The Hazel Green herald. [volume] (Hazel Green, Wolfe County, Ky.) 1885-19??, 1891-09-04

Justin Martyr II took the popes bull
and the cardinals curse, and the
worlds anathena to develop Martin
| Luther IL took all the hostilities
against the Scotch Covenantcrs and the
fury of Lord Claverhouse to develop
James Renwicl<, and Andrew Melville,
and Hugh McCrail, the glorious mar.
tyrs of Scotch history. 1t took the
stormy sea and the December blast,
and the dcsolata New England coast,
and the war.whoop of savages, to show
forth the prowcss of the Pilgrim Fa-
theirs
When amid the storm they sang,
| And the stars heard and the sea;
And the sounding aisles of the dim wood,
Rang 10 the anthems OF the free
1t took all our past national distrcsses,
and 1t takes all our present national
sorrows TO lift up our nation on that
high career where it will march along,
after the foreign dcspotisms that have
Knocked and the tyrannics 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
| IIlCu lItC anu 81 IL IL lnNllNlIudll1 anu,
in the family, and in the church, and in
the world, that through darkness and
storm and trouble, men, women,
churches, nations are developed
Again, see in my text the beauty of
unfaltering friendship. suppose there
were plenty of friends for Naomi while
she was in prosperity; but of all her ac-
| quaintances how many were willing to
| trudge off with her toward Judca when
she had to make that lonely journey?
One-the heroine of my text. One-ab-
solutely one. 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 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 sunhowers that
spread out their color in the morning
hour! but they are always asleep when
the sun is going down! Job had plenty
VI II lNlldo NliCl lC was VIC lltllNSb 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
Hophar the Naamathite. Life often
seems to bc a mere game, where the
successful player pulls down all the
other men into his own lap, Let sus-
picions arise about mans character,
and he becomes like bank in panic,
and all the imputations rush on him
and break down in a day that character
which in due time would have had
strength to defend itself. There are
regulations that have been half n CEN
fury in luilding, which go down under
some moral exposure, as vast temple
is consumed by the touch of a sulphurous
match. a hog can uproot century plant.
In this world, so full of heartlessncss
and hypocrisy, how thrilling is it to find
some friend as faithful in days of adj
vcrsity as in days of prosperity! David
had such a friend in IIushai; 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, oar to return from following
after 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 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
the paths which open in hardship and
darkness often come out in places of
JOY. When Ruth started from Moab TO
Jerusalem, to go along with her moth
er-in-law, | suppose the people said
"Oh, what foolish creature TO go
away from her fathers house, to go off
with poor old woman to the land of
Judea! They won't live to get across
the desert They will be drowned in
the sea, or the jacl<als of the wilderness
will destroy them" II was n very dark
morning when Ruth started off with |
Naomi; but behold her in my text in
the harvest field of BoaZ, to be affianced |
70 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 "a path which starts off |
very darlily ends very brightly.
When you started out for Heaven, oh, |
how dark was the hour of conviction
how Sinai Numbered, and devils tor
mented, and the darkness thickened!
All the sins of your life pounce upon
you, and it was the darkest hour you
ever saw when you first found out your