Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-05-27
"hen amid the storms they sang,
And the stars heard, and the sea;
And the sounding aisles of the dim wood
Rang 70 the anthems OF tho free

70 Dit up our nation on that high career
where II will march along after the
foreign aristocracies that have mocked
and the tyrmnies that have jeered. shall
he swept down under the omnipotent
wrath OF God, who hates despotism, and
who, by the strength OF his own red
right arm, will make all men free. And
so II Is individually, and in the family,
and in the church, and in the world, that
through darkness and storm and trouble
men, women, churches, nations are de-
veloved.
IL Again, see in my text the beauty
Of unfaltering friendship. suppose
there we're plenty OF friends for Naomi
while she was in prosperity, but Of all
her acquaintance, how many were will
ing to trudge off with her toward Judah,
when she had TO make that lonely jour
neyi One-the heroine Of my text One
absolutely one ] suppose when
Naomi's husband was living, and they
had plenty Of money, and all things went
well, they had great many callers; but
lsuppose that after her husband died,
and her property went, and she got old
and poor, she was not troubled very
much with callers. All the birds that
sung in the bower while the sun shone
have gone to their nests, now the night
has fallen.
Oh, these beautiful sunhowers that
spread out their color in the morning
hourl but are always asleep when the
sun is going DOWN. job had plenty of
friends when he was the richest man in
Uz; but when his property went and the
trials came, then there were none so
much that pestered as Eliphaz the Tema-
mite, and Bildad the Shuhite, 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
suspicious arise about q mans character
and he becomes like bank in panic,
and all the imputations rush on him and
break down in a day that character
which in due time would have had
strength to defend itself. There are rep
utations that have been half century
in building. which 60 down under some
moral exposure, as a vast temple is con-
sumed by the touch Of a sulphurous
match. A hog can uproot century
plant.
In this world, so full Of heartlessness
and hypocrisy. how thrilling il is TO find
some friend as faithful in days Of adver-
sity as in the days of prosperity. David
had such friend in Hushai; the Jews
had such friend in Mordecai, who never
forgot their cause; Paul had such friend
in Onesiphorus, who visited him in Jail;
Christ had such in the Marys, who ad-
hered 10 him On the cross; Naomi had
such one in Ruth, who cried out; ''En-
treat me not 10 leave thee, or 10 return
from following after thee;fo whittier thou
goest. will go, and where thou lodgest,
will lodge; thy people shall be my peo-
pie, aud thy God, my God; where thou
diest will die, and there will be buried:
the Lord do 80 to me, and more also, if
aught but death part thee and me"
Ill. 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
Jeruralem, TO 60 along with her mother.
in-law, | suppose the people said: "Oh,
what a foolish creature to 90 away from
her fathers house, to go off with 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 the
iackals Of the wilderness viii destroy
them" Il was very dark morning
when Ruth started Off with Naomi, but
behold her in my text in the harvest
field Of Boaz. to be affianced TO one Of
the lords of the land. and become one of
the grandmothcrs of Jesus Christ. the
Lord Of glory. And so II often is that a
path which starts very darkly ends very
brightly,
When you started out for heaven, Oh,
how dark was the hour of conviction
how Sinai thundered, and devils tor
mented. and the darkness thicksned !
All 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 while you went into the
harvest lield Of Gods 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 addressed you,
saying; Blessed is the man whose
transgressions are forgiven, and whose
sins are covered" A very dark start
ing 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 60. The
flesh may shrink back, but there Is a
voice within. or a voice from above, say
ing; "You must go;" and we have to
drink the gall, and we have 20 carry the
cross, and we have 10 traverse the desert,
and we are pounded and failed of mis-
representation and abuse, and we have to
urge our way through ten thousand OBJ
stacles that must be slain by our own
right arm. We have to ford the river,
we have 10 climb the mountain, we have
10 storm the castle. but, blest be God, the
day Of rest and reward will come. On
the tip top of tho captured battlenents
we shall shout the victory; II not in this
world, then in that world where there il
no gall to drink, no burdens 10 carry, no
battles to fight. How do know III
Know III know Il because God says so!
They shall hunger no more, neither
hirst any more, neither shall the sun
light on them, nor any beat, for the
Lamb which Ia In the midst of the throne