage gate and looked upon .he scene:
'Isnt that beautiful? / must bring my
wife up ere to see that foliage How
often while driving along the road we no
tice tree where the leaves have fadel
at the first touch of the frost, all turning
ther:. 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
blackness, and darkness, and despair with.
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 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
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 futters and falls
downward as the leaf, while the spirit
| ~ H.. thot u,
this sense, too, we may all fade with the
beauty and glory of the leaf.
VII. The Leaves Fall Only to Rise Again.
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
trumpet and they will rise" So with
They shall not all sleep, but they shall
be changed. "For if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so them also
which sleep in Jesus will God. bring with
Him. For the Lord Himself shall descend
from heaven with shout. with the voice
of the archangel, and with the trump OF
God; and the dead in Christ shall rise
first. Then we whicl are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in
the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air,
and SO shall we ever he with the Lord"
Hallelujah! Hallelujah
VIII. In the Heavenly Jerusalem the
Leaves Shall Never Fade.
"Soon will the shadows of earth's life be
| past,
Sorrow and partings 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 a
bank whose leaves should not wither. but
be for medicine. When John saw in apo.
calyptic vision the heavens opened, and
the new Jerusalem descending down from
God out OF heaven. He saw in the midst
of the street and on either side of the
river, the tree OF life, and the leaves OF
the tree were for Il g healing of the ma
| tions.
"There the sun never sets and the leaves
never fade,
There the righteous forever shall shine
like the stars,
In that leautiful city of gold"