The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1891-08-14

has fallen.
In this world, go full OF heartlessuess
ard hfpHcrfsys how thrilling II is tc
find some friend as faithful Id DAYS ~
adversely as In days of prosperity Da
vid had such a friend in Hushai; the
Jews had such a friend in Mordecai
who never forgot their cause: Paul had
such friend in Onesiphorus, who Wis
tied him In Jail; Christ had such in the
Marys, who adhered 10 him on the
cross; Naomi had such one in Ruth,
who cried out: "Entreat me not to leave
thee, or TO return from following sfter
thee; for whittier thou goest | 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 l be buried; the
Lord do so to me, and more also, il
aught but death part thee and me-"
Again, learn from this subject that
paths which open in hardship and dark
riess often eoifie out In phases of Joy.
When Ruth started from Moab toward
Jerusalem, to go along with her moth
er-in.law, / suppose the people said:
'Oh, what q foolish creature to 60 away
from her fathers house to 60 off with a
poor old woman toward the land of Jul
dab! They won't live to get across the
desert, They will be drowned in the
sea, or the iackals Of the wilderness will
destroy them" Ii was very dark
morning when Ruth started off with
the harvest field of Boaz, to be affianced
10 one of the lords of the land, and be
come one of the grandmothers of
Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. And
so it often is that path which starts
very darkly ends very brightly. When
you started ont for heaven; Q. how dark
was the hour of conviction-how, Sinai
Numbered, and devils tormented, and
the darkness thickened, All the sins
of your life pounced upon you, and it
was the darkest hour you ever saw when
you first found out your sins.
After awhile you went into the har-
vest field of Gods mercy: you began to
CLEAN in the fields of divine promise,
and you had more sheaves than you
could carry, as the voice of God ad-
dressed you saying: blessed is the
man whose transgressions are forgiven
and whose sins are covered" A very
dark starting in conviction, a very
bright ending in the pardon and the
hope and the triumph Of lhe Gospel!
1t was very hard for Noah to egdafe
the scoffing of the people in his day,
while he was trying to build the ark
and was every morning quizzed about
his old boat that would never be of any
practical use, but when the deluge
came, and the top of the mountains dis
appeared like the backs of sea monsters,
and the elements, dashed up in fury,
clapped their hands over a drowned
world, then Noah in the ark rejoiced in
his own safety and in the safety of his
family and looked out on the wreck of a
ruined earth:
Christ, bounded OF prosecutors, denied
a pillow. worse maltreated than the
thieves on either side of the cross; human
hate smacking its lips in satisfaction
after il had been draining His last drop
of blood, the sheeted dead bursting from
the sepulchers at His crdcifixion; Tell
me, o, Gethsemane and Golgothai were
there ever darker times than those?
Like the booming of the midnight sea
against the rock, the surges OF Christ's
anguish beat against the gates of etern-
ity. to be echoed back by all the thrones
of heaven and all the dungeons of hell.
But the day of reward comes for Christ;
all the pomp and dominion of this
world are to be hung on His throne, I'M
crowned heads are to bow before him on
whose head are many crowns aha all
the celestial worship is to come up at
His feet like the humming of the forest,
like the rushing of the waters, like the
of the seas, while all heaven,
rising on their thrones, beat. time with
their scepters: "Hallelujah. for the
Lord God omnipotent reigneth, Hal
lelujah, the kingdoms of this world
are the Kingdoms of our ord Jesus
Christ"
That song Of love- now low and far
Ere long shall swell from star to star;
That light, the breaking day which tips
The golden spired a ocafypee.
Again, learn from my subject that
events which seem to be most insiguiti-
cant may be momentous. Can you
imagine anything more unimportant
than the coming OF a poor woman from
Moab to Judea? Can you imagine any
thing more trivial than the fact that
this Ruth just happened to alight on
that field OF Boaz? Yet all ages, all
have an interest in the
fact that she was to become an ances-
tress OF the Lord Jesus Christ, and all
nations and kingdoms must look at that
one little incident with a thrill of I'M
speakable and eternal satisfaction.
Again, see in my subject an illus
tration of the beauty of female indus
try. Behold Ruth toiling in the har-
vest field under the hot sun, or at noon |
taking plain bread with the rcapers, or |
eating the parched corn which Boaz |
handed to her. The customs of society, |
Of course, have changed, and without |
the hardships and exposure to which |
Ruth was subjected, every intelligent |
will find something to do. / |
know there is a sickly sentimentality |
On this subject. In some families there |
are persons of no practical service to |
the household or community: and |
though there are so many woes all |
around about them in the world, they |
spend their time languishing over a
new pattern, or bursting into tears at
over the story of some lover
Who shot himself. They would not be-
rim to look at Ruth carrying back the
barley on her way home to her mother
n-law, Naomi.
All this fastidiousness may seem to do
rery well while they are under the
helter of their fathers house: but when
he sharp winter of misfortune comes,
What of these butterflies? Persons
lnder indulgeRt parentage may get up
N themselves habits of indolence; but
When they come out into practical life
heir soul will recoil with disgust and
.hagrin. They will feel in their hearts
What the poet so severely satirized
when he said:
folks are so awkward. things so impolite,
hey're elegantly panied from morn till nigat,
Through that gate of Incidence how
many men and women have marched
seless on earth to a destroyed eternity?
,pinola said to Sir Horace We're: ''Of