The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1893-08-23

UOu. Leu every cnurcn tnaU WOulu
maintain large Christian influence in
community, culture Sabbath by Sab
bath this beautiful grace of Christian
hospitality.
A good man travelling in the far west
in the wilderness, was overtalsen by
night and storm, and he put in at a
cabin. He saw irearmsN along the
beams of the cabin and he felt alarmed.
He did not know but that he had fallen
into den of thieves He sat there
greatly perturbed. After while the
man OF the house came home with q
gun on his shoulder and sat it down in
corner. The stranger was still more
alarmed. After 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 a rough
and rude people out here and we work
hard for living. We make our living
by hunting, and when we come to the
night fall we are tired and VIC, are apt
togo to bed early, and before retiring
we are always in the habit of reading
a 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 great
ly obliged to you" Of course the
stranger tarried in the room and the
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
glorious Christian hospitality
Again, this woman in my text was
great in her kindness toward Gods
messenger. Elisha may have been q
stranger in that household, but as she
found out he had come on divine mis-
sion, he was cordially welcomed. We
have u great many books in our day
about the hardships of ministers and
the trials of Christian ministers.
wish somebody would write book
about the joys of the Christian minis
ter, about the sympathies all around
him, about the kindness, about the
genial considerations of him. Does
sorrow come to our home and is there
shadow on the cradle, there are hum
dreds of hands to help, and many who
weary not through the long night
watching, and hundreds of prayers
going up that God would restore the
sick. Is there burning, brimming
cup OF calamity placed on the pastors
table, are there not many to help him
drink of that cup and who will not be
comforted because he is stricken? o,
for somebody to write book about
the rewards of the Christian ministry
about the surroundings of Christian
sympathy. This woman of the text
was only type of thousands of men
and women who come down from the
mansion and from the cot to do kind
ness to the Lords servants. / suppose
the men of Shunem had to pay the
bills, but it was the large-hearted
Christian sympathies of the women of
Shunem that looked after the Lords
messengers
Again this woman in the text was
great in her behavior under trouble.
Her only son had died on her lap. A
very bright light went out in that
household. The sacred writer puts II
very tersely when he says: "He sat on
her knees until noon, and then he died"
Yet the writer goes on to say that she
exclaimed: at is wellr' 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 shoulders 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 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 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 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, writhing, boiling with the
agonies Of six thousand years! Etna
and Cotopaxi and Vesuvius 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 to
whelm the nations? o, If I could gath
er all the heartstrings, the broken
heartstrings, into harp would play
on 1t dirge such as was never sounded
Mythologists tell us of Gorgon and
Centsur and Titan, and geologists 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 1t 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: "Tt is welll
Though my property be gone, though |
my children be gone, though my home
be broken up, though my health be
sacrificed, It is well, It is wellp' There