The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-01-29
THE LOVE STORY OF
PETRARCH AND LAURA
BY DIR. THEODORE BRYANT KINGsBuRY,

4
kind is his superb lode to the Virgin, =
which Macaulay regards as perhaps
| the finest hymn in the world" He was
| beyond doubt most brilliant SPLEEN
| didly ornamented writer, and rich in
| tints and beauties and fascinating
conceits. He NAV not have been per-
| feet, and criticism may disparage his
| rich sonnets, and yet he was in his
| way almost inimitable, and stood alone
| in his time as the producer of very
| original verse, full of elegance. beauty
| and originality. He was the first who
| procured and the first who attempted
| to revive the finer elegances of the
ancient languages of the world" Lord
| Macaulay in his final estimate OF
| Petrarch, considers his works below
| both his genius and his celebrity.
He failed in the output perhaps be-
cause of his time, his environment, his
| companions, his isolation. The cir
| cumstances may not have been pro-
| pitious, and therefore, his real pow
ers may have languished somewhat.
But after all he was ain unique poetical
genius who will forever live and be adj
mired.
| The Bible does not teach the sleep
| of the soul. It does teach that at death
| the spirit of man goes into Paradise.
! 1t teaches that Paradise is Heaven.
tried to make this plain in two articles
| in The News and Observer. The Bible
teaches that Christ lis gone into Heav-
| Ell, and is on the right hand of God
| I. Peter. HIP. At death the true
Christian goes to where the Lord
Jesus Christ is. Paul in End Corin-
thians. chapter ), verses and 8.
| teaches that whilst we are at home
| in tho body we are absent from the
Lord. 9 We are confident ana
willing rather to be absent from the
body and to be present with the Lord
! wish to cite now some passages from
able, pious, conSecrated and diStin-
guished ministers of the past, Bishop
William II. Wightman, ID. D., OF real
ability. line education, ana profound
piety, in an admirable sermon in good
style, and clear, tasteful, direct and
impressive, preached more than fifty
six years ago on Heavenly Treasures
Contrasted With Earthly" said this
Let the body die. Death but
sets the spirit free: and with it's in
destructible treasures that spirit
hastens TO its endless home in the
Heavenly country. in the Eternal City
of God" Bishop Wightman was a
Methodist, South Carolnian by birth,
and before he was made u bishop was
President OF Wofford College, S. G.
Rev. DR.. Joseph Cross was also mem
Der of the South Carolina Conference.
and was man of superior gifts and
accomplishments. For some reason,
sometime soon after the war. he join
ed the Episcopal Church, and went
to New York State. / suppose he is
dead long ago, but when Methodist
he published one admirable religious
work which l read two or three times
With exceeding interest. 1t was UNI
commonly interesting and inspiring to
me. He preached a sermon between
1855 and 1859, on Labor and Rest"
In it he said: Death will place us
instantly upon the summit; and the
panorama of all terrestrial things in
all their relations and influences, will
lie Ground and beneath us and
we shall see things as God sees them,
and estimate them by the same per-
feet standard" The soul sleeping in
the grayt: could not do that, nor cCuld
it be SO said of it,. Again he. asks;
is Paradise a state OF unconscious
ness? Is being with Christ-befng
with the Lord-a state Of unconscious-
ness? y - The2doctrine is wholly
lunscriptural." Again he says: Death
rs the laborer's sweet release
death is the warriors welcome home.
The soul is ever Wakeful
the soul knows no fatigue, ana de-
mands no repose." Again he says that
the soul will continue to, think and
feel, rejoice or suffer when these now
SO active forms ere cold and decaying
in the tombs.' Let me cite some lines
'Lifes duty done, as sinks the days,
Light from its load the spirit flies;
While heaven and earth combine 10
say
How blest the righteous when he
dies
DR.. Cross at the close of his very
fine, impressive. discourse-full OF
beauty and pathos-says of the death
of holy preacher--''to pass from the
well-occupied pulpit to Paradise.
1t is exchargij7 the throne of petty
province for of an empire.
One moment 10 be standing so near
TO God. and the next to awake in his
presence"
About half century ago. on Deem
Der 81, 1854, Rev. DIR. Charles y. Par
sons, an eloquent Methodist preacher,
discussed in a sermon delivered in St.
Louis. "The Divinity of the Church"
1t was fine-something florid, perhaps.
but filed with the very fairness and
marrow Of the truth of God. | make
but one extract. He declared that
while myriads of others, sustained by
the same Power and filled with the
same spirit, nave gone up to glory
and to God. when with the holy mar
tyrs as q cloud of witnesses, they wait
beneath the altar to attest the mighty
truth.
Rev. DR.. John W. Hammer was q
member of the Tennessee Methodist
Conference before the war. | do not
know that he is still living. ! have an
impression that ne was Of North Caro-
lima nativity Prior to 1859. he preach
ed a sermon on Angelic Study" a
we'll prepared and interesting sermon,
good and clear. From it / draw
few lines: when the pioUs die, angels
carry the soul to Heaven, though it
be the soul of Lazarus" Again he
says: when we shall be lying in
the Lord. kind angels will bend over
our couch Of suffering and
through the darkness sweetly smile
upon our souls. as with them we rise
into light, and from this world OF
strife ascend To a better, brighter.
and go into a friendly Heaven. there
to find our Lord, our family, our
home" Other opinions OF distinguish
Ell writer's and speakers might be Civ
en- but the above will answer now. |
am studying to clarity my own vision,
and 10 bring assurance 20 my own
soul, and | would gladly help others.