The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1893-08-22

Oh Int DiStOT itDlc. UIt iiltIc loL ulduy
to help him drink of lhat cup and who
will lpt be comforted because he is
stricken? Oh. for somebody to write a
book about the rewards of the Christian
minstry-;lbout MS surroundings OF Chris
tian sympathy.
This woman of the text was only tpye
of thousands of men and women who come
down from the mansion and from the cot
to do kipdness to the Lords servants. l
suppose the men of Shunem had to pay the
bills but it was the large-heartd CHRISTIAN
sympn thies of the women of Shuncm 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.
very bright light went out in the household.
The sacred writer puts it very tersely
when he says: " He sat on her knees until
noon, and then died" Yet the writer goes
on to say that she exclaimed: ut is well.'
Great in prosperity, this womn was great
in trouble.
Where are the feet that have not been
blistered on the hot sands of this great Sa-
hara? Where are the shoulders thai have
not been bent under the burden of grief!
Where is the ship sailing over CLASSY sea
that has not after Il while been caught in
a 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 Mis-
sissirpi have been explored. but who can
tell the depth or length Of the great river
of sorrow made mp of tears and blood roll
ing through all lands and all ages. bearing
the wreck of families and communities and
of empires-foaming. writing, boiling with
4. Il To
paxi and NeSuyius have been described. but
who has ever SKctchcd the volcano of SUIT
fering reiching up from its depths the lava
and the S"ora and pouring them down
the sides to whelm the nations? Oh. If L
could gather all the heart strings,
the broken heartstrings into harp /
would play on it dirge such as was never
sounded.
Mythologists tell us of Gorgon and Cen
taur and Titan. and biologists tell us of
extinct species of monsters; but greater than
ftOrgon of Mega thereum, and not belonging
to the realm of fable. and not of an ex-
tinct species. is 4 monster with iron jaw
and iron hoofs walking across the nations,
and history anti poetry and sculpture in their
attempt to sketch it and describe it, have
sweat great drops of blood.
But. thank God, there are those who can
conquer this woman of the text con-
quered, and say, 1T is well, Though my
gone. though my home be broken up,
though my health be sacrficedit is well,
it is well!' 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 out of the northern sky, you
have sometimes seen the northern sky all
abaze with auroras that seem to say,
Gene up this way: up this way are thrones
of light and seas Of sapphire, and the
eplendor of an eternal heaven. Come up
his way
We may. Ike the ships. by tempest be tossed
Though Satan enrage the wind anddhe tide
The promise assures us. the Lord will
provide. ,es
| heard an echo of my text in a very
dark nour when my father lay dying and
the old country minister said to him: Mr..
Taimage. how do YOU feel now as you
about 10 pass the Jordan of DEATH" lie
replieG-and it was the last ling he ever
said Il feel well; ] feel very Well: I'll is
w6n' lifting his hand in a benediction.' Il
speechleSs henediction which | pray God
may 20 down through all the generations.
1t is well. OF course it is well.
Again. thls woman of my text. was
great in her application to domestic dur
ties. Every picture is home picture.
whether she Is entertaining an Elisha. or
whether she is giving careful attention to
her sick boy, or whether she is appealing
for the restoration of her property-eyery
picture in her eyes a home picture
Those are not disciples Of this Shunemite
woman, who, going out to attend to out
side charities, neglect the duty of home
the duty Of wife. of mother and daughter
No taithfulnrss in public benefaction can
ever atone for domestic negligence
There has been many mother who by
I.,i, t,,v,l1 IL
lily Of children, equipping them for the du-
ties of life with good manners and large
intelligence and Christian principle, start
ing them out. who has done more for the
world than many another woman whose
name has sounded through all the lands
and through all the centuries.
| remember when KosSuth was in tbis
country there was some ladies who got
reputation. honorable reputation BY pre-
Sentlng him very gracefully with bouquets
of flowers on public OCCASIONS but what
was all that compared with thes work of
the plain Hungarian mother who gave to
truth and civilization and the cause Of uni
versal libtrty Kossuth? Yes this woman
of my text was great in her simplicity.
w hen this 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. II
l.
family and my friends around me.
dwell among my own people" Oh. what a
rebuke to the strike for precedence III all
ages.
How many there are who want 10 get
great architecture, and homes furnished
with All art, all paintings all Statuary, who
have not enogh taste to distinguish be-
tweAn Gothic and Byzantine. and who
could not tell Il figure in plaster of paris
from Palmcr's white Captive" and
would NOT know Il boys penciling from
BerSa adt'S ''Yosmite.' 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 we'll as their
neighborS, or better than their ncighbors.
and in the struggle vast fortunes are eX-
haustcd and business firms thrown into
bankruptcy, and men of reputed honesty
rush into astounding forgeries.
OF course / say nothing against refine
ment or culture. Splendor of abode, sunni
tuousness of diet, layishness in art. neat
them in the Bible or out of the Bible
God does not want us to prefer mud hovel
to English cottage, or untanned sheepskin
to French broadcloth, or husks to pincap-
pie or lie clumslness of boor to the
manners of n gentleman. God, who strung
the beach with tinted shell, and the Grass
Of the field with the dcws of the niph1
and hath rXQusitely unwed morning cloud
and robin red breast, wants us to keen our
eye open 10 all beautiful cadences. and