Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1888-08-27

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 mooring
the ship Of the Church in the northeast
storm Of the centuries
Again, notice unrecognized and unrecorded
services. Who spun the ropei Who tied it
to the basket Who steadied the illustrious
preacher as he stepped into itl Who relaxed
not a muscle Of the arm or dismissed an
anxious look from hisl face until the basket
touched the ground and discharged its mag
nificent cargo! Not one of their names has
come to us, but there was no work done that
day in Damascus or in all the earth compared
with the Importance of their work. What il
they mad In the agitation tied knot that
could slipf What If the sound of a mob at the
door had led them to say: Paul must take
care of himself, and We will take
care OF ourselves No, mol They held
the rope, and in doing so did more
for the Christian church than any thousand
OF US will ever accomplish. But God knows
and has made eternal record of their under
taking And they know. How exultant
they must have felt when they read his let
tiers to the Romans, to the Corinthians, to
the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the Phil
ippians, to the Colossians, to the Thessalo-
mans, to Timothy, to Titus, to Philemon, to
the Hebrews, and when they heard how he
walked out Of prison with the earthquake
unlocking the door for him, and to-k com.
mand Of the Alexandrian cornship when the
sailors were nearly scared to death, and
preached a sermon that nearly shook Felix
of his judgment seat. / hear the men and
women who helped him down through the
win,.ow and over the wall talking in private
over the matter and saying: "How glad
am that we effected that rescued In coming
times others may get the glory of Pauls
work, but no one shall rob us of the satisfac.
tion of knowing that we held the rope"
There are said to be about 60 600 ministers
Of religion in this country About $1,000 l
warrant came from early homes which had
to struggle for the necessaries of life
The sons Of rich bankers and merchants
generally become bankers and merchants
The most of those who become ministers are
the sons of those who had terrific struggle
to get their everyday bread. The collegiate
and theological education of that son took
every luxury from the parental table for
eight years. The other children were more
scantily appareled. The son ut college every
little while got u bundle from home. In it
were the socks that mother had knit, sitting
up late at night, her sight not as good as once
it was.
And there also were some delicacies from
the sisters hand for the voracious appetite of
o hungry student. The father swung the
heavy cradle through the wheat, the sweat
rolling from his chin bedewing every step of
the way, and then sitting down under the
cherry tree at noon thinking to himself: ~
am, fearfully tired, but it will pay if / can
once see that boy through college, and if
can know that he will be preaching the Cos
pei after am dead" The younger children
want to know why they can't have this and
that as OF hers do, and the mother says: "Be
patient, my children, until your brother
graduates, al then you shall have more
luxuries, but We must see that boy through
The years go by and the son has been or
dained and is preaching the glorious Gospel
and great revival comes, and souls by
scores and hundreds accept the Gospel from
the lips Of that young preacher, and father
and mother, quite old now, are visiting the
son at the village parsonage, and at the close
Of Sabbath of mighty blessing, father and
mother retire to their room, the son lighting
the way and asking them if he could do any
thing to make them more comfortable, say
ing if they want anything in the night just
to knock on the wall. And then all alone
father and mother talk over the gracious
influences of the day, and say: "Well, it was
worth all we went through to educate
that boy. 1t was hard pull, but we held
on till the :, ork was done. The world may
not know it, but, mother, we held the rope,
didn't wep And the voice, tremulous with
joyful emotion, responds; Yes, father, We
held the rope; feel my work is done. Now,
Lord, lettest thou thy servant depart in
peace, for mine eyes have seen thy saliva
ton" ''PshawI' says the father, Il never
felt SO much like living in my life as now.
want TO see what that fellow is going on to
do, he has begun 50 welk"
Something occurs TO me quite personal
was the youngest of a large family Of chill
dren. My parents were neither rich nor
poor; four Of the sons wanted collegiate edu-
cation, and four obtained it, but not without
great home struggle. We never heard the
old people say once that they were denying
themselves to effect this, but remember now
that my parents always looked tired.
don't think that they ever got rested until
they lay down in the Sommerville cemetery.
Mother would sit down in the evening and
say: well, don't know what makes me
feel so tired" Father would fall immedi-
ately to sleep, seated by the evening stand,
overcome with the days fatigues. One of the
four brothers after preaching the Gospel for
about fifty years entered upon his heavenly
rest Another of the four is now on the
other side the earth, missionary Of the
cross. Two Of US are in this land in the holy
ministry, and think all of us are willing to
acknowledge our obligation to the old folks
ut home About twenty-five years ago the
one, and about twenty-four years ago the
other, put down the burdens Of this life, but
they still bold the rope.
u men and women here assembled, you
brag sometimes how you have fought your
way in the world, but 1 think there have
been helpful influences that you have never
fully acknowledged. Has there not been
some influence in your early or present home
shat the world cannot see! Does there not
reach to you from among the Canadian hills,
or western prairie, or from southern PLAN
tation, or from English or Scottish or Irish
home q cord of influence that has kept you
right when you would have gone astray, and
which, after you had made a crooked track,
recalled you'll The rope may be as long as
thirty years or five hundred miles
long or three thousand miles long, but hands
that went out of mortal sight long ago still
hold the rope. You want a very swift horse,
and you need to rowel him with sharpest
spurs, anc TO let Gas reins lie loose upon the
neck, and to give shout to a racer, If you
are going to ride out Of reach Of your
mothers prayers Why, ship crossing the
Atlantic In seven days can't sail away from
thati A sailor finds them on the lookout as
he takes his place, and finds them on the mast
as he climbs the ratlines to disentangle q
rope in the tempest, and finds them swing
ing on the hammock when he turns in. Why
not be frank and acknowledge 1.-THE most
of us would long ago have been dashed to
r,iao bod orl nIo