Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-08-27

teeth or let il fall in the breakers, bui
upon what small circumstance depended
what mighty results
Practical inference: There are no iusig.
nifcsnces in our lives. The minutesI
thing is part of magnitude. Infnity ID
made up of infnitesimals. Great thingt
an aggregation Of small things. Bethlehem
manger pulling on q star in the eastern
sky. One book in a drenched sailors
mouth the evangelixation of Q multitude,
One boat Of papyrus on the Nile freighted
with events for all ages The
FATE OF CHRIsTRNDON IN A BASKET
let down from Q window on the wall.
What You do, do well. II you make q
rope, make it strong and true, for you
know not how much may depend on your
workmanship. If you fashion boat, let
it be waterproof, for you know not who
may sail in it. If you pat Bible in the
trunk of your boy as he goes from home,
let it be heard in your prayers, for il may
have mission as far-reaching as the book
which the sailor carried in his teeth to the
Pitcairn beech. The plainest mans life
is an island between two eternities-etern.
ity past, rippling against his shoulders;
eternity to come, touching his brow. The
casual, the accidental, that which merely
happens 80, are parts of great plan, and
the rope that lets the fugitive apostle from
the Damascus well is the cable that holds
to its moorings the ship of the Church in
the northeast storm of the centuries.
Again, notice unrecognized and unre-
corded services. Who spun the rope?
Who tied it to the basket? Who steadied
the illustrious preacher as he stepped into
it? Who relaxed not muscle of the arm
or dismissed an anxious look from his face
until the basket touched the ground and
discharged its magnificent cargo? Notone
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 i'm
portance Of their work. What if they had
IN the agitation tied knot that could slip?
What if the sound of mob at the door
had led them to say: paul must take
care of himself, and we will take care Of
ourselves" No, no!
THEY HELD THE ROPE,
and in doing so they did more for the
Christian Church than any thousand Of us
will ever accomplish. But God knows
and has made eternal record Of their
undertaking. And they know. How ex-
ultant they must have felt when they
read his letters to the Romans, to the
Corinthians. to the Galatians, to the Ephe-
slams, to the Philippians, to the Collosians,
to the Thessalonians, to Timothy, to Titus,
to Philemon, to the Hebrews, and when
they heard how he walked ont of prison
with the earthquake unlocking the door
for him, and took command of the Alex
andria corn-ship when the sailors were
nearly scared to death, and preached a
sermon that nearly shook Felix of of his
j judgement.seat. ! hear the men and
women who helped him down through the
window and over the wall talking in pri-
vate over the matter, and saying: "How
glad / am that we effected that rescue !
In coming times others may get the glory
OF Paul's work, but no one shall rob as of
the satisfaction Of knowing that we held
the rope"
There are said to be about sixty.nine
thousand ministers of religion in this coun-
try. About fifty Thousand, warrant,
came from early homes which had to strug-
gle 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 terrible
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 at
college every little while got bundle
from home. In it were the socks that
mother had knit, sitting up late at night,
her sight not as good as once il was.
A FAMILY's SACRIFICE.
And there also were some delicacies
from the sisters hand for the voracious
appetite of 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 think
ing to himself: ~ am fearfully tired, but
it will pay if / once can see that boy
through college, and if I can know that he
will he preaching the Gospel after am
dead" The younger children want to
know why they can't have this and that
as others do, and the mother says: "Be
patient, my children, until your brother
graduates, and then you shall have more
luxuries, but we must see that boy
through"
The years go by, and the son has been
ordained and is preaching the glorious
Gospel, and q 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
anything to make them more comfortable,
saying il they want anything in the night
Just to knock on the wall. And then all
alone father and mother talk over the gra-
cious influences Of the day, and say:
"Well, it was worth all we went through
to educate that boy. II was q hard pull,
but we held on till the work was done.
The world may not know it, but, mother,
we held the rope, didn't we?" Aud the
voice, tremulous with joyful emotion, re-
spends: "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 salvation. I"
"Pshaw" says the father, 81 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 30 we'll"
A PERSONAL ILLUSTRATION.
Something occurs TO me quite personal.
was the youngest Of Q large family Of
children. My parents were neither rich
nor poor; four Of the sons wanted col
legiate education, 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. I 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
90 tired % Father would fall immediately
to sleep, seated by the evening stand, over.
come 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 10 now
A