The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1888-08-20
BETWEEN ROCKS.
Continued from First Page.


wages, but that question is made up of
tears and blood, and there is more blood
than tears. Oh, give women free access
to all realms where she can get liveli-
hood, from the telegraph office to the
pulpit. Let mems wages be cut down be-
fore hers are cut down. Men have iron
in their souls and can stand it. Make the
way free TO her OF the broken heart. May
God put into my hand the cold, bitter cup
of privation, and give me nothing but
windowess hut for shelter for many years,
rather than that after | am dead there
should 90 out from my home in the pitiless
world woman's arm to fight the Gettys-
burg, the Austerlitz, 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 interocking
their shadow and dropping them upon her
miserable way. "There is sharp rock
on the one side and a sharp rock on the
other side" What are such TO do2 Some
how, let them climb up into the nights
of the glorious promise Leave thu
iathcrless children; ] will preserve them
alive. and let thy widows trust in me-"
Or get up into the nights OF that other
glorious promise: "The Lord preserveth
| the stranger and relieveth the widow and
the fatherless. 0, We sewing woman on
starving wages o, We widows turned out
from the once beautiful homel o, ye
female teachers kept on niggardly stripendl
| o, ye despairing woman, seeking in vain
for work, wandering along the docks and
thinking to throw yourself into the river
last night ., ye woman OF weak nerves
and aching sides, and short breath and
broken heart, you need something more
than human sympathy; you need the
sympathy OF God. Climb up into his
arms He knows 1t all, and he loves you
more than father or mother, or husband
ever could or ever did; and instead OF sit
tingdown, wringing your hands in despair.
you had better begin TO climb. There are
nights oil consolation for you, though now
there is a sharp rock on the one side and
O sharp rock on the other side.'
Again, that man is in the crisis Of the
text who has wasted life on the one side
and an illuminated eternity on the other.
Though a man may all his life have
cultured deliberaton and seli-poisc, II lac
gets into that position all his seli-posses-
sion is gone. There are oil the wrong
|
deeds, all the wrong words-strata above
strata, granite, pondcrous, ovenshadow-
ing. That rock | call Bozez. On the
other side arc all the retributions VI the
future, the thrones OF judgment, tho etcr-
nal ages, angry with his long defiance.
That rock / call Scneh. Between these
two rocks Lord Byron persisted and Al
cibiadcs persisted and Herod persisted
and ten thousand times ten thousand
have persisted. o, man immortal, man
redeemed, man blood-bought, climb up
out OF those shadows. Climb up by the
way OF the cross. Have your wasted lilo
forgiven; have your eternal life secured.
This morning Just take one look 10 the
past and see what IL has been, and take
one look 10 the future and See what IL
threatens to be. You can afford 10 lose
your health, you can afford 10 loso your
property, you can afford 10 lose your rcpu-
lation, but you cannot afford TO lose your
soul. That bright, cleaning, glorious,
precious, eternal possession you must
carry aloft in the day when the earth
burns up and the heavens burst
You see from my subject that when a
man goes into the safety aud peace OF the
gospel he docs not deincan himself. There
IL nothing in religion that leads to mean
ness and unmanlincss. Tho gospel Of
Jesus Christ only asks you 10 climb as
Jonathan did--climb toward God, climb
toward heaven, climb into tho sunshine Of
Gods favor. To become Christian Is not
10 60 moanly down. IL l. 10 come gloriously
up-up into the communion Of saints, up
into the peace that passeth all understand
ing. up into the companionship Of angels,
! lie lives up; ho dies Up. % then, accept
the wholesale invitation which make
this morning TO all the people. Come up
from between your inyalidisn and fnan-
cial embarrpsments. Come up from be.
tween your bercayemcnts and your dcsti-
tuition. Come up from between wasted
life and an unillumined eternity. Like
Jonathan, climb with all your might, In
stead Of sitting down to wiring your hands
In the shadow and in the darkncs-"a
sharp rock on the one side aud sharp
rock on the other side"
|