Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1889-05-02

I angel rolling away the stone, sut we did
not remaI upon the sublime fact that h
sat upon il Why? Certainly not because
he was tired The angels are a fatigueles
race, and that one could have shoulderec
| every rock around that tomb and carried
it away and not been besweated. He sal
upon ii, i think, to show you and to show
me that we may make every earthly OBJ
stacle throne of triumph. The y GUNS
men who get their education easy seldom
amount to much. Those who had to strug'
gle for it come out atop. There is no enc
of the story of studying by pine kno
| lights and reading while the mules of the
| towpath were resting and of going hungry
and patched and barefoot and submitting
to all kinds of privation to get scholastic
advantages. But the day Of graduation
came and they took the diplomas with 8
hand nervous from night study and pale
| from Lack of food and put their academic
degrees in the pocket of their threadbare
| coat. Then starting for another career OF
hardship they entered a profession or q
business where they found plenty of dis
| heartenment and no help. Yet saying: 81
will succeed; God help me, for no one else
will, +" they went on and up until the world
was compelled to acknowledge and admire
them. The fact was that the obstable be-
tween their discouraging start and their
| complete success was a rock of fifty tons,
but by resolution, nerved and muscular
lied and REINFORCED by Almighty God,
they threw their arms around the obstacle
and with the strength of a supernatural
wrestler rolled back the stone, and having
become more than conquerors they sat
upon it Men and women ara good and
great and useful just in proportion as they
| had to overcome obstacles. You can count
upon the fingers of your hand all the great
| singers, great orators, great poets, great
patriots and great Christians who never
had a struggle. That angel that made a
throne of the bowlder at Christ's tomb
went back to Heaven, and l warrant that
having been born in Heaven and always
had an easy time, he now speaks of that
wrestle with the rock as the most in terest-
ing chapter in all his angelic lifetime.
Oh men and women with obstacles in the
way, tell you that those obstacles are
only thrones that you may after a while
sit on. Is the obstacle in your way sick
ness? Conquer it by accomplishing more
for God during your invalidism than
many accomplish who have never known
an ailment Are you prosecuted? By
your upri ghtness and courage compel the
world to acknowledge your moral hero
ism. Is it poverty? Conquer it by being
happy in companionship of your Lord and
Master, who in all His life owned but six
ty-two cents, and that he got from fish's
mouth and Immediately paid it out in
| taxes to the Roman assessor, and who
would have been buried in a potter's field
had not Joseph of Arimathea contributed
q place, for He who had not where to lay
His head during His life had a borrowed
pillow for the last slum5er. There is no
throne you are sure to keep except that
which you make out of vapquished OBJ
stacles. An ungrateful republic at the
ballot box denied Horace Greeley the
highest place at the National Capitol, but
could not keep him from rising from the
steps of New York printing office on
which he sat one chilly morning waiting
for the boss printer to como that he might
get job, until he mounted the highest
hrone of American journalism Hs roll ed
back the stone and sat upon it A poor
orphan hoy, picking up chips at Rich
mond, Va, accosted by a passing
sea captain and invited to come on
board his vessel, drops the chips and
starts right away and is tossed from
port to port, and, homeless and friendless,
wanders one day along fremont street.
Boston, AMI sees Park Street Church open,
and, speaking of it afterward on a great
occasion and using sailors vernacular, as
was usual with him, he says: Il put in,
1 up helm. unfurled sail and made for the
gallery and scud under bare poles to the
corner pew The old man. DR.. Griffin,
was just naming his text. Pretty soon he
unfurled the mainsail, raised the topsail,
ran up the remnants to free breeze and l
tell you the old Gospel ship never sailed
more prosperously. The salt spray flew
in every direction. but more especially
did it run down my cheeks Satan had to
strike sail; his guns were dismounted or
spiked, his various crafts by which he led
sinners captive were all beached and the
captain of the Lords host rode forth, con-
quering and to conquer" Before that
sailor boy was poverty, but he conquered
it; and orphanage, but he conquered it;
and ignorance, but he conquered it; and
the scott of the world, but he conquered
it; and he rose till every sailors bethel in
the world blessed him ami great anniver-
sary platforms invited him, and Dan ell
Webster and Charles Dickens and Fred
erika Bremen and poets and orators and
Senators sat electrified at his feet, and
his gospelizing influence will go on until
the last jack tar is converted and the sea
shall give up its dead All the obstacles
of his life seemed gathered into one great
powder, but Edward 7. Taylor, the world
renowned sailors preacher, rolled back
the stone and sat upon it.
Yet do not make the mistake that many
do of sitting on it before it is rolled away.
1t is bound to go if you only tug away at
it. IL not before, then l think about
twelve O'Clock noon of resurrection day
you willsee something worth seeing. The
ascent to the skies will hardly occur i'm
mediately. 1t will take some hours to
form the procession skyward, and we will
want to take look at this world before
we leave it forever and see the surround
ings of the couch where our bodies have
long been sleeping. On that Easter morn
ing the marble, whether it lay fiat upon
your grave or stood up in monument will
have to be joStled and shaken and rolled
aside by the angel of resurrection, and
while waiting for your kindred to gather
and the procession to form your resurrect-
ed body may sit in triumph upon that
chiseled stone which marked the place of
your protracted slumber. On that day
what a fragile thing will be Aberdeen
granite aud column of basalt and the