The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1904-07-07


4 vessel :. wrecked at sea. train has
jumped the track. hotel has taken fire
and men and women just on the eve OF
realizing their highest ambitions are
snatched from this into another world.
" The Leaves Fade in Concert Though
They Fall One by One.
Zone cannot count the number OF n'umes
which those frosts are plucklng, from the
hills The aisles of the woods will be
>vered 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. 1t
has the largest population, the longest
streets, the greatest number OF hands,
billions OF eyes, though they see not.
King: and queens are there. orators.
statesmen. yea. men OF every rank ana con-
dition, vet it is the great city OF silence.
Neither work. nor device. nor knowledge:
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 h" one, one by :, we shall soon,
yes soon be there"
T ". Let Us Proceed to Inquire, How Do
the Leaves Fade? ... .e..r...
/. 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 OF woman hath but
short time to live. and is full OF misery
h cometh up. and is cut down like q.
flower; he feeth as it were shadow, and
never eontinueth in one stay. In the
midsS of life we are in death, and science
teaches that we are more apt to d'e mar
to live, all our tendencies are toward
oo6 ~ ic ono continual Struppie to
keep soul and body together. Where are
now the builders of Babel9 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,
sting:" II have been dying for many
years, now I shall begin to live
9 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-
full 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
| summers glory yet to come. But oh, how
quickly time passes by! Th: boys and
| girls of yesterday are the men and women
| Of to-day. Then, for none of US IS there
such thing as an ever-endurlng man
hood. eve pursue our course, from child
| hood, with its vigor and beauty, to age
with its feebleness and decay, with the
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 day:
| No, it has been going on gradually and
| after awhile, leaf after leaf, Ihey 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 Greater Beauty and Glory
Attached to the Leaf in Its Fading
and Dying Condition Than at Any
Time in It's Life.
| Along the lake shores and river banks,
|
| is an inuescribable mingiing 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 Ii 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. G. 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
tice a tree where the leaves have fadel
at the first touch of the frost, all turning
a russet brown. NO one stops 20 study
| them. 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
out 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
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
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
silver cord.
"Fade, fade, eacn earthly JOY,
Jesus is Nine"
And the fading body futters and falls
downward as the leaf, while 1.-The spirit
returns to God who gave it." Oh, that in
this sense. too, we may all fade with the
beauty and glory OF the leaf
VII. The Leaves Fail Only to Rise Again.
1t is one of tie laws of nature that
nothing is really lost. Things change Their cir
condition, but exist in another form In
the Juice and sap ard 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
our loved ones zho sleep in Jesus;
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