The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-09-26
w. q certain amount of persecution

him that unless he stopped preaching in that
ftyle he would throw him into the river he
replied: Tell the king that l will reach
heaven sooner by water than he will reach it
by fast horses" A certain amount Of perse-
cution is a tonic and inspiration, but too
much of it and too long continued, becomes
the rock BozeZ, throwing a dark shadow
over mans life. What is he to do then:
Go home you say. Good advice that. That is
Just the place for man to 60 when the world
abuses him. Go hom,. Blessed be Goi for
our quiet and sympathetic homes. But there
| is many a man who has the reputation Of
: having home when he has none. Through
unthinkingness or precipitation there are
many matches made that ought never to
not alone unite a couple. The Lord AL
mighty must proclaim banns. There is
| many home in which there is no sympathy,
| and no happiness, and no good cheer. The
| clamor of the battle may not have been
! heard outside but God Knows notwithstand-
! ing all the playing of the wedding March,
and all the odor Of the orange blossoms,
and the bene 1iction of the officiating pastor,
there has been no marriage.
Sometimes men have awakened to find on
one side OF them the rock Of persecution, and
on the other SIDE the rock Of domestic in
felicity. What shall such one do. Do as
Jonathan did-climb. Get up the heights Of
Gods consolation, from which we may look
down in triumph upon outside persecution
John Wesley was being silenced by the mag
istrates, and having his name written on the
board. fences of London in doggerel, at that
very time his wife was making him as miser-
able as she coud-acting as though she were
possessed with the devil, as suppose she was;
never doing him kindness until the day she
ran away so that he wrote in his dairy these
words: II did not forsake her; l have not
dismissed her; will not recall her," Piant-
PERSECUTION, and the other foot on home
trouble, he climbed up into the heights OF
Christian 10Y, and after preaching forty
thousand sermons, and travelling two hun:
dred and seventy thousand miles, reached
the heights of heaven, though in this world
he had it hard rough "a sharp rock on the
one side, and sharp rock on the other" =.
Again, tha, oman stands In the crisis OF
the text, who has bereavement and strug-
gle Tor livelihood at the same time. With
out mentioning names, I speak from obser-
walton. All, it is a hard thing for woman
to make an honest living, even when her
heart is not troubled, AMI she has fair
cheek and the magnetism Of an exquisite
presence. But now the husband, or the
father, is dead. The expenses of the obsequles
have absorbed all that was left IN
with weeping, she goes forth-a grave,
a hearse, colin, behind her-to contend for
her existence and the existence of her chill
dren. Wien see such a.battle as that open
I shut my eyes at the ghastliness OF the
spectacle. Men sit with embroidered slip
pers and write heartess essays about women's
wages; but that question Is made up OF
tears and blood, and there is more blood than
tears Oh, give women free access to all the
realms where she can get livelihood, from
the telegraph Office to the pulpit. Let mems
wages be cut down before hers are cut down.
Men have iron in their souls and can stand
il. Make the way free to her of the broken
heart. May God put into my hand the cold,
bitter cup of privation, and give me nothing
but windowless hut for shelter for many
wears, rather than that after am dead there
should go out from my home into the pitIless
world a womans arm to fight the Gettysburg,
the Austerlitz, the Waterloo Of life for
bread.
And vet how many women there are
seated between the rock of bereavement on
the one side, and the rock of destitution on
tie other-Bozez and Seneh interlocking their
!! shadow and dropping them upon her mlser-
abe way. "There is sharp rocG on the OF one
side, and sharp rock on the other side"
What are such to do. Somehow, let them
! climb up into thu heights Of the glorious
promise: .Leave thy fatherless children; 1
will preserve them alive, and let thy widows
trust in Me-" Or get up into the helghts OF
that other glorious promise: The Lord
preserveth the stranger and releveth the
widow and the fatherless" y! ye sewing
woman on starving wages. O! ye widows
, turned out from the once beautiful home. o!
We female teachers, kept on niggardly
stipend. o. ye desparing woman, seeking in
vain for work, wandering along the docks, AMI
thinking to throw yourself into the river last
night. o! ye women Of weak nerves and
aching sides, and short breath and broken
heart, you need something more than human
sympathy; you need the sympathy of God.
Climb up into His arms. he KNOWS & 1t all,
and He loves you more than father, or
mother, or husband ever could or ever did;
and instead OF sitting down, wringing your
hands in despair, you bad better begin to
climb. There are heights of consolation for
YOU, though now ''there is sharp rock on
! the one side, and sharp rock on the other
| side"
Again, that man is in the crisis Of the text
| who has wasted life on the ole side, and
an illuminated eternity on the other. Though
a man may all his life have cultured delibera.
| tion and Self-poise, if he gets into that posi-
tion all his sslf-posseSsion is gone. There are
| ali the wrong thoughts of his existence, all
the wrong deeds, all the wrong words strata
| above strata, granite, ponderous, over
| shadowing. That rock call Bozez. On the
other side are all the retributiens of the fu-
ture, the thrones OF Judgment, the eternal
ages, angry with his long defiance That
! rock call Seneh. Between these two rocks
| Lord Byron perished, and Alcibiades perished,
| and Herod perished, and ten thousand times
! ten thousand have perished. 0! man immor-
| tai, man redeemed, man blood bought, climb
up out of those shadows. Climb up by the
way of the Cross. Have your wasted life
forgiven; have your erernaI life secured.
This morning just take one look to the past
aud see what it has been, and take one look
to the future and see what it threatens to be.
You can afford to lose your health, you can
afford to lose your property, you can afford
to lose your reputation: but you cannot af-
ford to los, your soul. That bright, .gleam'
ing, glorious, precious, eternal possession you
must carry aloft in the day when the earth
burns up and the heavens burst.
You see from my subject that when man
goes into the safety and peace OF the Gospel
he does not demean himself. There IS moth
! ing in religion that leads to meanness or un-
manliness. The Gospel of Jesus Christ only
asks you to climb as Jonathan did-cllmo TO-
ward God, climb toward heaven, climb into
the sunshine Of Gods favor. To become 6
Christian is not to 60 meanly down; it IS te
come gloriously up-up into the communion
Of saints, up into the peace that passeth al
understanding, up into the companionshlp OF
angels. He lives up; he desup
D! then, accept the Wholesale invitation
which l make this morning to all the people.
Come up from between your invalidism and
financial embarrassments Come up from
between a wasted life and an unillumined
eternity. Like Jonathan, climb with all
your might, instead Of sitting down to wiring
your hands in the shadow and in the dark
ness-'a sharp rock on the one side, and
4 -. L.. el 1%a IL,