The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1889-12-07

ofafHe needle. / admit its crimes; l ad-
mh tts cru6atles. It has had more mar
tyrs than the fire; it has punctured the
eye; It o pierced the side; it has
struck weakness Into the lungs; it has
sent madness into the brain; 1t has filled
the potter's field; it has pitched whole
armies of the suffering into crime and
Indebtedness and woe. But now that I
am talking OF Dorcas and her ministries
to the poor L shall speak only of the
charities OF the needle. This woman
was a representative of all those women
who make garments for the destitute,
who knit socks for the barefooted, who
prepare bandages for the lacerated, who
fix up boxes of clothing for missionaries,
who go into the asylums of the suffering
and destitute, bearing that Gospel which
Is sight for the blind, and hearing for
the deaf, and which makes the lame
man leap like a hart, and brings the
dead to life, immortal health bounding
in their pulses.
What a contrast between the practical
b~enevolence of this woman and a great
deal Of the charity of to-day! This wom-
an did not spend her time idly plan
ming how the poor of your city of Joppa
were to be relieved; she took her needle
and relieved item. She was not like
those persons who ~sympathize with i'm
aginary sorrows, and go out in the
street and laugh at the boy who has
upset his basket of cold ~victuals, or like
that charity which makes q rousing
speech o n the benevolent platform, and
goes out to kick the beggar from the
step, crying: ''Hush your miserable
howling" The sufferers of the world
want not so much theology as practice;
not so much tears as dollars; not so much
kind wishes as loaves of bread; not so
much Sod bless yous!' as jackets and
frocks. / will put one earnest Chris
tan man, handwriting, against five
thousand mere theorists on the subject
of charity. There are a great many who
have fine ideas about church architect
ure who never in their life helped to
build a church. There are men who can
give you the history of Buddhism and
Mahommedanism who v spent a
farthing for their eyangelization. There
are women WHO talk beautifully about
the sutferinG-M rheworld, who never
had the courage, like Dorcasstatake the
Snosdle and assault II. j
Liza lad that there is not q page 81
the worlds history which is not a record
of female benevolence. God SAYS to all |
lands and people, come now and hear
the widows mite rattle down into the
poor box. The Princess of Cont sold |
all her jewels that she might help the |
famine stricken. Queen Blanche, the |
wife of Louis VIII. of France, hearing |
that there were some persons uniustly |
incarcerated in the prisons, went out
amidst the rabble and took a stick and
struck the door as a signal that they
might all strike it, and down went the
prison door and out came the prisoners.
Queen Maud, the wife of Henry L., went
down amidst the poor and washed their
sores and administered to them cordials.
Mrs. Retson, at Matagorda, appeared on
the battlefield while the missiles of
death were flying around, and cared
for the wounded. Is there a man or
woman who has eve heard of the civil
war in America who has not heard of
the women of the sanitary and Christian
or the fact that, before the
smoke had gone up from Gettysburg and
South Mountain, the women of the North
met the women of the South on the bat
tlefield, forgetting all their animosities
while they bound up the wounded, and
closed the eyes Of the slain. Dorcas,
benefactress.
come now to speak of Dorcas the Ia
mented. When death struck down that
good woman, oh, how much sorrow there
in this town of Joppa! l suppose
there were women here with larger
fortunes; women, perhaps, with hand
,omer faces; but there was no grief at
their departure like this at the death of
Dorcas. There was not moro turmoil
and upturning in the Mediterranean sea,
1ashing against the wharves of this sea
port, han there were surgings to and
Iro of grief because Dorcas was dead. |
There are a great many who go out of
life and are unmissed. There may be a
very large funeral; there may be a great
many carriages and a plumed hearse; I
there may be high sounding eulogiums;
the bell may toll at the cemetery gate; {
there may be a very fine marble shaft
reared over the resting place; but the !
whole thing may be a falsehood and q
sham. The Church of God has lost moth {
ing, the world has lost nothing. 1t is {
only a nuisance abated; it is only a
grumbler ceasing to find fault; it is only
an idler stopped yawning; it is only a
dissipated fashionable parted from his
zine cellar; while, on the other hand,
10 useful Christian leaves this world
being missed. The Church of
Tod cries out like the prophet: "Howl,
ir tree, for the cedar has fallen"
comes and shows the gar
nents which h departed had made.
are lifted up to look into the
,alm face of the sleeping benefactress.
vagrancy comes and kisses
The cold brow of her who charmed 1t
away from sin, and all through the
streets Of Joppa there is mourning
Mourning because Dorcas is dead.
When Josephine of France was car
led out to her grave, there were a great
many men and women of pomp and
and position hat went out after
Ter; but / am most affected by the story
If history that on that day there were {
en- thousand of the poor of France who {
ollowed her coffin, weeping and wailing :
Until the air rang again, because, when {
hey lost Josephine, they lost their last I
friend. Oh, who would not !
ather have such obsequies than all the
that were ever poured in the
that have been exhumed
rom ancient cities. There may be no :
mass for the dead; there may be no {
ostly sarcophagus; there may be no
Elaborate ~mausoleum; but in the damp
of the city, and through the |
onely huts Of the mountain glen, there !
Will be mourning, mourning, mourning, ,
because Dorcas is dead. blessed are
he dead who die in the Lord; they rest I
rom their labors, and their works do l
ollow them"
speak to you Of Dorcas, the resur- l
The apostle came to where she
vas, and said: "Arise; and she sat up!"
n what a short compass the great writer
,ut that-''She sat up!" Oh, what a
line there must have been around this
own, when the apostle brought her out
Lmong her old friends! How the tears OF
oy must have started! What clapping of
lands there must nave been! What sing
ngl Whatlaughter! Sound it all through
hat lane! Shoutitd down that dark alley
let all Joppa hear it! Dorcas is resur-
You and / have seen the same thing =
many a time; not a dead body resusci- :
but the deceased coming up again
,fter death in the good accomplished.
+ a a labors up to fifty years of age,
God, and then dies, we are apt
"