Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1891-08-03

e4SSooSs anu 10 tdkeS dll our PRESENT. Qd-
tional sorrows, to lift up our nation on
that high career where it will march
along after the foreign despotisms that
have Knocked aud the tyrannies that
have jeered, shall be swept down under
the OmnipOtent wrath OF God, who
hates oppression, and who, by the
strength of his own red right arm, will
make all men free. And so it is, indi-
vidually, and in the family, and in the
darkness and storm and trouble, men,
women, churches, nations, are devel-
Oped.
UNFALTERING FRIENDSHIP.
Again, see in my text the beauty Of
unfaltering friendship. suppose there
were plenty OF friends Naomi while
she was in prosperity; but Of all her ac-
Quaintances, how many were willing to
trudge off with her toward Judea, when
she had to make that lonely journey?
One-the heroine Of my text. One
absolutely one. I suppose when NaOmi's
husband was living and they had plenty
of money, and all things went well,
they had a great many callers; but l
suppose that after her husband died
and her property went, and she got old
and poor, she was not troubled very
much with callers. All the birds that
sang in the bower while the sun shOne
have gone to their nests, now the night
has fallen.
Oh, these beautiful sunfowers that
spread out their color in the morning
hOurl but they are always asleep when
the sun is going down! Job had plenty
of friends when he was the richest man
in Uz; but when his property went and
the trials came, then there were none
so much that pestered as Eliphaz the
Temanite, and Bildad the Shuttle, and
Zophar the Naamathite.
Life often seems to be a mere game,
where the successful player pulls down
all the other men into mis- own lap. Let
suspicious arise about mans charac-
ter, and he becomes like bank In
panic, and all the imputations rush on
him and break down in day that char
acter which in due time would have had
strength 10 defend itself. There are
regulations that have been half cen
fury in building, which go down
under some moral exposure, as
vast temple is consumed by
the touch OF q suipnurous
match. 4 hog can uproot a century
plant. In this world, so full Of heart
lessness and hypocrisy, how thrilling it
IS to find some friend as faithful in days
of adversely as in days Of prosperity
David had such a friend in HuShai; the
Jews had such q friend in Mordecai,
who never forgot their cause; Paul had |
tied him in jail; Christ had such in the
Marys, who adhered to him on the
Cross; Naomi had such a one in Ruth, |
who cried out: "Entreat me not to |
leave thee; for whittier thou goeSt, l |
will go; and where thou lodgest, will |
lodge; thy people shall be my people,
and thy God my God; where thou diest |
will die, and there will be buried; |
the Lord do so to me, and more also, if |
aught but death part thee and me-"
Again, learn from this subject that
paths which open in hardship and dark
ness often come out in places OF joy.
When Ruth started from Moab toward
Jerusalem, to go along with her mother
n-law, suppose the people said: ooh,
what foolish creature TO go away from
Ter fathers house, to go off with poor
I'D woman toward the land of Judea!
They won't live to get across the desert.
They will be drowned in the sea, or the
acksls of the wilderness will destroy
hem" 1t vas yecy dark morning
when Ruth started IF with Naomi; out
behold Aef in nytexE in the harvest
ield Of Boaz, 20 Se Afiiancod to one G.
ne lords Of Inc land, and become ono
If the grandmOther5 0f Jesus Christ,
ne Lord of glory. And 50 it ofteA IS
hat q path which starts very dArkiy
ends very brightly.
When you star ted cut for heaven, oh
low dark was the nour OF conviction
how Sinai Numbered. and devils tor
nented, and the darkness thic&eaed!
An the sins of your life pOunced upon
you, and it was the darkest houc you !
ever saw when you first found out your |
sins. After awhile you went into the |
harvest field OF Gods mercy; you began |
20 clean in the fields Of divine promise, |
and YOU had moro sheaveS than you |
could carry, as the voice OF God address
ed YOU, SAYING: BLESSED is the man |
whose transgressionS are forgiven and
whose sins are covered" A very dark
starting in conviction, very bright
ending in the pardon and the hope and
the triumph of the Gospel
THE DARK PATH
So, very often in our worldly business
or in our spiritual career, we start of
on a very dark path. We must go.
The flesh may shrink back, but there
is a voice within, or voice from above
saying, ''You must co." and we have to
drink the gall, and we have to carry
the cross, and we have to traverse the
desert and we are pounded and failed
of misrepresentation and abuse, and we
have to urge our way through ten
thousand obstacles that have TO be
slain by our own right arm. We have
70 ford the river, we have to climb the
mountain, we have to storm the castle;
but blessed be God, the day of rest and
reward will come. On the tip-top OF