Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1889-12-12


leaf robe prepared in the garden of
Eden to the last stitch taken on the
garment for the poor, the needle has
wrought wonders of kindness, generos-
ity and benefaction. 1t adorned the
girdle of the high priest; it fashioned
the curtains in the ancient tabernacle;
it cushioned the chariOts of King Sol
ONION; it provided the robes of Queen
Elizabeth; and in high places and in
low places, by the fire of the pioneers
back log and under the fash OF the
chandelier, everywhere, it has clothed
nakedness. 1t has preached the Cos
pei, it has overcome hosts of penury and
want with the war cry of Stitch,
stitch, stitch The operatives have
found a livelihood by it, and through it
the mansions Of the employer have been
constructed.
Amidst the greatest triumphs IN all
ages and lands | set down the conquestS
of the needle. l admit its crimes; l ad-
nit its cruelties. 1t has had more mar
tyrs than the fire: it has punctIred the
eye: il has pierced the side; it has
struck weakness into the lungs; 1t has
sent madness into the brain: it has filled
the potter's field; it has pitched whole
armies of the suffering into crime and
Indebtedness and woe. But now that l
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 bandagcs 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
benevolence 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 them. She was not like
those persons who sympathize with i'm
q
street and laugh at the boy who has
upset his basket of cold victuals, or like
that charity which makes rousing
speech on the benevolent platform, and
goes out to kick the beggar from the
step, crying: FLUSH 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 God bless yous.' as jackets and
frocks. l 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 never spent a
| farthing for their evangelizatiOn. There
are women who talk beautifully about
the suffering of the world, who never
| had the courage, like DorcaS, to take the
needle and assault it.
am glad that there is not page of
the worlds history which is nOta 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 unjustly
| incarccrated in the prisons, went out
amidst the rabble and took 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 10 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 ever heard of the civil
war in America who has not heard of
the women Of the sanitary and Christian
commissions, 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,
| the benpfactress.
come now to speak of Dorcas the la
mented. When death struck down that
| good woman, oh, how much sorrow there
was in this town of JOppai | suppose
| there were women here with larger
| fortunes; women, perhaps, with hand
| somer faces: but there was no grief at
| their departure like this at the death of
| Dorcas. There was not more turmoil
and upturning in the Mediterranean sea,
! daShing against the wharveS of this sea
port, than there were surgings to and
| fro of grief because Dorcas was dead.
| There are a great many who 60 out of
| life and are unmiSSed. There may be a
very large funeral; there may be a great
many carriages and a plumed hearse;
| there may be high sounding eulogiums;
| the bell may toll at the cemetery gate;
there may be very fine marble shaft
reared over the resting place; but the
whole thing may be falsehoOd and a
| 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 ceasipg to find fault; it is only
an idler stopped yawning; it is only a
dissipated fashionable parted from his
wine cellar: while, on the other hand,
no useful Christian leaves this world
without being missed. The Church of
God cries out like the prophet: Howl,
fir tree, for the cedar has fallen.
Widowhood comes and shows the gar
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