The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1893-09-07

|
| pose the men ofShunem had topay the billa
| but 1t was the large hearted Christian 5ympa-
| thies OF the women of Shunem that looked
| after the Lords messenger.
! Again, this woman in the text was great in
| her behavior under trouble.
| Her only son had died on her lap. Avery
| bright light went out in that household. The
| sacred writer puts it very terseIy when he
saws. che sat on her knees until noon, and
| then he died" Yetthe writer goes on to say
| that she exclaimed at is well % Great in
| prosperity, this woman was great In tfoupie'
! Where arc the feet that have not been DIS
| tered on the hot sands OF this great Sanara
| Where are the shoulders that nave not DECD
| bent under the burden of grief? Where ia
| the ship sailing over CLASSY sea that has not
| after awhile been caught in a cyclonef Where
| is the garden of earthly comfort but trouble
| hath hitched up its fiery and painting team
| and gone through it with burning plowshare
| Of disaster? Under the pelting of ages of
| suffering the great heart of the world has
| ourst with woe.
Nayigators tell us about the rivers, and the
| Amazon and the Danube and the Mississippi
have been explored. but who can tell the
| depth or length OF the great river of sorrow
! made up OF tears and blood rolling through
| all lands and all ages. bearing the wreck of
| families and OF communities and Of empires
| --foaming, writing. boiling with the agon-
|
| Vesuyius have been described, but who has
| ever sketched the volcano of suffering reach
! lngup from its depths the lava and the scoria
| and pouring them down the sides to whelm
| the nations? Oh if I could gather all the
| heartstrinss, the broken heartstrings, into a
! harp would play on it dirge such as was
| never sounded
| 1Iythologists tell US of Gorgon and Gem
| taur and Titan, and biologists tell Us of ex-
| tinct species of monsters. but greater than
| Gordon or meGatherium, and not belonging
| to the realm of fable and not of an extinct
| species, is a monster with iron Jaw and iron
| hoofs walking across the nations, and his
| tory and poetry and sculpture in their at
| tempt to sketch it and describe it, have
! seemed to sweat great drops OF blood.
But, thank God, there are those who can
/ conquer as this woman Of the text conquered
and say; SIT is we'll Though my property
be gone, though my children be gone, though
my home be broken up, though my health
| be sacrificed, it is we'll it is well p There is
no storm on the sea but Christ is ready to
rise in the hinder part OF the ship and hush
it. There is no darkness bat the constella-
lions OF Gods eternal love can illumine it,
and though the winter comes out of the
northern sky you have sometimes seen the
northern sky all ablaze with auroras that
seem to say "Come up this way. Up this
way are thrones Of light. and seas of sap
Come up this way"
We may. Ike the ships, by tempest be tossed
on pe-ilous depths, but cannot he lost.
Though satan euragc the wind and the tide
Tue promise assures us the Lord Will provide.
heard an echo Of my text in a very dark
hour, when my father lay dying and the old
country minister said to him, "Mr. Talmage,
how dc you feel now as You are about to pass
the Jordan Of death?' lIe replied-and it
was the last thing he ever said-''I feel we'll
I feel very well all is well" lifting his hand
IN a benediction. speecbless benediction,
which pray God may 90 down through all
the generations. It is well OF course it
was well.
Again. this woman of my text was great
in her application to domestic duties. Every
picture is a home picture. whether she is
entertaining an Elisha. or whether she is Civ
ing careful attention to her sick boy, or
whether she is appealing for the restoration
OF her property-eyery picture in her case is
a home picture. Those who are not dfsci-
pies of this Shunemite woman who, going
out to attend to outside charities, neglect the
duty Of home-the duty of wife, of mother,
of daughter. No faithfulness in public ben
efaction can ever atone for domestic negli-
gence.
There has been many mother who by in
defatieabie toll has reared a large family of
children, equipping them for the duties of
life with good manners and large intelli-
EENgB ana IurlSlldl principle. starting Iubll
out. who has done more for the world than
many another woman whose name has
sounded through all the lands and all the
centuries.
7 remember when Kossuth was in this
country there were some ladies who got
regulations by presenting him very grace
Ullv with bouquets of flowers on public oc-
casions but what was all that compared with
the work OF the plain Hungarian mother who
gave to truth and civilization and the cause
OF universal liberty Kossuth? Yes, this
woman Of my text was great in her simplicity.
When the prophet wanted to reward her
for her hospitality by asking some prefer
ment from the king, what did she say? She
declined it. She said Il dwell among my
own people, as much as to say 81 am
satisfied with my lot All [ want is my
FAMILY and my friends around me- dwell
among nay own people Oh, what a rebuke
TO 1he strife for precedence in all ages
How many there are who want to get great
architecture and homes furnished with all
art all painting, all statuary, who have not
enough taste to distinguish between gothic
and byzantine. and who could not tell a
figure in plaster OF Paris from Palmers
White Captive, and would not know boys
panciling from Bierstadt's Yosemite men
who buy large libraries by the square foot,
buying these libraries when they have hardly
enough education to-pick out the day of the
almanac Oh how many there are striving
TO have things as well as their neighbors, or
better than their neighbors. ana in the strug.
gle vast fortunes are exhausted and business
firms thrown into bankruptcy, and men OF
reputed honesty rush into astounding for
geries.
OF course / say nothing against refinement
or culture, Splendor Of abode, sumptuous-
ness OF diet, layishness in art, neatness in ap.
p8rel-there is nothing against them in the
Bible or out OF the Bible. God does not
want US to prefer mud howell to English cot
tage. or untanned sheepskin to French
broadeloth, or husks to pineapple, or the
ciumsiness OF boor to the manners of a
gentleman. God, who strung the beach with
tinted shell and the grass OF the field with
the dews of the night and hath exqusitely
| tinged morning cloud and robin red breast,
wants US to keep our eye open to all beauti-
iul sights, and our ear open 10 all beautiful
cadences, and our heart opento all elevating
sentiment. But what L want to impress upon
you is that you ought not to inventory the
! Injuries OF life as among the indispensables,
and you ought mott depreciate this woman
of the text VINO. when offered kingly prefer