Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1894-10-11

more grace, to make such an one the
| right kind of Christian. He who a,
40 years loves a parent must reel under
the blow. Even down to old age mer
are accustomed to rely upon the coun
sci, or be powerfully influenced by the
advice of parents, if they are still
alive. But how much greater the be
reavement when it comes in early life
| before the character is Self-reliant, and
when naturally the heart is unsophisti
Gated and easily tempted.
And yet behold what nobility Oh
disposition Hadassah exhibited Though
father and mother were gone, grace
had triumphed over all disadvantages.
! Her willingness to self-sacrifce; her
control over the king; her humility;
her faithful worship of God, shows her
| to have been one of the best OF the
worlds Christians
There arc those who did not
| enjoy remarkable early privileges.
| Perhaps, like the beautiful cap
| tive of the text, you were
an orphan. You had huge sorrows in
your little heart. You sometimes wept
in the night when you knew not what
was the matter. You felt sad some
times even on the playground. Your
father or mother did not stand in the
door to welcome you when you came
home from long journey. You still
feel the effect of early disadvantages,
and you have sometimes offered
them as reason for your not
being as thoroughly religious as
you would like to be. But these
excuses are not sufficient. Gods grace
will triumph if you seek it. He knows
what obstacles you have fought against
and the more trial the more help.
After all, there are no orphans in the
world, for the great God is the Father
of us all.
Again, our subject is an illustration
of what religion may be under the
pressure of poverty. The captivity and
crushed condition of this orphan girl,
and of the kind man who adopted her,
suggest condition of poverty.
Yet, from the very first acquaint-
ance we had with Hadassah we
find her the same happy and contented
Christian. 1t was only by compulsion
she was afterwards taken into sphere
of honor and affluence. In the humble
home of Mordecai, her adopted father,
she was light that illumined every
privation. In some period in almost
every mans life there comes a season
of Strengthened circumstances when
the severest calculation and most scrap
ing economy are necessary in
order to subsistence and respect
ability. At the commencement
of business, at the entrance
upon profession, whom friends are
few and the world is afraid of you be-
cause there is possibility of failure,
many of the noblest hearts have strug-
gled against poverty, and are now
struggling. To such l bear message
of good cheer. You say it is hard
thing for you to be Christian. This
constant anxiety, this unresting calcu-
lation, wear out the buoyancy of your
spirit, and although you have told
perhaps no one about it, can not
/ tell that this is the very trouble
which keeps you from being what
you ought to be? You have no time
to thiak about laying up treasures in
heaven when it is a matter of great
doubt whether you will be enabled to
pay your next quarters rent. You can
not think of striving after robe of
Righteousness until you can get means
enough to buy an overcOat to keep out
the cold. You want the bread of life,
but you think you must get along
without that until you can buy another
barrel of -four for your wife and chill
dren. Sometimes, you sit down
discouraged and almost wish you
were dead. Christians in satin slippers,
with their feet on damask ottoman,
may scout at such class of tempta-
tions, but those who themselves have
been in the struggle and grip of hard
misfortune, can appreciate the power
of these evils to dissuade the soul away
from religious duties. We admit the
strength of the temptation, but then
we point to Hadassah. her poverty
equaled by her piety. Courage down
there III the battle! Hurl away your
disappointment! Men of half your
heart have, through Christ, been more
than conquerors. In the name of
God, come out of that! The religion
of Christ is just what you want out
there among the empty flour barrels
and beside the cold hearthS. You have
never told any one of what a hard time
you have had, but God knows it as well
as you know it. Your easy times will
come after awhile. Do not let your
spirits break down mid life. What if
your coat is thin? Run fast enough to
keep warm. What if you have no lux
uries on your table? High expectations
will make your blood Jingle better
than the best Madeira. If you can
not afford to smoke, you can afford
to whistle. But merely animal
spirits are not sufficient; the power of
the gospel--that is what you want to
wrench despair out of the soul and put
you forward into the front of the hosts,
encased in impenetrable armor. 1t
does not require extravagant ward
robe, and palatial residence, and dash
ing equipage to make a man rich. The
heart right the estate is right. new
heart is worth the worlds wealth in
one role of bank bills; worth all scep-