Daily Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1882-1893, 1888-09-02


ladder Of their bodies, one peasant stand
ing on the shoulder Of the other anS
duyn the human ladder the bogdescends
john Wesley. II you would know how
much depended on that ladder If peas
ants ask the millions Of Methodists on
both sides Of the sea. AS their mission
stations all around the world. Ask
their hundreds Of thousands already
ascended to join their founder, who
would have perished but for the living
stairs Of peasants shoulders.
An English ship stopped at Pitcairn
Island, and right in the midst Of sur
rounding cannibalism and squalor, the
passengers discovered Christian colony
of churches and schools and beautiful
homes and highest style Of religion and
civilization. For fifty years no mission
airy and no Christian influence had landed
there. Why this oasis Of light amid a
desert Of heathendoml Sixty years be-
fore ship had met disaster, and one Of
the sailors, unable to save anything else,
went IN his trunk and took out Bible
which his mother had placed there, and
swan ashore, the Bible held in his teeth.
The book was read on all sides until the
rough and vicious population were
evangelical, and church was
started, and an enlightened common
wealth established, and the worlds his
tory has no more brilliant page than that
which tells Of the transformation Of a
nation by one book. 1t did not seem of
much Importance whether the sailor
continued to hold the book in his teeth
or let it fall in the breakers, but upon
what small circumstances depended
what mighty results!
Practical inference: There are no in
significances in our lives. The minutest
thing is part Of a vlagnitude. Infinity
is made up of infinitesimals. Great
things an aggregation Of small things.
Bethlehem manger pulling on a star in
the eastern sky. One book in drenched
sailors mouth the evangelization of a
multitude. One boat Of papyrus on the
Nile freighted with events for all ages
The fate of Christendom in basket let
down from a window on the wall. Wat
you do, do well. If you make a rope
make it strong and true, for you know
not how much may denend ON your
workmanship. If you fashion a boat
let it be waterproof, for you know not
who may sail in il. II you put Bible in
the trunk Of your boy as he goes from
home, let II be heard in your prayers, for
it may have mission as far reaching as
the book which the sailor carried in his
teeth to the Pitcairn beach. The plain
est mans life is an island between two
eternities-eternity past ripping against
his shoulders. eternity TO come touching
his brow. The casual, the accidental.
that which merely happens so, are parts
Of great plan. and the rope that lets
the fugitive apostle from the Damascus
wall is the cable that holds to its moorinc
the ship Of the church in the northeast
storm Of the centuries.
Again, notice unrecognized and unre-
corded services. Who spun the rope:
Who tied il TO the hasketl Who steadied
the illustrious preacher as he stepped into
III Who relaxed not a muscle Of the
arm or dismissed an anxious look from
his face until the basket touched the
ground and discharged its magnificent
cargoi Not one of their names has
come 10 US, but there was no work
done that day in Damascus or il
all the earth compared with the i'm
portance of their work. What i
they had in the agitation tied a krc
that could sllpi What if the sound OF ;
mob at the door had led them to say
paul must take care Of himself. and W,
will take care Of ourselves" No. no
They held the rope, and in doing so dc
more for the Christian church than an,
thousand Of us will ever accomplish
| But God knows and has made eterna
record of their undertaking. And they
know. How exultant they must have
felt when they read his letters TO th,
Romans, to the Corinthians, 10 the Gala
tians, to the Ephesians, to the Philippi
ans. 10 the Colossians, 10 the Thessalonl
ans, to Timothy, 10 Titus, 10 Philemon
TO the Hebrews, and when they heard
how he walked out Of prison with the
earthquake unlocking the door fol
him. and took command Of the AleXan
drian corn ship when the sailors were
nearly scared 10 death, aud preached 4
sermon that nearly shook Felix of hi
Judgment seat. hear the men and wo
men who helped him down through tn,
window and over the wall talking il
private over the matter, and saving
"IIow glad am that we effected tha
rescued In coming times others ma,
get the glory OF Paul's work, bu
no one shall rob us Of the satisfaction o
knowing that we held the rope. j"
There are said 10 lie about sixty min
thousand ministers Of religion in thi
country. About fifty thousand | wal
rant came from early homes which ha
to struggle for the necessaries Of life.
The sons Of rich bankers and mel
chants generally become bankers am
merchants. The most of those who b,
come ministers are the sons Of those VIII
had terrific struggle 10 get their ever
day bread. The collegiate and theolo,
ical education Of that son took ever
luxury from the parental table for eigI
years. The other children were mo-
scantily appareled. The son at COLES
every little while got a bundle frol
home. In IL were the socks that moth,
had knit, sitting up late at night, h,
sight not "a good as once il was.
And there also were some delicaci
from the sisters hand for the voraciol
appetite of hungry student The faith,