The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-09-06


OF disaster? Under the peltinS OF ages OIL
suffering the great heart OF the worlo mas
| burst with woe.
Nayigators tell us about the rivers, and the
| Amazon and the Danube and the Mlss'ss'nnl
ne,o oeen 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
--foamins. writhing. boiling with the agon-
| les of 6000 years? Etna and Cotopayi and
| Yesuvius have been described. but who has
ever sketched the volcano of suffering reach
ingup from its depths the lava and the scoria
and pouring them down the sides to whelm
the nations2 Oh, if could gather all the
heartstrings, the broken hoartstrings, into
harp would play on it dirge such as was
| never sounded.
Mytnologists tell us of Gorgon and Gen.
| taur and Titan. and geologists 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 1t, 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 "It 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 we'll ~ There Is
no storm on the sea but Christ is ready to
rise In the hinder part of the ship and hush
| il. There Is no darkness but the constella-
tions o. Gods eternal love can ilumine 1t,
and though the winter comes out OF the
northern sky you have sometimes seen the
northern sky all ablaze with auroras that
eaano to o,y. tnia lin thiS
way are thrones Of light and seas Of sap
phire, and the splendor OF an eternal heaven.
Come up this way"
We may. like the ships, by tempest be tossed
On rerilous depths, but cannot I've lost.
Though satan enra9e the wind and the tide,
Tee promise assures us the Lord will provide.
heard an echo Of my text in q very dark
hour, when my father lay dying, and the old
country minister said to him. "Mr. Talmage,
how do you feel now you are about to pass
the Jordan of deGthp" He replied-and 1t
was the last thing he ever said-''I feel we'll |;
I feel very we'll all is WE'LL" lifting his hand
in benediction, a speechless benediction,
which p-ay God may 60 down through all
the generations. It is we'll! or course it
was we'll.
Again. this woman OF my text was great
in her application to domestic duties. Every
picture is home picture, whether she is
entertaining an Elisha, or whether she is CIV
inc careful attention to her sick boy, or
whether she is appealing for the restoration
of her property-eyery picture in her case s
a home picture. Those who are not disci-
ples 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 faithfuness in public ben
efaction Gun ever atone for domestic negli-
gence.
There has been many mother who by in
defatigable toll has reared large family Of
children, equipping them for the duties OF
life with good manners and large intelli-
gence and Christian principle, starting them
out, who has done more for the world than
many another woman whose name has
sounded through all the lands and all the
centuries.
I remember when KoSSuth was In this
country there were some ladies who got
regulations by presenting MIN very grace
fully 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 my own people," Oh. what arebuke
to the 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
figure in plaster Of Paris from Palmer's
"Whte CaLtive,' and would not know q boys
psnciling from Bierstadt'S ''Yosemite" men
who buy large libraries by tbs square foot.
buying these Libraries when they have hardly
enough education to pick out the day OF the
almanac! On, how many there are striving
to have things as we'll as their neighbors. or
better than their neighbors. and in the strug-
gle vast fortunes are exhausted and business
firms thrown into bankruptcy, and men OF
reputed honesty rush into astounding for
geries. 49, ..s.ae-
or course say nothing against refinement
or culture. Splendor OF abode. sumptuous-
ness OF diet, lavishness in art, neatness in ap-
parel-there is nothing against them in the
Bible or out OF the Bible. God does not
want US to prefer mud hovel to English cot
tage, or untanned sheepskin to French
broadcloth, or husks to pineapple, or the
cluusinasS OF O boor to the manners OF q
gentleman. God. who strung the beach with
tinted shell andt grass OF the field with
the dews OF the night and hath exquisitely
tinged morning cloud and robin red breast,
wants US to keep our eye open to all beauti-
fui sights and our ear open to all beautiful
cadences, and our heart open to all eievatinS
sentiment. But what I want to impress upon
you is that you ought moi to inventory tho
luxuries of life as among the indispensaoles.
and you ought not to depreciate this woman
OF the text, who, when offered kinSly prefer
| ment, responded, ''l dwell among my own
people"
Yes, this woman of the text was great in
her plety, faith i'll God, and she was not
ashamed TO talk about it before holsters. All,
woman will never appreciate what she. owes
to Christianity until sne knows and sees the
degradation OF her sex under paganism und
Mahommedanism Her very birth considered
q misfortune Sold like cattle in the sham
| bles. Slave of all work. ind ut last her body
| fuel for the fuaeral pyre OF her husband.
| Above the shrek OF the fire worshipars IN
| India and above the rumbliny Of the iugger-
nauts 1 hear the million voiced groan OF
| wrongad, insu!tsd, broken hearted, down
trodden woman. Her tears have fallen in the
| Nile and Tigris and the La Plata and on the
| steppes of Tart1ry. She has been dishon-
ored in Turkish garden and Persian palace
and Spanish ALEXANDRIA. Her little oaes nave
been sacrificed in the Ganses. Thers is not
a groan OF 4 dungeon, or IN island, OF a
mountain, or q river, OF . Ssa but could tell
| 4 story OF the oatrlSes neaped upon her.
But, thanks TO God, this glorious Cari5-
tianty comes forth, and oil the chains OF
this vassalage are snapped. and she rises up
tAnl Dl,re t,..-