Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1893-08-25

while, the man of the house whispered
with his wife and the stranger
thought his destruction was being
planned. Then the man of the
house came forward and said to
the stranger: stranger, we are
rough and rude people out here and
we work hard for living. We make
our living by hunting, and when we
come to the nightfall we are tired and
we are apt to go to bed ca ly, and be-
fore retiring we are always in the
habit of reading chapter from the
Word of God and making prayer if
you don't like such things, if YOU will
Just step outside the door until we get
through I'll be greatly Oh iged to you. !"
OF course the stranger tarried in the
room and he old hunter took hold of
the horns of the altar and brought
down the blessing of God upon his
! household and upon the stranger
within their gates. Rude, but glori-
Gus Christian hospitality
Again, this woman in my text was
great in her kindness toward God S
messenger. Elisha may have been a
stranger in that household, but as she
found out he had come on a divine
mission, he was cordially welcomed.
We have a great many books in our
! day about the hardships of ministers
| and the trials of Christian ministers.
! i wish somebody would write book
about the joys of the Christian minis
! ter, about the sympathies all around
him, about the kindnesses, about
the genial considerations of him.
! Does sorrow come to our home, and is
there shadow on the cradle, there
are hundreds of hands to help, and
many who weary not through the
long night watching, and hundreds of
prayers going up that God would re-
| store the sick. Is there a burning,
brimming cup of calamity placed on
the pas or's table, are there not many
to help him drink of that cup and who
will not be comforted because he Is
stricken? Oh, for somebody to write
book about the rewards of the
Christian ministry about his sur
roundings of Christian sympathy.
This woman of the text was only a
type of thousands of men and women
who come down from the mansion and
from the cot to do kindness to the
Lords servants. l suppose the men of
Shunem had TO pay the bills, but 1T
was the large hearted Christian SYM
pathies 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 on SOC had died On her lap. A
very bright light went out in that
household. The sacred writer puts it
very tcrsely when he says "He sat
on her knees until noon, and then he
died" Yet the writer goes on
to say that she exclaimed: 1T
is well' Great IN prosperity, this
woman was great in trouble.
Where are the feet that have not been
blistered on the hot sands of this
great sahara? Where are the shout
ders that have not been bent under the
burden of grief? Where is the ship
sailing over CLASSY sea that has not
after a while been caught in cyclone?
Where is the garden of earthly COM
fort, but trouble hath hitched up it's
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 burst with woe.
Navigators tell us about the rivers,
and the Amazon and the Danube and
the Mississippi have been explored.
but who can tell the depth or the
length of the great river of sorrow
]
through all lands and all ages, bearing
the wreck of families and of communi-
ties and of empires foaming, with
ing, boiling with the agonies of six
thousand years. Etna and CotopaXi
and Nesuvius have been described, but
who has ever sketched the volcano of
suffering retching up from its depths
the lava and the scoria and pouring
them down the sides t. whelm the ma
tons? o, if | could gather all the
heartstrings, the broken heartStrings
into a harp would play on it G dirge
such as was never sounded.
Mythologists tell us of Gorgon and
Centaur and Titan, and geologist' tell
us of extinct species of monsters; but
greater than Gorgon or Megathereum
and not belonging TO the realm of ia
BILE, 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
attempt 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 women of the text
conquered, and say, at is well! though
my property be gone, though my chill
dren be gone, though my home be
broken up, though my health be sacri
feed, it is well, it is weil!' 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 but
the consultations of Gods eternal love
can illumine it, and though the winter
comes OFT of the northern sky, yor
have sometimes seen the northern sky
all ablaze with auroras that seem Il
say: Come up this way; up this way
are thrones of light and seas of sap
phirc, and the splendor of an eterna
heaven. Come up this way"
We may. like the ships, by tempest be tossed
On peril us deeps, but cannot be lost,
Though Satan enrage, the wind and the tide
The promise assures US, the Lord will provide
/ heard an echo of my text in yer,
dark hour when my father lay dying
nd the old country minister said Il
him: "Mr. TaImage, how do You fee
now as you are about to pass the Jor
dan of death?" He replied-and i
was the last thing he ever said
feel well; / feel very we'll; all is we'll
lifting his hand IN benediction,
speechless benediction which / pray
God may go down through all tn,
generations. 1t was well! OF course
il was well.
Again, this woman of my text wa
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