• •
*
PACIFIC CHRISTIAN MESSENGER, FRIDAY, AUG. t, 1879.
2
The Influence of Religion.
awful with the weight of our solitary years. I said, I shall not see ths sting out of death. We must enter
experience, when it is to bear away Lord, even the Lord, in ‘the land of the conflict with the last enemy :
People talk about religion being a
. BY CHARLES B. BOBINBON, P. D.
the living; I shall behold man no “ But thanks be to God, which giveth
the last breath from our nostrils.
restraint
upon men. In some senses,
us the victory, through our Lord
Virgil tells us that when the pious | Then there is in the picture an ap­ more with the inhabitants of. the
it
is
a
restraint.
But this is not it»
Jesus Christ.” At last there comes
./Eneas visited his father, Andrises, in palling terrer as to fin'al agonies,—an world. Mine age is departed, and is
chief
idea.
There
are in men certain
something authoritative. The mo­
the Elysian Fields, and had to cross inexplicable alarm concerning what removed from me as a shepherd’s tent;
destructive
tendencies,
—passions, ap­
ment we read a verse of inspiration
the Styx at fabled Charon’s Ferry, may be the experiences of the change I have cut off like a weaver my life ;
petites
and
inordinate
affections
which
like these we are studying, we feel as
the frail boat, accustomed to carry we must meet. Of the old moralist, het will cut me off with pining sick­
need
the
curb
;
and
religion
operate»
we do when we see a great meteoric
only the tenuous forms of departed Dr. Johnson, his biographer tells fts ness ; from day even to night wilt
stone,—we say this is a piece of an­ as a curb upon these and reigns them
spirits, now receiving the heavy figure he was all his life in bondage, through thou make an end of me. I reckoned
other planet. Just mark these open­ in. But it has other and larger uses
of a living man, writW and creaked fear of death. “ His intellect re­ till morning, that as a lion, so will he
Fetters and cords and
than this,
sembled a vast amphitheater; in the break all my bones; from day even ing words of the apostle : “ For this gags do not represent it.. It plants
through all its sewed seams.
we say unto you by the word of the
This was only a poet s conception, center stood his judgment combating, to night wilt thou make an end of
Lord, that we which
alive and re­ more than it uproots. When the
me.
like
a
mighty
gladiator,
those
appre
­
according to his light, of what the
work of correction is ended, it has on­
The third element of popular ex­ main unto the coming of the Lord
apostle gives us under inspiration, hensions, which, like the beasts of the
ly
just begun its operations in the soul
shall not prevent them which are
concerning the relations Of the future i arena, were all around him in the perience which the apostle indicates
—
operations
which will continue
asleep. For the, Lord himself shall
life to the grossness
this: " Now cells, ready to be let out any moment. is despair : “ I would not have you as
in
force
eternally.
Negatives do ,
descend from heaven with a shout,
this I say, brethren, that flesh and After a conflict, he would sometimes , others which have no hope!' Here
not
express
religious
duty.
We lore
with the voice of the archangel, and
blood cannot inherit the kingdom of ’ drive them back into their dens ; but now enters the working of conscience.
to
think
that
religious
life
means
the ,
with the trump of God ; and the dead
God; neither doth corr uption inherit , not being able to kill them, he was At this point there is apparent a no­
growth
of
all
the
faculties,
and
not
a >
ever and anon assailed again.” Thus tion of guilt: “ The sting of death is in Christ shall rise first ; then we slow strangulation of them. Religion
inccrruption.”
sin; and the strength of sin is the which are alive and remain shall be
We feel confident that no corporeal we all live, tortured by our terrors.
caught up together with them in the no more cramps a man than wings do
There is also in this picture a dread law.”
substance has place in a purely spir-
a bird, or fins do a fish. Piety is not
Hence, this hopelessness includes a clouds, to meet the Lord in the air;
_ itual stHte V''t -what a purely, of disclosures beyond. The ship de-
and so shall we ever be with tho a ship at anchor on a level sea; it is a
spiritual state is really, it would be parts; that is bad enough,—but, oh ! ” sense of rfl-d'es eit.— No man i s fr ee
Lord. Wherefare, comfort one an­ "ship in motion, with every sail set
impossible for us to tell. It may be where is it going to ? When will it from it. Even wise old Socrates sac­
and swelling with wind and the wa­
other with, these words.”
well t° remember that death influen­ touch shore again ? Providences are rificed a cock for an offering before he
ters around it crested with white.
So
much,
then,
“
by
the
word
of
the
ces our human lot only as an intellec­ intricate; they do clear, however: the dared to die; and he was what we
Christianity
makes a man active, vi­
Lord.” How this Covers at once all
tual notion. There is nothing in it path winds more than ever jjere,— call a sage! Scientific . men keep
brant,
tense.
Great injury has been
the particulars we have mentioned t
which strikes back upon the fiber and alas! where does its untrodden length opening ancient tombs nowaday^;
done
religion
by teaching people to
Thislonely spot away in a damp grave­
substance of our existence. It is not lead? So we repeat Job’s words: and it is astonishing what treasures
regard
it
as
a
mild
form of slavery, in
yard that makes us shudder,—why, it
like a blot of ink fallen in an open “ Are not my days few ? cease then, they find,—gifts all packed up for the
which
people
consent
to be tied up
is only a cemetery, after all ; and a
book, that it should stain the previous and let me alone, that I may take departed creature to make his way on
that
they
may
not
hurt
themselves or
cemetery is a sleeping-place.
We
pages closed carelessly upon it; it comfort a little, before I go whence I with when he should get into immor­
others.
But
there
is
no
such religion
shall remain in it only until sunrise.
bears on the future alone. If we shall not return, even to the land of tal necessities of explanation and
as
this,
at
least
in
the
New
Testament.
Then, too, this sense of failure in life ;
could and would keep it out of mind, darkness, and the shadow of death ; a apology for a misspent life.
The
Gospel
Christ
taught,
is
a Gospel
There is also a sense of inexorable Paul says there is no mistake or loss :
it would not render us unhappy. Ihe land of darkness, as darkness jtself;
of
liberty.
It
is
a
stimulant
to man’s
Something mysteriously “ Therefore, my beloved brethren, be
animals all around us die, just as we and' of the shadow of death, without justice.
ye steadfast, unmovable, always energies, not a narcotic. It makes
do; but they, give no evidence of any order, and where the light is as forces the conviction on the minds of
abounding
in the work of the Lord, him a doer, not a hearer.— Secleted.
us all, that there is one court in this
being affected by the melancholy darkness.”
•
----------- ------------------
forasmuch
as ye know that your
Now Lord Bacon has somewhere universe where decisions are rendered
prospect.
Rosewood.
labor is not in vain in the Lord.”
A, lamb goerdumb to the slaughter, said that “ true fortitude consists in in accordance with facts and principles
No labor can be in vain which has
It has puzzled many people, says a
because it has no sense of apprehen­ not letting what we do know be dis­ of law. We clap our hands when we
God
’
s
glory
for
its
end.
So
of
the
hear
a
popular
poet
sing
out
ener
­
contemporary,
to decide why the dark
sion. It is our idea of death which turbed by what we do ‘not know.”
nameless
and
indescribable
fears
that
getically,
“
•Thank
God,
man
is
not
S
wood
so
highly
valued for furniture
brings us our horror. The imagina­ And he speaks wisely; for that is the
make
us
shudder
;
this
revelation
of
be
judged
by
man-
’
But
that
im
­
should be called " rosewood.” Its
tion invests it with its dreadful precise thing which poor human na­
ture finds most difficult to accomplish. plies that he is to be judged by God; divine love simply takes a lamp and color certainly does not look much
gloom.
bears it into thè mysterious shadows like a rose; so we must seek for some
Hence the Scriptures attack the Ignorance proves nothing: but our and such a conclusion brings to mbst
ahead
of us, as a mother goes on be­ other reason.
idea; they do not appear to try to outlook is full of nameless horrors, be­ men an uneasiness. Solemn moment
fore
into
a bed-room which her timid
Upon asking, we are told that
disturb or rearrange the facts. The cause we have nothing else to fill it" is that in which any soul reaches the
child
had
been filling with weird hor­ when the tree is first cut the fresh
full
consciousness
of
approaching
ar
­
with
—
outside
of
the
Bible.
endeavor of the apostle’s argument, in
Next to this comes grief: “ That ye raignment before the bar of Jehovah rors. Oh, how exquisite is that des­ wood possesses a very strong, rose­
the epistle to 'the Corinthians, is
There is in this hopelessness also a cription of the New Jerusalem, which like fragrance—hence the-name.
directed towards the removal of an sorrow not,” adds the apostle. Men
calls it “ the mother of us all !"
There are half-a-dozen or more
emotional feeling which he calls the even in deepest distress cannot be' sense of risk. It will interject itself
The sense of bereavement is ban­ kinds of rosewood trees. '£he varie­
into
all
our
computations,
this
thought
sting of death.
So he advances made to see Death as a friend. In
ished in the same way. It is the de­
bravely to meet the issue, challenging the old fable we used to read at of something left unarranged at death- parted who are safe. Those we think ties are found in South America, and
a sharp attention by the admission school, the aged woodman fairly grew I cannot get myself ready. I am not we have lost are the very ones we in the East Indies and neighboring
that there' is a fearful something, desperate as he cast his load of fagots master of the position enough to know have most securely. The sense of islands. Sometimes the trees grow
standing at the extreme limit of from 'his sore shoulders: “Sitting what to do more. There are perad­ despair yields to the blessed certainty so large that planks four feet broad
human life, which needs explaining: down, he prayed for Death to come to ventures on ahead in that darkness of hope. We shall find our old friends and ten feet in length can be cut from
« Behold, I shew you a mystery; We his relief.” Suddenly Death did that it is useless for me to try to in heaven ; we shall know them when them. These broad planks are prin- ,
shall not all sleep, but we shall all be come, and inquired what he needed. meet. I must just take my chances we see them. The new life will be cipally used to make the tops of piano­
changed., In a moment, in the twink­ “ Nothing.” answered the frightened as I am. The last word of one of the occupied ]>artly in "knitting severed fortes.
When growing in the forest, the
ling of an eye, at the last trump: for creature, hustling up on his feet;' most courageous of all the famous in­ friendships up.” And as for that
fidels
that
have
been
watched
as
they
rosewood
tree is remarkable for it»
the trumpet shall sound, and the dead " nothing, only to have some one help
awful dread of divine justice, it will
died,
was,
“
It
is
a
leap
in
the
daik
!
”
beauty
;
but
such is its value in manu­
shall be raised incorruptible, and we to put my bundle once more on my
be displaced by a wonderful peace;
This,
then,
is
the
popular
and
ne
­
factures
as
an
ornamental wood that
shall be changed. For-this corrupt­ shoulder!’’
for we can rest implicitly in God’s
cessary
conception
of
death,
up
to
some of the forests where it once
There is in this sorrow a sense of
ible must put on incorruption, and
justice when Jesus the Savior stands
this mortal must put on immortality. bereavement ;i we must go away from that last great moment when the by, with the sure pardon in his grew abundantly now have scarcely
a single specimen. In Madras the
The parallel to this passage is found those we love. The Romans had revelation which-the New Testament hands!
government
has prudently had great
in the epistle to the Thessalonians, thirty epithets for death; and all of furnishes breaks like beautiful sun­
Very beautiful, therefore, rises this
some expressions in which need al­ them were full of deepest dejection. shine through the unutterable gloom. picture of the apostle upon our spirit­ plantations set out, in order to keep
ways to be laid alongside of it. In­ “ The iron slumber,” " the eternal Our Lord Jesus came to bring life and ual vision, and very inspiriting is the up the supply.
deed, the popular mistake, that makes night,” “ th‘e mower with his scythe,” immortality to light in the Gospel. song which floats through the air as
The Spelling Glass.
us^udder at this “ mystery," is bet­ “ the hunter with his snares,” “ the So the trustful believer is taught to we look at it: “So when this cor­
sing,
while
his
heart
is
swayed
by
the
demon
bearing
cup
of
poison,
”
“
the
ter indicated in the verse: “ But I
ruptible shall have put on incorrup­ Stand np, ye spellers, now, and spell.
Phenakistoscope and Knell .
would not have you to be ignorant, merciless destroying angel,” “ the in­ hopes of another life in view:
tion, and this mortal shall have put Spell
Or
take
some simple word, aa Chilly,
“
In
death,
peace
gently
veil*
the
eye»
;
brethren, concerning them which are exorable jailer with keys,” “ the king
on immortality, then shall be brought Or Oauger or the Garden Lily.
Christ
rose,
and
I
shall
surely
riao.
”
asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as of terrors treading down empires,”—
to pass the saying that is written, To spell such words as Syllogism.
That is to say, into this confused Death is swallowed up in victory. O And Lachrymose and Synchronism,
some of them were these, the bitter­
others which have no hope.
And Pentatnech and Saccharine,
and melancholy state of things Chris­ death, where is thy sting ? 0 grave, Apocrypha and Cglandine,
Here are three things: ignorance, ness of which is indescribabl.
Lactiferous and Cecity,
Then there is a sense of laceration. tianity enters with a direct challenge where is thy victory V
sorrow, hopelessness; it would be im­
Jejune and Homceopathy,
possible to find stronger terms by We must tear ourselves away from and absolute contradiction of reversal
“ The night is far spent; the day is Paralysis and Chloroform,
which to outline the universal thought, the hills and the homes that know To real mourners there is only left a at hand.” We have as yet some few Rhinoceros and Pachyderm,
Metempsyohosis, Gherkins, Basque,
us. The more we have cared for the single comfort that will prove satis­ confusions, for the twilight shadows Is certainly no easy task.
which Paul deprecates so earnestly.
“ t would not have you to be world, the more it keeps it hold upon factory. We may reason and argue, are hanging heavily over us; but it Kaleidoscope and Tennessee,
Ktmtschatc* and Dispensary,
•ignorant.”
The moment that a us. There is a sort of injured feeling but all in vain. No assurance about will all be right in tho morning:
Diphthong and Erysipelas,
simple want of information limits our rankling in our hearts, as if somebody its being better for the friends we Th ns *11 through the world, by ship or by And Etiquette and Sassafraa.
Infallible and Ptyalism,
shore,
progress, our imaginations begin to had cheated us out of a right, or de­ have lost to be where they are; no
Allopathy snd Rheumatism,
Where the mother bends over the And Cataclysm and Beleaguer,
chilly philosophy as to manly forti­
fashion for themselves and construct ceived us in a prospect.
cradle,
Twelfth, Eighteenth, Rendezvous, Intri­
Worst of all, there is in this sorrow tude or womanly endurance ; no pro­
a future,—just as ostriches run along
guer,
The tenant of which has just gone on be­
And hoets of other words are fonod
the beaten road until they reach a a sense of failure. A consciousness of fessions of sincere sympathy counsel­
fore—
On English and on Clasaic ground.
ravine mist-covered, then they set out unfinished work, of incomplete ac­ ing courage—nothing is sufficient for
Where the lonely tread on in the a*lies Thus Bobriug's Strait and Michaelmas,
of
w
>.
complishment, is filling us with dis our terrible bereavements, except the
Thermopylae, Cordilleras,
to fly among the clouds.
the brave fight their foes and their Suite, Hemorrhage, Jalap, and Havana
There is in the picture which satisfaction. It happens that we calm declaration : “ Thy brother shall Wuere fears
Cinquefoil aud Ipecacuanha,
—
And Rxppnhatm ok Shenandoah,
ignorance draws a sense of ineffable have this all written out for our in­ rise again.” We insist upon the cer­
Where the funeral wiuds, or the dirge And Schuylkill, and a thousand more,
spection
under
inspiration
in
one
tainty
that
some
tiuij
we
must
be
re
­
loneliness. One spot there is now on
murmurs low,—
Are words some-prime giexl spelle s miss-
the earth somewhere, waiting for us; notable instance; it is worth reading united to the hearts we regret and re­ I Where the eyes of the lover, thiongh In Dictionary land* I ke this :
No one need think hims. lf a scroylw
dimness and tears,
one pathetic little reach of land, six over as a revelation of human nature. member with our tears.
If some of these his etforta foil.
Look aloft for the loved—oh. whatever Nor deem himself undone forever
Just there the Scripture meets •••
feet by two, which is to grow solemn " The writing of Hezekiah king of
th»- word,
To miss the name of eithri river.
Judah,
when
he
had
been
sick,
and
positively:
"For
if
we
believe
that
with tlie charge of our dust lying in
A welcome, a wail, or a warning.
The Dnieper, Seine, or Gaudalqmver.
was
i
ecovered
of
his
sickness:
I
said
,
Jesus
died
and
rose
again,
even
so
it in expectation of the final judg­
Thia ia everywhere cherished, this
everywhere heard—
—We must answer for everything
ment. “ There are no bands in their in the cutting off of my days, I shall them also which sleep in Jesus will
i
bring with him.” We cannot
“ It will all be right in the morning !’’
death.” One moment there is draw- go to the gates of the grave; I am God
we possess, but nothing which we pos­
I
away death, but we can take the
—8. 8. Times.
sess can answer for us.
jpg nearer on the dial, which is to be deprived of the residue of of my take
Victory Over Death.
F
*
*
/