The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-12-13

prayer. If you don't like such things,
| II you will just step outside the door
until we get through, will be greatly
obliged to you" OF course the stranger
tarried in the room, and the old hunter
took hold of the horns of the altar and
brought down the blessing of God upon
his household and upon the stranger
| within their gates. Rude but glorious,
| Christian hospitality
Again the woman Of my text was great
| in her kindness toward Gods messenge
| Elisha may have been a stranger in that
household, bnt as she found out that he
had come on divine mission he was
cordially welcomed. We have a great
| many books in our day about the hare =
ships of ministers and the trials of Chris
tian ministers. wish somebody would
write book about the joys of the Chris
| tian minister; about the sympathies all
around about him; about the kindn asses; /;
| about the genial considerations of him.
Does sorrow come to our home, and is
there a shadow in the cradle? There
are hundreds of hands of help, and
many who are not weary through the
| night watching, and hundreds of pray
ers going up that God would restore the
sick. Is there burning, brimming cup
| of calamity placed on the pastors tablep
Are there not many to help him drink
| of that cup, and who will not be COM
| fOrted because he is striekenp Oh, for
somebody to write book about the re-
wards Of the Christian ministry-abOut
his surroundings Of Christian sympathy
This woman of the text was only type
of thousands of men and women who
come down from mansion and from cot
to do kindness to the Lords servants. |
could tell you of something that you
might think romance. A young man
graduated from New Brunswick TheO-
logical Seminary and was called to a
village church. He had not the means
to furnish the parsonage. After three
or Jour weeks of preaching a committee
of the officers of the church waited on
him and told him he looked tired, and
thought he had better take vacation of
few days The young pastor took it as
an intimatiOn tnat his work was done,
or not acceptable. He took the vacation,
add at the end of few days came back,
when an old elder said: "HeTe is the
key of the parsonage. We have been
and look at it," So the young pastor
took the key, went up to the lrsOnage.
opened the door, and lOl it was caTpeted,
and there was the hat-rack. all ready
for the canes and the umbrellas and the
OvercOats, and on the left hand of the
hall was the parlOr, sOafed, chaired, pic
tured. He passed on to the other side
of the hall, and there was the study
table in the center of the floor with sta
tiOneTy upon it, bOOk-shelves built, long
ranges of new volumes; far beyond the
reach of the means of the young pastor
many Of these volumes. The young
pastor went up stairs. He found all the
sleeping apartments furnished; he came
down stairs and entered the pantry, and
there were the spices and the cOffees and
the sugars and the groceries for six
pVnfh hn 10 sv,k.
cellar and there was the coal for
all the coming winter. He went
into the dining hall, and there was
the table already set-the glass and the
silverWare. He went into the kitchen,
and there we're all the culinary imple-
ments of great stove. The young pas
tor lifted one lid of the stove and found
the fuel ready for ignition. Putting
back the cover of the stove, he saw in
another part of it lucifer match, and
all that young man had to do in start
ing to keep house was to strike the
match. You tell me that is apOcTyphall
Oh, no; that was me. Oh, the kindnesses;
oh, the enlarged sympathies sometimes
clustering around those who entered the
! Gospel ministry! l suppose the man of
Shunem had to pay the bills, but it was
the large-hearted Christian sympathies
of the woman of Shunem that looked
Again, this woman of the text was
| great in her behavior under trouble.
Her only son had died on her lap. A
very brightlight went out In that house
| hold. The sacred writer puts 1t very
| teTsely when he says, "He sat on her
knee until noon, then he died" Yet the
| wTiser goes on to say that she exclaim-
ed: 1T is well'' Great in prosperity,
| this woman was great in trouble. Where
l huWn hnnn
on the hot sands of this great SaharaP
Where are the shoulders that have not
bent under the burden of griefp Where
| is the garden of earthly comfort but
trouble hath hitched up its fry and pam
| ting team, and gone through it with
burning plOwshare of disasterp Under
the pelting of ages of suffering the
| great heart of the world hath burst with
| woe. NavigatOrs tell us about the riv-
ers; and the Amazon, and the Danube,
and the Mississippi have been explored;
| but who can tell the depth or the length
| of the great river of sorrow, made up of
the blood and tears rolling through all
lands and all ages, bearing the wreck of
| families, and of communities, and of
Empires writhing, boiling
/ with the agOnies of six thousand. Htna
COtOpaxi and VesuVias have been de-
scribed, but who has ever sketched the
volcano of suffering, retching up from
its depths the lava and scOria and pour
ing them down the sldes to whelm the
nations? Oh, if l could gather all the
heart-strings-the broken heart-sirings
Into harp, would play on it dirge
such as was never sounded. MythOlO-
gists tell us of gOrgOn and centaur and
Titan; and geOlOgists tell us Of extinct
species of monsters; but greater than
gOrgOn or megatherium, and not be-
longing to the realm of fable, and not
of an extinct species, a monster iron
jaw and hundred iron hOOfs has walk
ed arrOss the nations, and history and
poetry ahd sculpture in their attempts
to sketch it and describe it have seemed
to sweat great drops of blood. But
thank God, there are those who can con-
quer, as this woman of the text con-
quered, and say: 1T is wellP' Though
my property is gone, though my chill
dren is gone, though my home be broken
up, though my health be sacrificed, it is
well, it is WE'LL There is no storm on
the sea, but Christ is ready to rise in the
hinder part of the ship and hush it.
There is no darkness, but the cOnstella-
ton of Gods eternal love can illumine
| it; and though the winter comes out of
| the northern SkV Won have sOmatllnaa