The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1895-10-18

mother and the worldr' But this
was an inward struggle. The father
controls his feelings and looks einto
his sons face, and says: Isaac, must
tell you alp" His son said: "Yes,
father, | thought You had something
on your mind; tell it" The father
said: MY son, Isaac, thou art the
lambT' oh" you say, why don't
that young man, if he was 20 or 30
years of age, smite into the dust his
infirm father? He could have done it. I"
All! Isaac knew by this time that the
same was typical of Messiah who was
to come, and so he made no struggle.
They fell on each others necks, and
walled out the parting. Awful and
matchless scene of the wilderness. The
rocks cho back the breaking of their
hearts. The cry: My son. my sonr'
The answer: MY father! nv fatherr'
Do not compare this, as some people
have, to Agamemnon, willing to offer
up his daughter, Iphigenia, to please
the gods. There is nothing compare
BILE to this wonderful obedie nee to the
true God. You know that victims for
they might not struggle away. Raw
lings, the martyr, when he was dying
for Christ's sake. said to the black
smith who held the manacles: 'Fasten
those chains tight now, for my flesh
may struggle nightly" So Isaac's
arms are fastened, his feet are tied.
The old man, rallying all his
strength, lifts him onto a pile of
wood. There is the lamp flicker
ing in the wind, ready to be put
under the brushwood of the altar.
There is the knife, sharp and keen.
Misunderstanding with his mortal
feelings on the one side and the COM
mands of God on the other takes that
knife, rubs the fat of it on the palm
of his hand, cries to God for help,
comes up to the side of the altar, puts
parting kiss on the brow of his boy,
takes a message from him for mother
and home, and then, lifting the glitter
ing weapon for the plunge of the
death-stroke-his muscles knitting
for the work-the hand begins to
descend. 1t falls! Not on the heart
of Isaac, but on the arm of God, who
arrests the stroke, making the wilder
ness quake with the cry: Abraham!
Abraham! lay not thy hand upon the
lad, nor do him any harmr'
What is this sound back in the woods!
1t is cracking as of tree branches, a
-bleating and a struggle. Go, Abra-
ham, and see what it is. Oh, it was a
ram that, going through the woods,
has its crooked horns fastened and en-
tangled in the brushwood, and could
not get loose; and Abraham seizes it
gladly, and quickly unloosens Isaac
from the altar, puts the ram on in his
place, sets the lamp under the brush
wood of the altar, and as the dense
smoke of the sacrifice begins to rise,
the blood rolls down the sides of the
altar, and drops kissing into the fire,
and l hear the words: Behold the
Lamb of God who takes away the sins
of the world"
Well, what are you going to get out
of this? There is an aged minister of
the gospel. He says: Il should get
out of it that when God tells you to do
thing, whether it seems reasonable
to you or not, go ahead and do it.
Here Abraham couldn't have been mis-
taken. God didn't speak so indistinct-
lv that it was uncertain whether he
called Sarah or Abimelech, or some
body else; but with divine articulation,
divine intonation, di.ine emphasis, He
said: Abraham Abraham rushed
blindly ahead to do his duty, knowing
that things would come out right
Likewise do so yourselves"
There is a mystery of your life.
There is some burden you have to
carry. You don't know why God has
put it on you. There is some persecu-
ton, some trial, and you don't know
why God allows it. There is a work
for you to do, and you have not enough
grace. YOU think, to do it. Do as Abra-
ham did. BE willing to give up Isaac,
and perhaps you will not have to give
up anything. "Jehovah-jireh the
Lord will provide"
Out yonder. in this house, is an aged
woman; the light of Heaven in her
face, she is half way through the door;
she has her hand on the pearl of the
gate. Mother, what would you get
out of this subject? ''Oh," she says,
Il would learn that it is in the last
pinch that God comes to the relief.
You see the altar was ready, and Isaac
was fastened on it, and the knife was
lifted: and just at the last moment
God broke in and stopped proceedings
So it has been in my life of
seventy years. Why, sir, there
was a time when the flour was
all out of the house; and l set
the table at noon and had nothing to
put on it: but five minutes of l o'clock
a loaf of bread came. The Lord will
provide. My son was very sick, and
l said: Dear Lord, you don't mean to
take him away from me, do you?
Please, Lord, don't take him away.
Why, there are neighbors who have
three or four sons; this is my only son;
this is my Isaac. Lord, you won't take
him away from me, will you? But l
saw he was getting worse and worse
all the time; and turned round and
prayed until after awhile l felt sub
missive, and l could say: Thy will, o
Lord, be doner The doctors gave him
up, and all gave him up. And, as was
the custom in those times, we had
made the grave clothes, and we
were whispering about the last ezer-
cises, when l looked, and l saw some
perspiration on his brow, showing that
the fever had broken. and he spoke to
US so naturally that | knew he was
going to get we'll He did get well,
and nv son Isaac, whom / thought
was going to be slain and consumed of
disease, was loosened from that altar.
And bless your souls, that's been SO
for Sevantv wars and If I could Sae