The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1891-08-07

1t took the prosecutions Of March,
Aurelius to develop Polycarp and Jul
tin Martyr 1t took the pope's bull
and the cardinals curse, and the world
anathema to develop Martin Luther
It took all the hostilities against tn
Scotch covenanters and the fury O
Lord Claverhouse to develop Jane
Renwick and Andrew Melville AM
Hugh McKail, the glorious martyrs Q
Scotch history. It took the stormy sea
and the December blast, and the desc
late New England coast, and the wa
whoop of savages to show forth tn
proves of the Pilgrim Fathers
When amid the storms they sang
And the stars heard, and the sea;
And the sounding aisles Of the dim wood
Rang to the anthems Of the free.
THE LIFTING UP OF THE NATION.
Ittook all our past national distresses
and it takes all our present nationa
sorrows, to lift up our nation on tina
high career where it will march along
after the foreign despotisms that have
Knocked, and 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 Individually,
and in the family, and in the church,
and in the world, that through dark
ness and storm and trouble men, wom-
en-, churches, nations, are developed.
Again, see in my text the beauty OF
unfaltering friendship. Isuppose there
were plenty of friends for Naomi while
she was in prosperity; but of all her
acquaintance, how many were willing
to trudge off with her toward Judea,
when she had to make that lonely Jour-
neyf One-the heroine of my text.
One absolutely one. l suppose when
Naomi's husband was living, and they
had plenty of money, and all things
went well, they had a great many call
ers; but l suppose that after her hus-
band died, and her property went, and
she got old and poor, she was not trou-
bled 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 u; 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 mere game,
where the successful player pulls down
all the other men into his own lap. Let
arise about mans charac-
ter and he becomes like bank in q
panic, and all the imputations rush on
him and break down in day that
character which in due time would
have had strength to defend itself.
There are regulations that have been
half century in building which 60
down under some moral exposure, as
vast temple is consumed by the touch
OF sulphurous match. A hog can up
root century plant.
In this world, so full of heartlessness
and hypocrisy, how thrilling it is to find
some friend as faithful in days of ad-
versity as in days of prosperity! David
had such friend in Hushai; the Jews
had such friend in Mordecai, who
never forgot their cause; Paul had such
a friend in Onesiphorus, who visited
him in jail; Christ had such in the
Marys, who adhered to him on the
cross; Naomi had such one in Ruth,
who cried out. "Entreat me not to
leave thee. or to return from following
after 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 l die, and there will l be buried
the Lord do so to me, and more also,
if aught but death part thee and me-"
OUT OF DARKNESS INTO LIGHT.
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 moth
er-in-law, l suppose the people said;
"Oh, what a foolish creature to go away
from her fathers house, to go off with
a poor old woman toward the land of
Judea! They won't live to get across
the desert. They will be drowned in
the sea, or the jackals of the wilderness
will destroy them" 1t was very dark
morning when Ruth started off with
Naomi, but behold her in my text in
the harvest field of Boaz, to be affianced
to 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 out for heaven, oh,
how dark was the hour of conviction
how Sinai Numbered and devils tor