Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 16, Number 10, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 23 May 1894 — Page 2

WIND AND RAIN. Fearful Havoo Wrought tn Many Parts of the Country. Storms In the Northwest—Terrible Effects Felt on Lake Michigan—Floods in Pennsylvania Equal Those of Five Years Ago. THE WORST FOR YEARS. St. Paul, Minn., May 18. —The great storm which swept over Minnesota and western Wisconsin Tuesday night was the most severe since the cyclone of April 14, 1886, crushed eighty-six lives at St Cloud and Sauk Rapids. So far j&s reported only four people have been lulled, but the loss to buildings, crops, bridges and railways by wind, hail, lightning and flood will foot up an enormous sum. The downpour of rain for a given period was the greatest ever known. ; Young Trout Killed. Hudson, Wis., May 18. —The heavy rainstorm of Tuesday night has caused Willow river and Trout brook to overflow their banks, causing a damaged? over $50,000. H. T. Drake, of St Paul, owned a private trout hatchery and has lost 70,000 yearlings and 50,000 fry, valued at $20,000. F. O. Crary and •others of this city owned another like hatchery and lost 300,000 fry and 20,000 .yearlings, valued at about $20,000. Chicken* Beheaded. Carthage, 111., May 18.—A cyclone at Denver, in this county, destroyed a number of farm buildings, fences and fields of grain. One hundred chickens had their heads cut off as smooth as if by a knife. No one was injured. The cyclone cloud resembled a balloon with a twisting rope hanging below it In Indiana. Lebanon, Ind., May 18.-—A cloud burst in the vicinity of Dover, 6 miles,; west of this city, about midnight Tuesday night, and the entire country is flooded to a depth of from 2 to 10 feet Wolf and Sugar creeks, which were but small streams, are now rushing torrents of water from Ito u miles in width. The new iron bridge which spanned Wolf creek on the Crawfordsville road, 10 miles west of here, gave way about daylight Wednesday morning. The crash was distinctly heard a mile away. Numerous wooden bridges and culverts were destroyed and the roads are impassable. Hundreds of rods of fences and dozens of small buildings were washed away. The damage to growing crops and the loss by drowned i live stock will be very great, and, while it is impossible to estimate the until the waters recede, it is known that it will reach many thousands of dollars. More Dami Burst. St. Paul, Minn., Me,y 19. — A Hudson (Wis.) special to the Dispatch says: The Jewett mills dam, besides the new Richmond and Burkhardt dams, have gone out, causing much damage. Several bridges are out, including the Tower bridge, which cost originally $25,000, and has now been made useless Superintendent Scott, of the Omaha railroad, is here and estimates the damage to that road in washouts and otherwise at upwards of $75,000. Los* Wl*l Reach *1,000.00J. St. Paul, Minn., May 19. — Reports from the districts visited by storm and flood indicate that the loss was heavier than first reported and will reach at least $1,000,000. All the railway lines entering St. Paul except the Chicago Great Western and Minneapolis & St. Louis employed all the idle men they could find in repairing bridges and tracks washed away by the torrents which swept down every river and brook in this section on Tuesday and \Vednesdaj f . Every Bridge Gone. Maiden Rock, Wis., May 19. Rush river overflowed its banks during •Wednesday night and the raging torvent carried everything before it. Every bridge from the headwater of Rush river to the outlet in the Mississippi has been swept away. Both flouring and sawmills were ruined and the total loss will reach $109,000 in this county. At least a dozen farmhouses along Rush river were washed away. Killed by a Cyclone. Kunkle, 0., May 19. A cyclone passed one-fourth mile west of here at 4:36 o’clock Thursday afternoon, kill--ng five persons, fatally injuring two others and slightly wounding several more. The scene of the cyclone is a hard one to describe. Houses, fences trees and obstructions of all kinds in the path of the storm have been carried away and nothing left to mark the spot where they stood except holes in the ground. Furious Hailstorm at Cleveland. Cleveland, 0., May 19.—The worst hailstorm that hgs visited this city in years raged here for nearty an hour Thursday afternoon. The storm was accompanied by heavy rain, thunder and lightning. Many of the hailstones were as large as hens’ eggs and were driven beforela brisß.south wind. Thousands of over the city were broken, greenhouses were wrecked and several runaways resulted from horses trying to escape the bombardment of ice. The damage will amount to several thousand dollars. Grain Beaten Down. Indianapolis, Ind., May 39.— A wind -and rain storm with hail passed over this city at 8 o’clock Thursday night It blew down a few trees without serious damage to the city. Great damage is reported from the section southwest of Indianapolis. At Patriot, in Switzerland county, hailstones as big as snowballs shivered trees and pounded the wheat into the earth. Six inches of ice feli in places. Decatur, fll.. May 19.—A damaging •hailstorm prevailed here Thursday afternoon, the hail in some cases being as large as a man's fist. On the south sides of buildings all of the glass was shattered. Even heavy plate glass was not proof against the volley. Stock suffered badly. The courthouse, city hall and school houses suffered. Several inches in Sireumierenco were found The damage is extensiva

Monb .Damage to Wisconsin. Ashland, Wis, May 21. —The old portions of Ashland’s breakwater are almost demolished, the sea breaking entirely through at three different places and wrecking it the entire length, so that it will have to be rebuilt The new portion stood welL The damage will probably reach $75,000. Kewaunee, Wis.. May 19.—The last of the heavy rainstorms ended Friday morning in a blizzard of snow and hail. No mail has arrived from the south since Thursday owing to the tracks of the Green Hay road being washed out Farmers report the pea crab totally ruined. 9? Great Damage Results. w Elwood, Ind., May 21.—Property to the value of SIO,OOO was destroyed here by the storm. At Franklin, 5 miles south of this city, the Smith City iron wprks, in course of construction, were destroyed, with a loss of sio,ooo. Kokomo, Ind., Mav 19.—The roof of the furnace of the Diamond plate glass works was blown off Thursday night, and Zion church, 4 miles east, was destroyed. The damage in the county will exceed SIOO,OOO. In lowa. Dubuque, la, May 21.—The specta cle of snow falling after the middle of May was seen Friday morning. After several days of extreme hot weather, resulting Thursday in prostrations by sunstroke, the mercury sunk from 90 degrees to 42 degrees inside of twelve hours. Terrific storm In New Jersey. New York, May 21.—Southern New Jersey experienced a thunderstorm Friday night. Fourteen houses were struck by lightning in Bridgeton, three at Cedarville, four at Newport, two at Dutch Neck, seven at Vineland and several in Millville. Several barns were struck and burned to the ground Z. Johnson lives in the southern quarter of Hridgeton and the lightning ran down tho chimney of his house and prostrated all the occupants. Sueh was the force of the storm and the rain came down in such torrents that the earth was washed away in many places and the gas and water pipes were laid bare. UN LAKE MICHIGAN. Ships Founder ana Go Dowd with Their Crews In a Gale. Chicago, May 21.—The northeast gale which began with the change of weather Thursday night blew with increasing force all day Friday. The gale approached the dignity of a hurricane, blowing at intervals at GO miles an hour. The beach in the neighborhood of Chicago Was .a “ice shore.” From Glencoe to South Chicago it was strewn with wreckage. Thirty-Eight Perished. Chicago, May 22 —The latest estimate of the loss of life off the harbor of Chicago during the recent storm is twenty-eight. Add to this number the six members of the crew of the schooner Cummings, wrecked off Milwaukee on Friday, and the four life-savers off Port Huron, Mich., and the total loss at these three points alone is thirtyeight. The schooners Myrtle and Evening Star, wrecked at Twentyseventh street Friday evening, have gone to pieces, and the Jack Thompson is rapidly meeting the same fate.

Life Savers Go Down. Port Huron, Mich., May 22. —1n an effort to save the crew of the schooner William Shupe, which was waterlogged 14 miles out Friday night and drifted to shore, 5 miles north, Saturday, four volunteer life savers were drowned. The dead are: Augus King, Capt. Henry Little, William Lewis and Bln-ney Mills. Capt. Daniel Lynn swam ashore and was saved. Great Loss to Farmers. Chicago, May 22. —8 y the frosts of Friday and Saturday nights incalculable damage was done to growing crops over an extensive range of territory. The effect of the cold wave was felt from the northern line of Dakota to the gulf. It also went well toward the At antic, especially in the southern states. Fruits, vegetables, wheat, corn and other cereals suffered severely from the remarkable weather. The Dakotas, Minnesota, lowa, Nebraska. Kansas, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Texas, Kentucky and Tennessee sent reports of trouble from snow and ice. CITIES INUNDATED. Disastrous Floods in Many Portions of Pennsylvania. Altoona, Pa., May 22.— The reservoir af Kittanning point, 6 miles above here, broke at 2 a. in. Monday morning, sweeping down upon Ilolidaysburg. A locomotive was sent down to that place to warn the people who had already been put upon the lookout. Williamsport, Pa., Slay 22.—Since Friday night a steady and almost con tinuous down-pour of rain has been swelling all of the streams and late Saturday night numerous cloudbursts a’ong the Pine creek and other tributaries of the west branch of the Susquehanna have made all of the streams overflow their hanks. The water has spread ont over the country and at every point is pouring into the main river. Four miles of track of the Glen Allen Lumber company have been swept away. The boom at Lock Haven has broken and 15,000,000 feet of logs have been lost. Tlie Upper Linden boom also broke at 5:30 Sunday afternoon. It contained 10,000,000 feet of logs and they have gone down. There are about 150,000,000 feet of logs in the main boom and half as many more in the city mill ponds that may go on a 25-foot flood. Situation Elsewhere. Advices from all points up the river say the same conditions exist. A cloudburst at Keating, 20 miles above Renovo, early Sunday morning raised the river about 20 feet, and the river at Renovo is reported higher than in the flood of 1889, when half the town was under water. Above there and extending to the head watei s at Clearfield every town and hamlet has been reduced by water to the conditions that prevailed in 1889. Along the Philadelphia & Erie railroad between this point and

Emporium traffic has been practically suspended since Saturday night. Driven from Their Homes. Bradford, Pa., May 22.—The worst flood in Bradford’s history is rushing through Tuna valley. Twenty streets contiguous to the creek are inundated and hundreds of families are driven from their homes. The east and west branches of the ¥tina are both transformed into good-sized rivers. Below Foreman street, at the confluence of the two streams, the flood is a quarter of a mile wide and is high enough to ruin all the carpets in the houses on Hilton and other streets in the lower part of the Sixth ward. Imprisoned In Their Homes. Huntingdon, Pa., May 22.— Within the last forty-eight hours the Juniata and the Ra.ystown branch have risen 22 feet, flooding the low farms and imprisoning whole families in their homes. Portstown, a suburb of this town, was flooded to the second floors of the houses, and Allegheny street in this city was under water. The gas company’s works here have been abandoned to the rising waters, and many residences and business houses are flooded to the second floors. Johnstown Flooded Also. JqhnßTown, Pa., May 22.—The heaviest rainstorm since the big flood of 1889 ceased Sunday morning and early light disclosed flooded streets and alleys and cellars full of water. Merchants here worked all night getting goods kept in cellars to higher places where the water could not damage them. About 815,000 worth of timber belonging to the Conemaugh Lumber company broke loose and was carried away, tearing two bridges away and causing great damage. Fifty feet of a stone wall along the Conemaugh river was washed away and crops in the vjcinity were ruined, entailing a loss of thousands of dollars. High Water In New York. Geneseo, N. Y., May 22. —The heaviest rainstorm for years, lasting now fortyeight hours, has caused a great flood in the Geneseo river and an immense amount of damage has been done. The river continues to rise at the rate ' of 8 to 12 inches an hour and only lacks 18 inches of the highest flood in ten years. / Buffalo Dock Not Eftrape. Buffalo, N. Y,, May 22. —All the lower portions of the city are flooded. At Portville the streets are submerged and people are being driven from their houses. Merchants have been forced to take their goods off the floor and pile them on the counters and upon boxes and barrels. Olean Is In Danger. Clean, N. Y., May 22. —From present indications Olean is going to have a duplicace of the great flood of five years ago. The water in Olean creek is as high alre.ady as it was*then, and the river is within about 4 feet of highwater mark and rising at the rate of 7 inches an hour. People along lower Barry street began to move out Sunday, and the people on all the lower streets have since followed and the houses are nearly all deserted in that portion of the city. But a few inches more will be required to shutoff the pump station. East Olean looks like a tast lake. No teams have been able to pass along the Boardinanville road from East Olean.

DID NO GOOD. Cleveland Conference of Miners and Operators Accomplishes Nothing. Cleveland, 0., May 19.—The conference of coal miners and operators came to an end Thursday, nothing having been accomplished. All offers of compromise were rejected and the miners declared their belief that any agreement that might be reached would avail nothing, as there were so many operators who refused to join in the conference and would not be bound by its action. President Mcßride said he was willing to have a vote taken on the compromise offered by the operators, but lie would guarantee that the miners would be unanimous against it. He said: ‘There can be no compromise along the lines of starvation wages. The miners make no threats, but they stand together, peaceably, earnestly and determined as ever, and will go on so, Unlshlng the present light and prepared for future fights.” WON BY THE DEMOCRATS. Judge Ilookwalter Sustain, the Ililnol* Apportionment Act of 1893, Danville, 111., May 22. —Judge Ferdinand Bookwalter has rendered his decision in the apportionment suit in favor of the democrats. In a brief opinion he declared that his court cannot question the senatorial apportionment law of 1893, and therefore denies the petition of plaintiff, James P. Fletcher, republican candidate for the legislature, who sought to enjoin Walter C. Tuttle, ejerk of Vermilion county, from calling an election under the disputed statute. For want of equity the court dismissed the suit and declared that the costs must be paid by the republican petitioner. POWDERLY BOUNCED. Knight, of Labor Expel the Ex-Ma.ter Workman, Philadelphia”, May 23.—Terence V. Powderly, ex-general master workman of the Knights of Labor, A. W. Wright, of Toronto, Can., ex-member of the general executive board of the knights, and P. H. Quinn, master workman of District Assembly, 99. an ardent supporter of 1 Powderly, have been unceremoniously expelled from the Knights of Labor. This action on the part of the new general executive board of tho knights has been expected for some time. Their expulsion was the result of an investigation of charges to the effect that Powderly and the others have been trying to disrupt the organization. Train Stealer. Caught Again. St. Paul, Minn., May 21.—Coxeyites captured a northern Pacific freight train at ! Heron, Mont., but were ; brought to a halt at Arlee by a force of : deputy marshals. They are now In ! charge of the officers.

“RECOVERED FAMILIES.” Rev. Dr. Talmage Talks to a Little Rook Congregation. V ■ The Joy of a Reunited Family Upon Earth Typical of the Eratary of Family Rcunlona In the Home Beyond the Grave. The following sermon was delivered by Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage at Little i-lfock, Ark., on the subject of “RecovI ered Families.” The text was: Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep. ... David recovered all.—l. Samuel xxx., 4. 19. There is intense excitement in the village of Ziklag. David and his men are bidding good-by to their families; and are off for the wars. In that little village of Ziklag the defenseless ones will be safe until the warriors, flushed with victory, come home, llut will the defenseless one3 be safe? The soft arms of children are around the necks of the bronzed warriors until they shake themselves free and start, and handkerchiefs and flags are waved and kisses thrown until the armed men vanish beyond the hills. David and his men soon get through with their campaign and start homeward. Every night on their way home, no sooner does the soldier put hiS head on the knapsack than in his dreams he hears the welcome of the wife and the shout of the child. Oh, what long stories they will haye to tell their families, of how they dodged the buttle ax! and then will roll up their sleeve and show the half-healed wound, with glad, quick step, they morch on, David and his men, for they are marching home. Now they come up to the last hill which overlooks Ziklag. and they expect in a moment to see the dwelling places of their loved ones. They look, and as they look their cheek turns pale, and their lip quivers, and their hand involuntarily comes down on the hilt of the sword. ‘‘Where is Ziklag? Where are our homes?” they cry. Alas! the curling smoke above the ruin tell the tragedy. The Amalekites have come down and consumed the village, and carried the mothers and tlic wives and the children of David am! his men into captivity. The swarthy warriors stand for a few moments transfixed with . horror. Then their eyes glance to each other, and they burst into uncontrollable weeping; for when a strong warrior weeps the grief is appalling. It seems as if the emotion might tear him to pieces. They “wept until they had no more power to weep.” lint soon their sorrow turns into rage, and David, swinging his sword high in air, cries: ‘’Pursue, for thou shalt overtake them, and without fail recover all.” Now the march becomes a ‘‘double-quick.” Two hundred of David's men stop by the brook Besor, faint with fatigue and grief. They can not go a step farther. They arc left alone. But the other four hundred men under David, with a sort of panther step, march on in sorrow and in . age. They find by the side of the row! a half-dead Egyptian, and they re, uscitate him and compel him to tell the whole story, lie says: “Yonder, they went, the captors and tile captives,” pointing in the direction. Forward, ye four hundred brave men of fire! Very soon David and his enraged company come upon the Amalckitisli host. Yonder they see their own wives and children and mothers, and under Amalekitish guard. Here are officers of the Amalekitish nrmv holding a banquet. The cups are full, tile music is roused, the dance begins. The Amalekitish host cheer and cheer and cheer over their victory. But, without note of bugle or warning of trumpet, David and his four hundred men burst upon the scene. David and his men look up, and one glance at their loved ones in captivity and under Amalekitish. guard throws them into a very fury of determination; for you know how men will fight when they fight for their wives and. children. Ah! there are lightnings in their eye, and every finger is a spear, and their voice is like the shout of the whirlwind! Amidst the upset tankards and the costly viands crushed underfoot, the wounded Amalekites lie (their blood mingling with their wine), shrieking for mercy. No sooner do David and his men win the victory than they throw their swords down into the dust—what do they yvant with swords now?—and the broken families come together amidst a great shout of joy that makes the parting scene' in Ziklag seem very insipid in the comparison. The rough old warrior has to use some persuasion before he can get his child to come to him now after so long an absence; but soon the little finger traces the familiar wrinkle across the scarred face. And then the empty tankards are set up, and they are filled with the best wine from the hills, and David and his men, the husbands, the wives, the brothers, the sisters. drink to the overthrow of the Amalekites and to the re-bnilding of Ziklag. So, O Lord, let thine enemies perish! Now they are coming home, David and his men and their families—a long procession. Men, women and children, loaded with jewels and robes and with all kinds of trophies that the Amalekites had gathered up in years of conquest—everything now in the hands of David and his men. When they come by the brook Besor, the place where stayed the men sick and incompent to travel, the jewels and the robes and all kinds of treasures are divided among the sick as well as among the well. Surely, the lame an'i exhausted ought to have some of the treasures. Here is a robe for a pale-faced warrior. Here is 9 pillow for this dying man. Here is a handful of gold for the wasted trumpeter. I really think that these men who fainted by the brook Besor may have endured as much as those men who went into the battle. Some mean fellows \ objected to the sick ones having any of the spoils. The objectors said: “These i men did not fighj.” David, with a mag--1 uanimous heart, replies: “As his part

is that goeth down ‘to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff.” This subject is practically suggestive to me. Thank God, in these times a man can go off on a journey, and be gone weeks and months, and come back and see his house untouched of incendiary, and have his family on the step to greet him if by telegram he has fortold the moment of his coming. But there are Amalekitish disasters, there are Amalekitish diseases, that sometimes come down upon one’s home, making as devastating work as the day when Ziklag took fire. There are families you represent broken up. No battering ram smote in the door, no iconoclast tumbled the statutes, the flame leaped amidst the curtains; but so far all the joy and merriment that once belonged to that house are concerned, the home has departed. Armed diseases came down upon the quietness of the scene—searlet fevers, or pleurisies, or consumptions, or undefined disorders came and seized upon some members of that family, and carried themaway. Ziklag in ashes! And you go about, sometimes weeping and sometimes enraged, wanting to get'back your loved ones as much as David and his men wanted to reconstruct their despoiled households. Ziklag in ashes! Some of you went off from home. You counted the days of your absence. Every day seemed as long as a week. Oh, how glad you were when the time came for you to go aboard the steamboat or rail car and start for home! You arrived. You went up the street where your dwelling was, and in the night you put your hand on the door-bell, and, behold! it was wrapped with the signal of bereavement, and you find that Amalekitish Death.which has devastated a thousand other households, had - blasted yours. You go about weeping amidst the desolation of your once happy home, thinking of the bright eyes closed, and the noble hearts stopped, and the gentle hands folded, and you weep until you have no more power to weep. Ziklag in ashes! Why these long shadows of bereavement across this audience? Why is it that in almost every assemblage black is the predominant color of the apparel? is it because you do not like saffron or brown or violet? Oh no! You say, “This world is not so bright to us as once it was;” and there is a story of silent voices, and of still feet, and of loved ones gone, and when you look over the hills, expecting only beauty and loveliness, you find only devastation and woe. Ziklag in ashes! One day. in bister younty. N. Y., the village*church w-as decorated until the fragrance of the flowers was almost bewildering. Tlie maidens of the village had emptied the place of flowers upon one marriage altar. One of their own number was afiianced to a minister of Christ, who had eoine to take her to his own home. With hands joined, amidst a congratulatory audience, the vows were taken. In three days from thattime one of those who stood at the altar exchanged earth for Heaven. The wedding march broke down into the funeral dirge. There were not enough flowers now for the coHin-lid. because they had all been taken for the bridal hour. The dead minister of Christ in brought to another village. He had gone out from them less than a Week before in his strength: now lie comes home lifeless. The whole church bewailed him. The solemn procession moved around to look upon 'the still face that once had beamed the messages of salvation. Little children were lifted up to look at him. And some of those whom he had cornfronted in days of sorrow, when they passed that silent form, made the place dreadful with their weeping. Another village emptied of its flowers—some ol them put in the shape of a cross to symbolize his hope, others put in the shape of a crown to symbolize his 'triump. A hundred lights blown out in one strong gust from the open door of a sepulcher. Ziklag in ashes. I preach this sermon to-day, liecause I want to rally you, as David rallied bis men, for the recovery of the loved and the lost. I' want not only to win Heaven, but I want all this congregation to go along with me. I feel that somehow I have a responsibility in your arriving at that great city. Do you really want to join the companionship of your loved ones who have gone? Are you as anxious to join them as David and his men were to join their families? Then lam here, in the name of God, to say-that you may, and to tell you how. I remark, in the first place, if you want to join your loved ones in glory, you must travel the same way they went. No sooner had the half-dead Egyptian been resuscitated than he pointed the way the captors and the captives had gone, and David and his men followed after. So our Christian friends have gone into another country, and if we want to reach their companionship we must take the same road. They repented; we must repent. They prayed; we must pray. They trusted iii Christ; we must trust in Christ. They lived a religious life; we must live a religious life. They were in some things like ourselves. I know, now that they are gone, there is a halo around their flames; but they had their faults. They said and did things they ought never to have said or done. They were sometimes rebellious, sometimes cast down. They were far from being perfect. So I suppose that when we are gone, some things in us that are now duly tolerable may be almost resplendent. But as they were like us in deficiencies, we ought to be like them in taking a supernal Christ to make up for the deficits. Had it not been for Jesus, they would have all perished; but Christ confronted them, and said, “I am the way,” and they took it. I have also to say to you that the path that these captives trod was a troubled path, and that David and his men had to go over the same difficult way. While these captives were being taken off, they said: "Oh! we are so tired; we are so sick; we are so hungry!” But the men who had charge of them said: “Stop this crying. Go on!” David and his men also found it a hard way. They had to travel it. Our friends have gone into glory, and it is through

much tribulation that we are to enter into the Kingdom. How our loved ones used to have to struggle! how their old hearts ached! how, sometimes, they had a tussle for bread! In our childhood we wondered why there were so many wrinkles on their faces. We did not know that what were called “crow's-feet” on their faces were the marks of the black raven of trouble. Did you ever hear the old people, seated by the evening stand, talk over their early trials, their hardships, the accidents, the burials, the disappointments, the empty flour barrel when there were po many hungry ones to feed, the sickness almost unto death, where the next dose of morphine decided between ghastly bereavement and an unbroken home circle? Oh, yes! it was trouble that whitened their hair. It was trouble that shook the cup in their hands. It was trouble that washed the luster from their eyes with the rain of tears until they need spectacles. It was trouble that made the cane a necessity for their journey. Do you ever remember seeing your old mother sitting on some rainy day, looking out of the window, her elbow on the window sill, her hand to her brow—looking out, not seeing the falling shower at all (you well knew she was looking into the distant past), until the apron came up to her eyes, because the iriemory was too much for her? Oft the bin. unbidden tear. Stealing down the furrowed cheek, Told in eloquence sincere,. Tales of woe they could not speak. But this scene of weeping o'er. Past this scene of toil and pain, They shall feel distress no more, Never, never weep again. “Who are these under the altar?” the question was asked; and the respone came: “These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’ 1 ! Our friends went by a path of tears into glory. Be not surprised if we have to travel the same pathway. I remark, again, if we want to win the society of our friends in Heaven we will not only have to travel a path of faith and a path of tribulation, but we will also have to positively battle for their companionship. David and his men never wanted sharp swords and invulnerable shields and thick breastplates so much as they wanted them on the day when they came down upon the Amalekites. if they had lost that battle they hever would have got their families hack. I suppose that onq glance at their , loved ones in captivity lnirled them into the battle with tenfold courage and energy. They said: “We must win it. Everything depends upon it. I;et each one take a man on point of, spear or sword. We must win it.” And 1 have to tell you that between ns and coming into the companionship of onr loved ones who are departed there is an Austerlitz, there is a Gettysburg, there is a Waterloo. War with the world, war with the flesh, war with the devil. We have either to conquer our troubles or onr troubles will conquer us. David will either slay the Amalekites or the Amalekites will slay David. And yet is not the fort to lie taken worth all the pain, all the peril, all the besiegeinent? Look! Who are they 'hi the bright hills of Heaven yonderV There they are, those who sat at your , own table, the chair now vacant. There they are, those whom yOu rocked in infancy in the cradle OK hushed to sleep in your arms. There they are. their brow tnore radiant than ever before you saw it, their lips welting for tlie kiss of heavenly greetingi their cheek roseate with th<! health of eternal summer, their hands beckoning yon up the steep, the feet bounding with the mirth of Heaven. The pallor of their last sickness gone out of their face, never more to be sick, never more to cough, never more to limp, never more to be old, never more to weep. They are watching from those heights to see if through Christ you can take the fort, and whether you will rush in upon them —victors. They know that upon this battle depends whether you will ever join their society. Up! strike harder! Charge more bravely! liemember that every inch you gain puts you so much farther on toward that heavenly reunion. You say that all this implies that our departed Christian friends are alive. Why, had you any idea they were dead? They have only moved. If you should go on the second of May to a house where one of your friends lived, and find him gone, you would not think that he was dead. You would inquire next door where he had moved to. Onr departed Christian friends have only taken another house. The secret is that they are richer now than they once were, and can afford a better residence. They once drank out of earthenware; they now drink from the King’s chalice. “Joseph is yet alive,” and Jacob will go up and see him. Living? are they? Why, if a man can live in this damp, dark dungeon of earthly captivity, can he not live where he breathes the bracing atmosphere of the mountains of Heaven? Oh, yes, they are living! Do you think that Paul is so near dead now as he was when he was living in the Roman dungeon? Do you think that Frederick Robertson, of Brighton, is as near dead now as he was when, year after year, he slept seated on the floor, his head on the bottom of a chair, because he could find ease in no other position? Do you think that Robert llall is as near dead now as when, on his couch, he tossed in physical tortures? No. Death gave them the few black drops that cured them. That is all death does to a Christian—cures him. I know that what I have said implies that they are living. There is no question about that. The only question, this morning, is whether you will ever join them. May God Almighty, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,bring us into the companionship of our beloved ones who have already entered the Heavenly land, and into the presence of Christ whom, not having seen, we love, and so David shall recover all, “s|d as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so that his part be that tarrieth by the stuff.”