The Nicodemus cyclone. [volume] (Nicodemus, Graham County, Kan.) 1887-1888, 1888-06-08


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 as the Marys;
who adhered to Him on the cross; Naomi had
such one in Ruth who cried out: "Entreat
me not to leave thee; for whittier thou gOest,
| will go; and where thou lodgest l will
lodge; thy people shall be my people, and
thy God, nv God: where thou diest will die,
and there will l be buried: the Lord do
so to me, and more also, if aught but death
part thee and me-"
III. 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 Jerusalem, to go
along with her mother -in-law, l suppose the
people said: "Oh, what foolish creature to
go away from her fathers house, to 60 off
with poor cid woman toward the land OF
Judah! They won't live to get across the
desert. They will be drowned In the sea, or
the jackals of the wilderness will destroy
them" 1t was very dark morning when
Ruth started off with Naomi; but behold her
in my text in the harvest-teld of BOaz, to be
atfanced to one of the lords Of the land, and
become one of the grandmOtherS of Jesus
Christ the Lord of glory. And so it often is
that path which starts very darkly ends very
brightly.
When you started out for heaven, oh, how
dark vas the hour of confederation Sinai
Numbered, and the devils tOrmented, and
the darkness thickenedi All the sins of your
lie bounced upon you, and 1t was the darkest
hour you ever saw when you first found out
your sins. After awhile you went into the
harVest-tield of Gods mercy; you began TO
CLEAN i'll 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 transgre ssiOns are
forgiven, and whose sins are covered" A
very dark starting in conviction, very bright
hp hnnp no
triumph OF the Gospel!
So, very often in our worldly business or in
our spiritual career, we start OFT on a very
dark path. We must go. The flesh may
shrink back, but there is voice with
in, or voice from above
saying: you must CO." and we have to
drink the gall, and we have to carry the cross,
and we have to traverse the desert, and we
are pounded and failed of 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 and reward will come.
On the tip top of the captured battlements
we will shout the victory; if not in this world,
then In that world where there is no gall to
drink, no burdens to carry no battles to
fight How do know it! Know it! know
it because 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 the throne
shall lead them to living fountains of water,
and God shall wipe all tears from their eyes"
1t was very hard for Noah to endure the
soothing of the people in his day, while he was
trying to build the ark, and was every morn
ing quiZZed about his old boat that would
never be OF any practical use; but when the
deluge came, and the tops of the mountains
disappeared like the backs of monsters,
aud the elements, dashed up in fury, clappcd
their hands over drowned world, then Noah
In the ark rejOiced in his own safety and in
the safety of his family, and looked out 'on
the wreck of a ruined earth.
Christ, bounded of prosecutors, denied a
pillow, worse maltreated than the thieves on
either side of the cross, human hate smack
ing its lips in satisfaction after it had been
draining His last drop of blood, the sheeted
dead bursting from the sepulchres at
His crucfxiOn. Tell me, 0 Gethse-
name and GolgOtha were there ever darere
times than those? Like the booming of thk
sea against the rock, the surges of
ChrstS anguish beat against the gates of
eternity, 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 and dominion of this world are to be
hung on His throne, unCrOwned heads are to
bow before 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 scep-
tiers: 'Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipo-
tent reigneth Hallelujah, the kin gdOms Of
this world have become the kingdoms of our
Lord Jesus Christi"
That song Of love, now low and far.
Ere long shall swell from star to star;
That light, the breaking which tips
The golden spired Apocalypse"
~. Again l learn from my subject that
events which seem to be most insignificant
may be mOmentOus. Can Won imagine any
thing more unimDOrtant than the coming of
a poor woman from Moab to Judah: Can
you imagine anything more trivial than the
fact that this Ruth just happened to alight-
as they say-just happened to alight on that
field CT BOaz! Yet all ages, all generations,
have an interest in the fact that she vas to
become an ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and all nations and kingdoms must look at
that one little incident with a thrill of un-
speakable and eternal satisfaction. So it is
in your history and in mine; events that you
thought of no importance at all have been of
great moment. That casual conversation,
that accidental meeting-you did not think
Of it again for 4 long while; but how it
changed all the phase of your life
1t seemed to be of no Importance that Jubal
invented rude instruments OF music, calling
them harp and organ; but they were the in
PRODUCTION of all the worlds minstresy; and
as YOU hear the vibration of a stringed instru-
away from it so all music now of lutte aud
drum and COrnet is only the lOng-cOntinued
strains Of JubaPs harp and Jubals organ.
1t seemed TO be matter of very little mpOr-
lance that Tubal Cain learned the uses of
copper and iron; but that rude foundry Of
ancient DAYS has its echo in the rattle of
Birmingham machinery, and the roar and
bang of factories on the Merrimac
1t seemed TO be a matter of DO Importance
that Luther found a Bible in a monastery:
but as he opened that Bible, and the brass
bound lids fell back, they Jared everything,
from the Vatican 10 the furthest convent in
Germany. and the rustling of the wOrmed
leaves was the sound of the wings of the angel
of the Reformation. IL seemed TO be q mat
ter of no Importance that a woman, whose
name has been forgotten, dropped a tract in
the way of very bad man bY the name of
Richard Baxter. He picked up the tract and
read it, and it was the means of his saliva
tiOn.
In after DAYS that man wrote book called
THE Call to the Unconverted," that was the
means OF bringing multitude 10 God, among
others Philip Doddridge, Philip DOddridge
wrote book called: 1.-The Rise and Progress
of Religion" which has brought thousands
and tens OF thousands into the kingdom Of
God, and among others the great Wilber-
force. Wherefore wrote a book called "A
Practical View Of Christianity" which was
the means of bringing 8 great multitude to
Christ, among other Leigh Richmond. Leigh
Richmond wrDtA tract called. Tho na