The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-05-21

was the richest man IN W; but when his
property went and the trials came, then
there We're none so much that pcstePed as
Ehphas the Temanite, and Bellad the
Shuttle, and Zophar the Naamathite
Life often seems to be a mere game
where the successful player pulls down all
the other men into his own lap Let Suspic-
ions arise about a mans character, and he
becomes like n bank in u panic, and all the
imputations rush on him and break down
in day that character, which IN duo time
would have had strength to defend itself.
There are regulations that have been half
a century in building, which go down
under some moral exposure, as vast
temple is consumed by the touch of
sulphnrous match. A hog can uproot
century plant.
In this world, so full of heartlessness aud
hypocrisy. how thrilling it l. to find some
friend as faithful in days of adyorsity as in
days of prosperity David had such
friend in Hushai; tho Jews had such
friend in NIordecai, who never forgot their
cause; Paul had such a friend in Onesi-
phorus, who visited him in jail; Christ
had such in the Marys, who adhered to
Him en- the cross; Naomi had such a one in
Ruth, who cried out: ''Eutreat me not to
leave thee, or to return from following
after thee; for whittier thou goest, | will
go; and where thou lodgest, l viii lodge,
thy people shall be my people, and thy God,
my God; where thou diest, VIII | die, and
there will l be buried; the Lord do SO to
me, and more also, if aught but death part
thee and me-"
Again, l learn from this subject
that paths which open in hardship and
darkness often come out in places Of joy.
When Ruth started from Moab toward
Jerusalem, to go along with her mother-in-
law, suppose the people said: "Oh, what a
foolish creature to go away from her
fathers house, to go off with a poor old
woman toward the land of JUDAH They
won't live to get across the desert. They
will be drowned in the sea, or tho jackals
of the wilderness will destroy them" 1t
was a very dark morning when Ruth
started off with Naomi; but behold her in
my text in the harvest field of Boaz, to be
atlianced to one of the lords of tho land,
and become one of the grandmothers of
Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory And SO it
often is that path which starts very darllly
ends very brightly.
When you started out for heaven, oh, how
dark WAS the hour of convictiml-how Sinai
Numbered, and devils tormehted, and the
darkness thickened! Ali the sins of your
life pounced upon you, and it was the
darkest hour you ever saw when you first
found out your sins. After awhile you
went into the harvest-iield of God's mercy
you began to CLEAN i'll the fields of divine
promise, and you had more sheayes than
you could carry, as the voice of God ad-
dressed you, saying: BLESSED is the man
whose transgressions are forgiven, and
whose sins are covered" A very dark
starting in conviction, very bright ending
in the pardon and the hope and the triumph
of the Gospel.
SO, very often in our worldly business or
in our spiritual career, we start OFF on
very dark path. We must go. The flesh
may shrink back, but there is a voice
within, or voice from above, saying:
you must go;" and we have to drink the
gall, aud we have to carry the cross, and
we have to traverse the desert, and we are
pounded and failed of Misrepresentation
and abuse, and we have to urge our way
through ten thousand obstacles that must
be slain by our own right arm. We have
to ford the river, we have to climb the
mountain, we have to storm the castle but,
blessed be Col, the day of rest and re ward
will come. Ga the tip top of the captured
battlements we will shout the victory; if
not in this world, then in that world where
there is no gall TO drink, no burdens to
carry, no battles to fight. How do know
it? Know it, l know it because God saws
SO: ''They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more, neither shall the sun light
on them, nor any heat, for the Lamb
WHICH, ID III Jut lIlluSb vi INC LUlOub SllAlI
lead them to living fountains of water, aud
God shall wipe all tears from their ewes"
1t was very hard for Noah to endure the
soothing of the people in his day, while he
was trying to build the ark, and was every
morning quzzed about his old boat that
would never be Of any practical use; but
| when the deluge came, and the tops of the
| mountains disappeared like the backs Of
| sea-monsters, and the elements, dashed III
i.
world, then Noah in the ark rejOiced in his
own safety and in the safety of his family,
and looked out on the wreck of a ruined
| earth.
Christ, bounded of prosecutors denied q
| pillow. worse maltreated than the thieves
on either side of the cross, human nate
| smacking its lips in satisfaction after it had
| been draining bis last drop of blood, the
sheeted dead bursting from the sepulchres
| at His crucifxion. Tell me, 0 Gethse-
name and Golgotha were there ever darker
times than those Like the booming of the
midnight sea against the rock, the surges OF
| Christ's anguish teat against the gates OF
eternity, to be echoed back by all the
thrones Of heaven and all the dungeons OF
hell. But the day Of reward comes for
| Christ; all the pomp and dominion Of this
| world are to be hung on his throne, I'M
crowned heads are to bow before him on
| WuNoo itcdA are many CiphllSs dAu I'LL Jilt
celestial worship is to come up at bis feet
| like the humming of the forest like the
rushing Of the waters, like the laundering
| of the seas, while all heaven. rising on their
| thrones, beat time with their sceptres
"Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent
reigneth! Hallelujah, the Kingdoms of this
world have become the kingdoms of ouI
| Lord Jesus Christp
THAT song Of love, now low and far,
Ere long shall swell from star TO star;
That light, the breaking day which tips
The golden-spred Apocalypse"
Again, l learn from my subject thai
may be momentous. Can you imagine
anything more unimportant than the com
ing of poor woman from Moab to Judah
Can you imagine anything more trivia
| than the fact that this Ruth just happened
| TO alight-as they say-just happened t.
| alight on that field of Boat Yet all ages
! all geaerations, have an interest in the fact
| that she was to become an ancestor of the
! Lord Jesus Christ, and all nations and king
doms must look at that one little incident
with tlrill of unspeakable and eterna
satisfaction. So it is in your history anc
in mine; events that you thought of no i'm
portance at all have been of very great mo
| ment. That casual conversation, that acct
dental meeting-you did not think Of il
| again for a long while; but how it changed
all the phases OF your hfel
II seemed to be of no Importance that
Jubal invented rude instruments of music
| calling them harp and organ; but they