Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1892-02-19

! When / see man OF regal nature, made
| TO rule in realms OF thought, capabls Of all
moral elevation, bestowing his faculties, at
tempting out OF low sensualities TO satisfy
his immortal energies, coming down off Of
his throne Of power into brutalities sacrific-
ing his higher nature TO his lower nature
stooping and stopping, coming down and
coming down until all his influence for good
is gone, l cry out, There is king eating
grass like an OK"
And there are tens of thousands of such
NebuchadneZZars. So there are queens who
dedicate themselves to the same humiliation.
What power for good God gave that woman.
Magnetism OF personal presence. Influence
more than imperial. By her intelligence, by
her tenderness, by her charm of smile and
manner, capable OF soothing so much Sor-
row, and reforming so much waywardness.
and welding so much elevated power; yet
at the call Of worldliness, coming out of the
throne room Of good influence where God
would have her reign, coming down over
the ivory stairs OF mortal power. coming
down and coming down until she has no
more soul than the dead bird transf1xed in
her millinery or the chinchilla that was
slain to afford her warmth, or the kid that
furnished her the glove, and finding her only
delight in batteries of brainless men and
midnight schottsche and debauched
novelties. say, There is one who might
have been queen unto God forever, yet
eating straw like an OK
look over the pasture fields Of folly and
sin and find many groveling who ought to
be erect. Oh, men and women, go back to
your thrones! A young man ran away from
Abraham's faith is sufficiently tried the
lamb is provided. AS soon as Pharaoh con-
sents to let the children of Israel depart the
plague pauses. As soon as the Israelites have
been sufficiently disciplined by their wander
ings they find their way into Canaan. But
to some the limit is not set in this life. Their
whole pilgrimage is through the wilderness
md "a 0ri6 ic TO O vol Nf
But perhaps God has a special throne in
heaven that no ordinary saint can occupy,
and by extraordinary trials He has prepared
that Christian soul for extraordinary glory.
God will not keep you in the furnace one
moment too long. Just as soon as Paul had
met with enough imprisonment and scourg-
ings he reached up and plucked his eternal
crown. God will keep us no longer under
the hammer and on the stocks than is neces-
sary to fit US for entrance into the haven of
eternal rest. Glory be to the divine grace
that. as soon as our Affections have accom-
plished their mission, they are arrested.
The defeats and sorrows OF life have some
times been the greatest advantage. 1t was
because Dante failed as statesman that he
gave up politics and wrote his immortal
''Divinia Commedia." It was a violent
thunderstorm that first set Martin Luther
seriously thinking, and the thunder of this
worlds disaster has started reformation.
James Y. Simpson went from a surgeons
could not find something that would alleviate
human pain, and he kept on until he had dis
covered chloroform as an anae Sthetic, and
tne story of distress has almost always been
followed by the story Of rescue.
For many years after Shakespeare's death
his work was so little appreciated that IN
1866 there was only one edition OF his works.
and that Of only three hundred copies, in
existence, and that edition was nearly all
burned In the great London fire. But forty
cIrY k1f hnl ha0r, al %A0 oS+r
and those forty-eight copies saved Shakes
peare for all nations and all time. Your
suppression on a smaller scale may last a
good while, but for all you are worth you
will yet shine out on earth or in heaven.
Again, learn from my subject that con-
nected with the most distressing judgments
of God there are displays of divine mercy.
God might justly have left Nebuchadnezzar
in the field, but infinite compassion brought
him back to the palace. No sooner was Eden
blasted than blessing followed on the heels
of the curse promising the coming Of One
who would destroy sin and make the whole
world paradise. The deluge descends, but
not until Noah had in vited the people into
the ark. The destroying angel comes upon
Egypt for the shifting of the first born, but
left unmolested every house whose door was
sprinkled with the blood of sacrifice.
Fiery tempests bear down upon Sodom,
but not until two angels have warned Lot
and his family to flee from tne destruction.
J.0TuSdlen was utterly OoSCrOyeQ, OuU not
until Jeremiah had sounded an alarm,
bidding them turn from their denominations.
On the darkest cloud of wrath their is a
rainbow of mercy. Zechariah in his pro-
phetic vision beheld four chariots, SYMBOL
lcal Of Gods government.
The first chariot was drawn by red horses
They indicated the wars that were coming.
The second chariot was drawn by black
horses. They indicated the coming of q
famine and pestilence. The third chariot
was drawn by white horses. They indicated
the spotless purity of His conquests. But,
drawn by horses 'tgrisled and bay" denoting
that mercy was mixed with all the desc
lating judgments of God. Sinai cannot
thunder SO loud as to drown the invitations of
Calvary. The Lord utters the admonition,
1.-THE wages Of sin is death" but exhaustless
mercy responds, Deliver him from going
down to the pit, for have found ransom"
Hide Thee quick in the rock, Christ Jesus.
Let not this insignificant Now" absorb
Thee more than the great hereafter. The
few furlongs, but the path which com,
mences at the other side CT it is without end.
The powers of darkness gather about your
soul, and the temptations of an evil heart
and the allurements of the world know are
trying to drown the voice Of the preacher,
but taking hold of the silver trumpet of the
Gospel which made Felix tremble, and at
the Pentecost brought three thousand souls
out Of their sepulcher, I would blow one
long, loud blast crying, ''Whosoever will,
let him come"
Take this goodly religion which has done
so much for me that can commend it to all.
Without it I should have gone the whole
downward career. Stolid and phlegmatic
natures going astray do not so SO far, but
natures like mine, sanguine, intense, emo
tional, optimistic, social to the last degree
and echoing to all the heights and depths of
mirth, if they get off the track they go with