Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1888-05-31

friend in Mordecai, who never forgot thei
cause; Paul had such friend in Onesi
phorus, who visited him in Jail; Christ ha,
such in the Marys, who adhered to Him o.
the cross; Naomi had such one in Ruth
who cried out: ''Entreat me not to leav'
thee or to return from following after thee
for whittier thou goest will go. and wher'
thou lodgest will lodge; thy people shall
be my people and thy God my God; wher,
thou diest will die, and there will b
buried; the Lord do so to me AMI more also
If aught but death part thee and me-"
Third-Again: 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 Je
rusalem, to go along with her mother-in
law, suppose the people said: "Oh, wha,
foolish creature to go away from hel
! fathers house, to go of VITA poor old
| woman toward the land OF Judaha They
| won't live to get across the desert They
viii be drowned in the sea, or the jackals
Of the wilderness will destroy them" II
was a very dark morning when Ruth start.
ed of with Naomi; but behold her in my
text in the harvest field Of Boaz, to be an.
anced to one Of the lords Of the land. and
become one OF the grandmothers Of Jesus
Christ the Lord Of glory. And 50 it often
is that Q path which starts very darkly
ends very brightly.
When you started out for Heaven, oh,
how dark was the hour Of convictlon-how
Sinai Numbered, and devils tormented, 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 field OF Gols mercy !;
you began to CLEAN in the fields Of divine
promise, and you had more sheaves than
you could carry, as the voice Of God adj
dressed you, saying: BLESSED is the man
whose transgressious are forgiven and
whose sins are covered" A very dark
starting in conviction, very bright end
ing in the pardon and the hope and the tri-
umph of the Gospel!
So. very often in our worldly business or
in our spiritual career, we start Of on a
very dark path. We must go. The flesh
may shrink back, but there is voice
within, CT voice from above, saying,
''You must go;" and we have to drink the
gall, and we Lave to carry the cross, and
we have to traverse the desert, and we are
POuuuCu duu VI 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 God. the day of rest ard
reward will come. On the tip-top Of the
captured battlements we will shout the
victory; if not in this world, then in that
thn~ jo 20 l~iv II
burdens to carry, no battles to fight How
do know it, Know It! I know 1t be-
cause God says so: They shall hunger
no more, neither thirst any more, neither
shall the sun light on them, nor any heat,
for the lamb which is in the midst Of tho
throne shall lead them to living fountains
Of water, and God shall wipe all tears
from their eyes"
l; was very hard for Noah to endure the
scoffing Of the people in his day while he
was trying to bui the ark, and was every
morning quizzed about his old boat that
would never be Of any practical use; bat
when the deuge cane and the tops of the
mountains disappeared like the backs OF
sea monsters, and the elements, dashed up
in fury, clapped their hand over drowned
world; then Noah in the ark rejolcel in his
OWE safety and in the safety OF his family
and looked out on the wreck OF q ruined
earth.
Christ, bounded of prosecutors, den,ei
pillow, worse maltreated than the thieves
on either side Of the cross, human hate
Its lips in satisfaction after it
had been draining His last drop of blood,
the sheeted dead bursting from the sepul-
cheers at His crucifxion. Tell me, o
Loft nd ~
ever darker times than thosel Like the
Of the midnight sea against the
rock the surges Of Christ's anguish beat
against the gates OF ete' nifty, 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 aud do |
mlnion Of this world are to be hung on His |
throne; crowned heads are to bow be- |
fore Him on whose head are many crowns,
and all the celestial worship is to come up |
at HIS 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 scepters: "Hallelujah, for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth! Hallelujah, the |
kingdoms Of this world have become the
kingdoms of our Lord Jesus Christv'
THAT song of love- now low and fair,
Ere long shall swell from star to star:
That light, the breaking day which tips
The golden-spired Apocalypse"
FOurth-Again: l learn from my subject |
that events which seem to be most insig-
idcant may be niomentous. Can you
imagine any thing more unlmportant than
he coming OF poor woman from Moab to
Judah! Can you imagine any thing mora
trivial than the fact that this Ruth Just
happened to alight-as they say-just hap
Dened to alight Oh that field OF Boaz! Yet
al ages, ali generations, have an interest
n the fact that she was to become an an
,estor OF the Lord Jesus Christ, and all ma
ions and kin gdoms must look at that one
little incident with a thrill OF unspsakable
md eternal satisfaction. So it is in your
history and in mine; events that you
hought OF no import ancs at all have bean
II very great moment That casual con-
-ersation, that accidental meetiug--vou
lid not think of it again for long while:
,ut how it changed all the phase OF Our life!
1t seemed to be Of no Importance that Ju-
al invented rude instruments Of music,
a ling them harp aid organ; but they
we're the introduction OF all the worlds
and as you hear the vibration
II stringed instrument even after tho
myers have been taken away from it, so
III music now Of lutte AMI drum and cornet
$ only the lopg-continued strains Of
ubars harp and Jubars organ. 1t seemed
o be matter Of very little Importance
hat TubalCain learned the uses of copper
nd iron; but that rude foundry of ancient
ays has its echo in the rattle of Birming-
am machinery, and the roar and bang OF
, C. ories on the Merrimac
1t seemed to be amatter Of no Importance
hat Luther found Bible In monastery:
ut as he opened that Bible and the brass
ound lids fell back, they Jared every
hing from the Vatican to the rurtherest
orner Of Germany, and the rustling of the