Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1904-07-07

yes soon be there"
v. Let Us Proceed to Inquire, How Do
the Leaves Fade?
1. 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
a 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, ana
never continueth in one stay In the
midsS of life we are in death and science
to live, all our tendencies are toward
death, and it is one continual struggle to
keep soul ind 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" 81 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
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! Tn, 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-enduring man.
hood. 1--WE 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 day.
No, it has been going on gradually and
after awhile, leaf after leaf they will fall
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 mngling 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 $3.50.
as i. 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. Sac
Rev. C.. C.. Townsend, -as he stood by the
parsonage gate and looked upon the scene;
wife up Lere to see that foliage How
often while driving along the road we no
tee a tree where the leaves have fade
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 care:
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
a beautiful sight it is behold "A father ant
mother in Israel who have spent thel
lives in the service of Christ come down tc
cross the river. Oh, what halo of glory
there is about them! What words of peace
and JOY and comfort proceed from then
lips, and how strangely near the Holy
Spirit is as the Angels gently loose the
silver cord.
Fade, fade, each earthly JOY, :,
Jesus is Nine"
And the fading body hutters and falls
downward as the leaf, while 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 Fall Only to Rise Again
1t is one of tie laws OF nature that
nothing is really lost. Things change thcl,
condition. but exist in another form. II
the juice and sap and life OF the tree the
leaves will come up again. Next May the
South wind will blow the resurrection
our loved ones who sleep in Jesus
They shall not all sleep, but they shall
be changed. For if we believe that Jesu:
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 whic. are alive and remar
shall be caught up together with them IN
the clouds, to meet the Lord III the ar
and so shall we ever he with the Lord
Hallelujah! Uallelujah
VIII. In the Heavenly Jerusalem the
Leaves Shall Never Fade.
"Soon will the shadows of earth's lie be
past,
Sorrow and partings be over at last;
Soon shall we meet III the Mansions Of
Day
Meet where our loved ones can ne'er fade
away"
Wheel Ezekiel foretold the blessings OF
the Messiah's kingdom he spoke of them
under tie figure of trees growing on
bank whose leaves should not wither, but
be for medicine. When John saw in apo
calvptic 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 healing of the ma.
tions.
"There the sun never sets and the leaves
never fade
There the righteous forever shall shine
like the star, -
In that leautifu city of gold"
Alcoholism is extremely rare in the Ital-
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