The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1888-08-31

NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS., ana MS plety SanctlmO-
niousness. The very worst persecution
will some time come upon him from those
who profess to be Christians.
John Milton-great and good John Mil
ton-so forgot himself as to pray, N 50
many words, that his enemies might be
eternaliy thrown down into the darkest
and deepest gulf of hell, and be the under
most and most detected and the lowest
down vassals of perdition! And Martin
Luther so far forgot himself Is to say, in
regard to his theological opponents: 'Put
them in whatever sauce you please, roast
ed, or fried, or baked, or stewed, or boiled,
or hashed, they are nothing but asses. ?"
All, my friends, if John Milton or Martin
Luther could come down to such scurrility
what may you not expect from less ele-
waited opponents: Now, the world some
times takes after them; the newspapers
take after them; public opinion takes
after them, and the unfortunate man
is lied about until all the dction-
airy Of Biliingsgate is exhausted on
him. You often see q man whom
you know to be good and pure, and
honest, set upon by the world, and mauled
by whole communities, while vicious men
take on a sapercilious air in condemnation
of him, as though Lord Jeffreys should
write an essay on gentleness, or Henry
VIII. talk about purity, or Herod take to
blessing little children.
Now, a certain amount Of persecution
arouses a mans defiance. stirs his blood
for magnificent battle, and makes him
fifty times more man than he would have
been without the persecution. So it was
with the great reformer when he said: 81
will not be put down; l will be heard"
And so it was with Willard. the preacher,
in the time of Louis NJ. When Louis XI.
sent word to him that unless he stopped
preaching in that style 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 persecution is q
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 a man to go when the
world abuses him. Go home. Blessed be
God for our quiet and sympathetic homes.
But there is many a man who has the
reputation of having a home when he has
none. Through unthinkingness or precip-
itation there are many matches made that
never ought to have been made. An
officiating priest can not alone unite q
couple. The Lord Almighty must pro-
claim bans. There is many a home in
which there is no sympathy and no happi-
ness and no good cheer. The clamor Of
the battle may not have been heard out
side, but God knows, notwithstanding all
the playing Of the wedding march, " and
all the odor Of the orange blossoms and
the benediction of the officiating pastor,
there has been no marriage.
Sometimes men have awakened to find
on one side of them the rock of persecu-
ton. and on the other side the rock Of do
mestic infelicity. What shall such a 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 and home trouble.
While good and great John Wesley was
being siienced by the magistrates, and
having his name written on the board
fences Of London in doggerel, at that very
time his wife was making him as miserable
as she could-acting as though she were
possessed with the devil, Is 1 suppose she
was; never doing him q Kindness until the
Jay Suc away. 50 tuob NC rue III us
diary these words: 81 did not forsake her;
have not dismissed her; will not recall
her." Planting one foot, John Wesley did,
upon outside persecution. the ether foot on
home trouble. he climbed up into the
heights Of Christian joy, and after preach
ing 10000 sermons and travelling 10000
miles, reached the heights Of Heaven.
though in this world he had it hard enough
IA sharp rock on the one side and q
sharp rock on the other"
Again, that woman stands in the crisis
of the text, who has bereavement and .
struggle for livelihood at the same time.
Without mentioning names, speak from
observation. All, it is q hard thing for q
woman to make an honest living, even
when her heart is not troubled and she
has fair cheek and the magnetism Of an
exquisite presence. But now the husband
or the father is dead. The expenses Of the
obsequies have absorbed all that Was left
in the savings bank, and wan and waste
with weeping and watching. she goes forth
"A grave, a hearse, a coffin behind her-to
contend for her existence and the existence
of her children. When see such q battle
as that open shut my eyes at the ghastli-
ness of the spectacle. Men sit with EN-.
broidered slippers and write heartless es-
says about women swages, but that question
is made up Of tears and blood and there is
more blood than tears. o, give woman
free access to al! 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 it. Make
the way free for the women of the broken
heart. May God put into my hand the
cold, bitter cup of privation and give me
nothing but q windowless hut for shelter
for many years rather than that after am
dead there should go out from my home
into the pitiless world . woman's arm to
fight the Gettysburg, the Austeriitz, the
Waterloo of life for bread.
And yet how many women there are
seated between the rock of bereavement
on the one side and the rock Of restitution
on the other. Bozez and Seneh interlock-
ing their shadows and dropping them upon
her miserable way. There IS q sharp
rock on the one side, and sharp rock on
the other side" What are such to do!
Somehow. let them climb up into the
heights OF the glorious promise: leave
thy fatherless children; will preserve
them alive, and let thy widows trust in
Me-" Or get up into the heights of that
other glorious promise: 1.-The Lord pre-
serveth the stranger and relieveth the
widow and the fatheriess."
o! We 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 despair
ing woman, seeking vain for work, wan
dering along the docks, and thinking to