The Republican., 1920-12-09

hair and furrowed faces all proclaim |
the lamentation of the inspired bard,
eve all do fade as leaf"
God would teach us in nature and |
His word not to set our affections too |
much on the things of time, but to lay |
Up for ourselves treasures in heaven. |
Three things we may note concern |
ing the decay of the leaf: Q) 1t is |
natural; it is just what is continually |
occurring. When the summer is past |
and the fruit is ripe, the leaves begin |
to change their color and then fall to |
the ground. Some trees and shrubs, it |
is true, retain their verdure during |
the year, yet on these you can find |
faded leaves; nay, their attire is
changing. 1t is so with the physical
existence of man. We begin to die
when we begin to live. We are NOR
tai. We spend our years as a tale
that is told. The history of the ages
is an unmistakable proof of this.
Where are the builders of the pyra-
mids? Where are the patriarchs and
prophets? Where are the mighty ar
mics and the great empires of the
world? They were, but they are not,
and they are as though they never
were. AS with the brave warrior, so
with the most peaceful; as of enemies,
so of friends. The stern visaged mes
senger is no respecter of persons. Tears
of friends may flow and the prayers
of the good may rise, but death, alike
regardless of our tears and prayers,
does His bidding and summons us
away. (2) The decay of the leaf is
tion in day. Decay is going on be-
1 fnrn XIrn dntaat II ord oftar.
discover it. 1t may hang for weeks
before its slender hold is severed and
it falls to the ground. How like man!
There is a gradual corruption of his
nature. When he has attained his full
strength and expended his greatest
vigor, the infirmities of his nature
make their appearance. Youthful en-
ergy has gone and the strength of
maturer years is no longer at his COM
mand. Sight begins to grow dim, the
step to totter, the hand grows feeble
They are not now as they were. Once
they were full of leaves and fruit; now
their leaves are decaying and falling,
presently. the spirit will soar heaven
ward where death nor decay cannot
enter, and in you we may see the veri-
fication of the poem:
"The plants of grace shall ever live,
Nature decays, but grace must thrive;
Time, that doth all things else impair,
Still makes them flourish fresh and
fair"
Its decay may be hastened by exter-
nal circumstances. The insect may
sting it; the blight or excessive cold
may hasten it. 1t would surely die
because of an inherent priciple of cor
ruption, though these things may has
ten it. Is it not thus with man? He
must die because he is mortal, yet may
he not hasten his death by his occupa-
tion, habits or pursuits ? Does not the
reckless debauchee shorten the life
that might have been prolonged? At
its longest period life is short, but is
it not sad to think that many make it
shorter than it was intended to be?
"Oh, that man were wise, that they
understood this, that they would con-
slider their latter end" This being
true, should it not produce humility in
us? Yet we are proud. Proud of our
faces; of our places and of our per-
sons. Why all the care and labor to
adorn the person, or to cover the cir
cumstances so that you may ap-
pear to be what you in reality are
not? How vain and foolish! And
the fall. oh, how great it often isl
Pride goeth before destruction and
a naughty spirit before a fall" Are
you tempted to be proud? Think of
your mortality. What have you to be
proud of? What is it upon which you
bestow so much labor and pains to
make it appear gay? A poor corrup-
tible body that has in it the seeds of
its own dissolution, yes in which a
) process of decay is constantly going
on. But dress it up as you will, and in
: a little while other hands will wrap a
shroud around it and lay it in the
grave, and the worm will be it's COM
panion while its beauty will fade into
dust. Do you wish to destroy per-
sonal pride. Think of the casket that
will contain, of the grave that will re-
ceive and of the worm that will grow
fat on your comely body, and ever
bear in mind the words of the poet:
pride, self-adoring pride, was primal
cause
OF all sin past, all pain, all woe
to come"
Let the remembrance of our decay
produce sorrow in us. "The wages of
sin is DEATH" But for sin there would
have been no death on earth. 1t would
have been a paradise. No funeral
knell would have sounded on our ears;
no sad funeral procession would ever
have been seen; nor sermons heard.
No evils would have been committed
and none of the evil consequences
would have been felt. Oh, the ravages
of sin! Our paradise is gone; commu-
MON with our Maker is lost; the world
is woefully corrupt and under the do
minion of the evil one. When we re
member our mortality let it produce
self-eXamination. Soon we will be in
another world. The question that con-
Germs US most is: What character shall
| sustain then? Have we been born
again? Are we conscious that a
change has been wrought in our hearts
that answers to the demands of Gods
word? Have we truly repented of
sin? Do we hate it and are we re-
solved evermore to avoid and aban-
don it T.? Do we know anything of that
faith which works by love, which over
comes the world, which rests on Christ
alone for pardon and salvation, that
enables US to say from the heart:
"Other refuge have l none,
Hangs my helples soul on Thee!"
Do we know what il is to nour forth