men. Stand. That is all. Endure to the end. Whether you see God's face or not, stand. Whether any reward comes or not, stand. Whether the visions appear or not, stand. That is all. I tell you when a man comes to God at last, having stood, God must look upon him very much as men look upon the soldiers that came back from the war, dusty, ragged, worn, sunburned, and limping along, but they had stood. That war seemed such a little thing in 1861, when the call was made and so many thousands leaped forward to say, yes, we will go; and shouted “On to Richmond;" and it was thought to be only a week's hurried work. But the weeks rolled out into years and years, and the obstructions came; there were doubts and uncertainties of principle as well as of issue; there was failure and defeat. All that, but still they stood. "Having done all, stand." We have to do it in life. Who knows the way through life from beginning to end? If such there be, some fortunate one, I can not say that I envy him, but I know I wonder at him. God's conquerors have not come out of this life with burnished armor and floating plume. No, with dented armor and broken helm and bruised body, they have come. They have not heard the playing of trumpets and seen the floating of welcoming banners. Many of them have had to die in the dark, saying: "My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" That is the lesson of the morning. It comes to me again and again. I have lived through these things. That is why I can talk about them. There is not a footstep here that I have not pressed with my own foot, and I dare say that many who are here can say the same thing. Let us understand it and take it as it is. With what we believe to be the universe on our side, then barrenness of nature, unloveliness of suggestion, bitter oppositions of men and the clouding and uncertainty of the issue, count for but little. Let us stand in righteousness and truth and peace with other men. As is our hope so is our belief, that there is a God on whose side we work and who has ability to help us; we believe there is an expansion as well as an extension of life beyond. How proudly shall they come in at the last who have fought the good fight and have finished their course and have kept their faith. Oh, he leads them by ways that they have not known. |