Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1888-05-26

strength to tfeTend itself. There are reputa-
tions that have been half century i'll build
ing which 60 down under some moral ex-
posure, as vast temple is consumed by the
touch OF sulphurous match. A hog can up
root century plunt.
10 this world so full Of hcartlcssness and
hypocrisy, how thrilling it is to find some
friend as faithful in days of adversely rs in
days of prosperity. Dav;d had such friend
In Hushai; the jews hall such friend in
Morclecai, who never forgot their cause; Paul
had such friend i'll One,iphortis, who visited
him in Jail; Christ had such a friend in the
Murys, who adhered to him on the cross;
Naomi had such a one in Ruth who cried
out: "Entreut INC not to leave thee, or to re-
turn from following after thee; for whittier
thou goest, will go; and where thou lodgest,
will lodge; thy people shall be my people,
and thy God, my God; where thou diest will
die, aud there will | be buried: the Lord do
so to me, and more also, il aught but death
part thee and me-"
I'LL Again: learn from this subject that
paths which open in hardship and darkness
often come out in places Of j y. When Ruth
Started from Moab toward Jerusalem to go
people said 'Oh, what foolish creature to
go 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 tho sea, or
the jaclcals 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 field OF Boaz, to be
afilanced to ono 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 was the hour of conviction-how Sinai
Numbered, and devils tormented, and the
darkness thickened All the sins of your
life bounced upon you, and it was the dark
est hour you ever saw when you first found
out your sins. After awhile you went into
the harvest field Of Gods mercy; you began
to CLEAN in the fields OF divine promise. aid
you had more sheaves than you could carry
US the voice of God addressed you, saying:
Blessed is the man whose transgressions
nre forgiven and whose sins arc covered" A
very dark starting in conviction, very
bright ending in the pardon and the hope
and the triumph of tho Gospel.
So, very often III our worldly business or
in our spiritual career. we start off on very
dark path. We must go. The flesh may
shrink back, but there is a voice within, or
voice from above, saying: "You must go;S
and wc have to drink the gall and we have
to carry the cross, and .wo have to traverse
the desert, and we are pounded and Hailed
of misrepresentation and abuse, and we have
to urge our way through ten thousand OBJ
stacles that must be slain by our own right
nrm We have to ford the river, we have to
climb the mountain, we have to storm the
castle; but, blessed be God, tho day of rest
and reward will come On the tip top of the
captured battlcments we will shout the vic
tory; if not in this world, then in that world
where there is 10 gall to drink, no burdens to
carry, no battles to fight How do know it'll
Know It'll know it because God says SO:
"They shall hunger no more, neither thirst
any more, neither shall the sun lighton them,
nor any heat, for the Lamb which is in tho
midst of the throne shall lead them to living
fountains Of water, and God shall wipe all
tears from their eyes"
It was very hard for Noah to endure the
scoffing of the people In lis day, while he
was trying to build the ark, and was every
morning 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 sea
monsters, and the elements; lashcd upfin
Z fury, clappsd t.ri,. over s-drowaed
world, then Noah in tho ark rejoiccd II his
t,,f Io F<fy n finn
and looked out onthe wreck of ruined earth.
Christ, bounded of Prosecutors, denied
pillow, worse matreated than the thieves
on either si,le of the cross, human hate-smack-
ing its lips in satisfaction utter it had been
draining his last drop of blood, the shceted
dead bursting from the sepulchcas ut his
crucifixion. Tell me, o Gethsernanc and
Golrotha were there ever darker times than
thosca Like the booming OF the midnight
sea against the rock, the surges of Christ's
anguish beat against the gates of eternity, to
be echoed back by all the thrones of heaven
and oil tho dungeons of hell. But tho day of
reward comes for Christ: all tho pomp and
dominion of this world arc to DO hung on bis
throne, uncrowned heads are to bow before
him OH whose head nrc many crowns, and all
the celestial worship is to como up at his
feet, like the humming of the forest, like the
rushing of tho waters, like the laundering of
the seas, while ell heaven, rising oil their
thrones, beat time with their scepters: Halle
luiah, for tho Lord God omnipotent rcigncthI
Hallelujah, the kingdoms 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 10 etar;
That light. the breaking day which lips
Tile golden spired Apocalypse.
w. Again: learn from my subject that
events which seem To be most Insignificant
NAV bo monentous Can you imagine any
thing moro unimportant than tho coming Of
n poor woman from Moab to Judah2 Can
YOU imagine anything more trivial than the
fact that this Ruth just happened to alight--
as they say-just happened to alght on that
field Of Boazl Yet all ages, all generations,
hive al interest in the fact that she was to
become an ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and oil 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 mine; events that you
thought of no Importance OF oil have been OF
very great moment. That casual converse
ton, that accidental mocting-you did net
think of it again for long while. but how it
changed all the phase Of your lifel
1t seemed to be of no Importance that
Jubal invented ,-ude instruments of music,
calling them harp and organ; but they were
tho introduction of all the worlds ninstrelsy;
anu as you hear the vibration of u stringcd
instrument, even after the fingers have been
taken away from it, so all music now of lutte
and drum and cornet is only the long con-
tinued strains of Jubal's harp and Jubal's
organ. 1t seemed to DO matter Of very lit
tie importance that Tubal Cain learned the
uses of copper aud 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.
t. -oo,,o,J e., l,o n r,ortar of NO immortal c6