The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1894-05-04

She fought for bread, for clothing, for
shelter, with aching head and weak
side and exhausted strength. through
the long night by the brook Jabbok.
Could it be that none would give her
help? Had God forgotten to be
gracious? Mol conteuding soul
The midnight air is full OF
wings, coming to the rescue.
She hears it now, in the sough of
the night wind, in the ripple of the
brook Jabbok-the promise made so
long ago ringing down the sky: "Thy
fatherless children, l will preserve
them alive; and let thy widows trust
in me!" Some one said to a very poor
woman, "How is it that in such dis
| tress you keep cheerful?' She said: 81
do it by what l call cross prayers.
When l had my rent to pay and moth
ing to pay it with, and bread to buy
and noting to buy it with. l used to sit
down and cry. But now l do not get
discouraged. If go along the street,
when come to a corner of the street
say: The Lord help me;' then go on
until come to another crossing of the
street, and again l say: The Lord help
me-! And SO | utter a prayer at every
crossing, ana since 1 have got into the
habit of saying these cross prayers l
have been able to keep up my courage. ="
Learn again from this subject that
people sometimes are surprised to find
out that what they have been strug-
Cling with in the darkness is really an
''angel of blessing" Jacob found in
! the morning that this strange person.
age was not an enemy, but God-dis-
patched messenger to promise prosper
ity for him and for his children. And
so many a man, at the close of his trial,
has found out that he has been trying
to throw down his own blessing. If you
are Christian man. l will go back in
your history and find that the grandest
things that have ever happened to you
have been your trials. Nothing short
of scourging, Imprisonment and ship
wreck could have made Paul what
he was. When David was fleeing
through the Wilderness pursued by his
own son. he was being prepared to be-
come the sweet singer of Israel. The
pit and the dungeon were the best
schools at which Joseph ever grad
uated The hurricane that upset the
tent and killed Jobs children prepared
the man of Uz to write the magnifi-
cent poem that has astounded the ages
There is no way to get the wheat out
of the straw but to thresh it. There
is no way to purify the gold but to
burn it. Look at the people who have
always had it their own way. They
are proud. discontented, useless and
unhappy. If you want to find
cheerful folks, go among those
who have been purified by the
fire. After Rossini had rendered
"William Tell" the five hundredth
time, a company of musicians came
under his window in Paris and sere-
naded him. They put upon his brow n
golden crown of laurel leaves. But,
amid all the applause and enthusiasm.
Rossini turned to friend and said: Il
would give all this brilliant scene for .
few days of youth and love" Contrast
the melancholy feeling of Rossini, who
had everything that this world could
give him. to the joyful experience of
Isaac Watts, whose misfortunes were
innumerable, when he says:
The Hill of Zion yields
A thousand sacred sweets,
Before we reach the heavenly fields,
Or walk the golden streets
Then let our songs abound,
And every tear be dry
We are marc hing through Immanuels ground,
To fairer worlds on high
1t is prosperity that kills, and trouble
that saves While the Israelites were
on the march, amid great privations
and hardships, they behaved we'll
After awhile they prayed for meat. and
the sky darkened with a great flock of
quails, and these quails fell in great
multitudes all about them; and the
Israelites ate and ate, and stuffed
themselves until they died. Oh. my
friends, it is not hardship, or trial, or
starvation that Injuries the soul, but
abundant supply. 1t is not the vulture
of trouble that eats up the Christian
life; it is the quails. 1t is the quailsl
You will yet find out that your mid
night wrestle by the brook Jabbok is
with an angel of God, come down to
bless and save.
Learn again that, while our wrest-
ling with trouble may be triumphant,
we must expect that it will leave its
mark upon us. Jacob prevailed, but
the angel touched him. and his thigh
bone sprang from its socket, and the
good man went limping on his way.
We must carry through this world the
mark of the combat. What plowed
those premature wrinkles in your face?
What whitened your hair before it was
time for froste What silenced forever
so much of the hilarity of your house
hold? All! it is because the angel of
trouble hath touched you that you go
limping on your way. You need not
be surprised that those who have
passed through the fire DO not feel as
gay as once they did
Do not be out of patience with those
who come not out of their despond-
ency. They may triumph over their
loss, and yet their gait shall tell you
| that they have been trouble-touched.
Are we stoics, that we can, unmoved,
see our cradle rified of the bright eyes
| and the sweet lips? Can we stand
unmoved and see our gardens of earth
| ly delight uprooted? VIII Jesus, who
wept himself, be angry with US if we
pour our tears into the graves that open
| to swallow down what we love best?
Was. Lazarus more dear to him than
our beloved dead to us. No We
have a right to weep. Our tears
must come. You shall not drive them
back to scald the heart They fall into
| Gods bottle. Affi icted ones have died
because they could not weep Thank
God for the sweet. the mysterious re-