The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1908-04-15

who like myself have had a long lease
of life-as a bane but a blessing. and
not to die while so surely would this
world be the loser by IL staying;
that those who love us most dearly
would pray that we might be set free
from the burden of the over many
a For it would make no mat
ter to the creatures Of the lower Gre
alton we have glanced at, If their lie
could run on forever in the old kindly
grooves, because they must measure
their life by their instincts, and the
present moment is the perfect sphere.
They want no better, as they fear no
worse, and take no thought for the
morrow. The squirrel has his nuts
and the bee his honey. and so through
all the spheres of their life.
But here lies the distinction be-
tween our life and theirs: Where they
have instincts we have memories,
where they have habits we have out.
looks and inlooks, anticipations n
reflections, and our manhood on the
line to which we have risen holds in
it's heart our cross and our crown.
The glamor of youth is mine no
more; yet, I may remember with ten
der regret and I may in some dim
fashion be aware why the eternal
love should give me the blessed boon
of death, when 7 have drank my fill
at the fountain of life down here and
it is time to cross the bar. And then
I must take this truth home to my
heart: that by the time / have had
enough of life the world I live in now
MAJ have had enough of me. SO l
must not only get out OF the world,
but out of the way, so that the new
man may have room for the work ne
must do. To most Of US the time
comes when we begin to trace the
truth of the new time by the lines OF
longitude and forget the lines Of lati-
tude; we do not believe in the new
man from the Lord, but want the old
man and manhood that will be true
to our line of measurement. Again.
when we grow old the knowledge OF
the evil in the world begins to lie
like lead on us, while the knowledge
of the good can hardly hold its own:
One man in ten may take me in and
I lose more grace by that n man
than I gain by the nine who did not;
I think more of the bitter thai the
sweet, brood over the cruelty and for
get the mercy.
While / must say, with the great
apostle, 1T doth not yet appear what
we shall be-" I would hold on well to
the faith that I shall be myself when
I pass from the shadows OF the seen
and temporal into the light OF the
unseen and eternal. I shall pass out
of one room in the many mansions
into another, and what treasure in
the heaven was mine here will be
mine there, while that which is to
come will not seem so much another
life as the ripeness and perfecting OF
this life that now is. We may say
we know nothing about the mystery
of the life beyond, but this is not
true If we believe in Him who
brought life and immortality to
light" We know enough to keep
the heart from trouble, and this Is
what we need to know, for 1t was
the hearts love which brought us
here, that nursed us forth, bore with
us, believed in us and hoped for us.
and never failed-and that death
cannot slay.
Anu SO 1 lOVS W uSllCfC "AN
shall I call the solidarity of life here
and hereafter, and that I am to be
myself whatever befalls-the myself
I long to be-released from the
body of this DEATH" and to bear with
me all that is best worth Gods saw
ing in my life down here; and not a
flower has bloomed, or a well sprung
up for my blessing, or a bird sung,
or a dear friend clasped hands with
mine, or tears fallen, or laughter rip
pied out of a pure JOY, to be forgot
ten. / would be myself, and myself
this soul, which has stored up essence
of all that shall be of an immortal
worth since ] lay a babe in the cradle
so far away in time and space.
What care l
Though falls the sky -,
And the shriveling earth to e. cinder
turn:
No fires of doom
Can ever consume
What never was made, nor meant 10
burn.