Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1910-06-09
IN MEMORY OF
WILLIAM |. BARNES

Dear brother and sister friends:
It is with much grief and sadness OF
heart that l have heard of the sudden
death of our precious brother, William
I. Barnes. 1t is sad but common
reminder brought home to us that lie
is fragile and that mans greatest enc
nv, death, is doing its relentless work |
without respect to times, persons or
feelings. Death, with its processes OF
pain, sickness and sorrow, is the com
monest things on earth; nevertheless
we can never get used to it. the
breaking of our hearts and homes the
seyering of tender ties, the Grape ana
the casket is a notifying, painful
spectacle that we cannot away with.
And why is this true, dearly beloved7
Because deep down in our hearts-and
aside from any Scripture proof-we
know that death is curse upon our
race, a grim destroyer that we fear
and fight to the last ditch. Death is
upon all. "Dust thou art, and unto
dust shalt thou return.
However, we who have believed into
Christ-and according to our faith
we ''sorrow not as others who nave no
(such) hope" And in this brief me-
mortal of our precious little brother,
NAV we not proftably inquire what
this hope is, the hope set before us IN
the GOSPEL? However, before consld-
ering this hope of resurrection from
death and future life in Gods glori-
ous Kingdom to be, let us briefly in
ouire: Why sh ould we need such
bope1 Why should we not rather be
spared the trying ordeal of dissolution
Why are we permitted to live but
few short days or years and they full
of trouble and anguish. And why
has this been true of all the billions OF
our racer Various explanations are
offered us. Intidelity tells us that man
ia merely the highest grade of the
brnte creation, and like all animals
he lives his little day, and dies to be
M more. Evolutionists tell us that
death is merely process by wnlch
man evolves to the Spirit plane, De-
comes an angel or an arch-angel' OF
other form of spirit being, perhaps
God.
However, as Christians, we shudder
at infidelity, and disregarding the ev-
olution theory, we come to the scrip
tnres, The Scriptures answer that our
first parents created perfect, were plac-
ed ON trial in the Garden of Eden un-
der the most favorable conditions, ana
where life would have been sustained
eternally if obedient. Gods PROPOSE
tion was that they might eat of all the
DEMONSTRATING trees, but to partake OF
another would bring death. in the
day thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die. = Sad, and sufficient to say
it was not long before sin entered ana
this dire sentence began to be execu-
ted, our first parents became convlcts
and we're expelled from the Garden.
It is this same original sentence that
has onerated for six thousand years,
and it is estimated that fifty thousand
millions of our race have persisted I'M
der it. 1t is this same penalty with
its processes of trouble that we inner
IT, Paul says of it: by one man
sin entered into the world, and death
nv las a result of sin, and thus death
nassed upon all men, for all are sin
ners." And what could be more reas-
enable or sensible than this explana
? tion of death - that it is the result Of
sin. that our father Adam, when OF
: trial lost life and its grand possibili
ties through disobedience, and came
/. under the curse of sickness and death
and that we, his offspring, without hav
ing any trial lit being useless to u,
MS with inherited sin and weakness II
our blood) are sharers in this SAM
q penalty against sin; viz. death-ant
4 are as a race experiencing all thu
troubles incident thereto, finally expir
ing in death. The explanation convin
g ces our minds and evidences the fac
# that an infant of but a week or
q month shares in the painful process a
4 we'll as those who live longer and be
> come stepped in inherent and surround
d ing sin. II was born in sin and snap
II en- in iniquity; in sin did my mothe
/. conceive me-" "All have sinned an
!, come short is the inspired explana
N ton of the term.
rs It is the same penalty, dearly below
II ed, that we mourn and groan under to
70 day. Indeed, the groaning and trav
ar alling has become so prevalent and hs
as so devitalized our race, that Paul Il
ID fers to it as a "groaning creation.
a from. 9:17-22.
In passing it is certainly agreeab
to note as the Apostle explains, ths
the wage of sin is death, and not etel
nal torture as we have once believed
w Let us rejoice that no hint of former
es of any kind was made to our first p'
a. rents. This God -dishonoring doctrir
lis came not to us from the Bible, bl
&C. from the creeds and ferocious practice
" of a by gone age. The Bible clear
states the matter that sims wage
death, destruction to the incorrigib
80 wicked, but that eternal life is gi
of God only to those who become un
= ted by faith to his dear Son. 'He tn
Y hath the Son, hath life; he that ha
II ok +ha Coz, hath mot life but the orr