The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1896-01-24

|
with a power that left him nervously
exhausted. Five hundred people may
have been blessed by it, and resolved
upon a higher life and nObler pur-
poses Yet all he hears IS the clank
of the pew door. or the Shuffling OF
feet in the aisle, or some remark about
the weather, the last resort of IMAM
ity. Why did not that man come up
and say frankly: You have done me
good9'' Why did not some woman
come up and saw: Il shall go home
and take up the burden of life more
cheerfully?@ Why did not some pro-
fessional man say: THANK you, DOM
inie, for that good advice. l will take
it. God bless you?''
But to make up for this lack of out
spoken religion there needs to be and
will be Great Day, when amid the
solemnities and grandeurs of a listen
| ing universe God will ''say So" No
statistics can state how many mothers
have rocked cradles and lowered over
infantile sicknesseS and brought up
| their families to manhood and woman
hood, and launched them upon useful
and successful lives, and yet never re-
ceived one thank You" that amounted
| to anything.
There are men to whom life in
grand and conflict, hereditary ten
denotes to be overcome, accidental en-
vironments to be endured, appalling
opposition to be met and conquered,
and they never so much as had a rose
Nil 70 hni in aAu
ton. They never had song dedi-
Gated to their name. They never had
book presented to them with q COM
plimentary word on the fly leaf All
they have to show for their lifetime
battle is scars. But in the Last Day
the story will come out, and that life
will be put in holy and transcendent
rhythm, and their courage and persist
ence and faith and victory will not
only be announced, but rewarded.
"These are they that came out of great
tribulstion and had their robes washed
and made white in the blood of the
Lamb" God will say so.
We miss one of the chief ideas of .
last judgment We put into the picture
the fire, and the smoke, and the earth
quake, and the descending angels, and
the uprising dead, but we omit to put
into the picture that which makes the
Last Judgment a magnificent oppor-
tunity. We omit the fact that it is to
be day of glorious explanation and
commentator. The first justice that
millions of unrewarded, and unrecog-
nized and unappreciated men and
women get will be on that day, when
services that never called forth so much
as a newspaper line of finest pearl
or diamond type, as the printers
term it, shall be called up for
coronation. That will be the day
of enforcement for those whom
the world called Melodies" Joshua,
who commanded the sun and moon to
stand still, needs no Last Judgment to
get Justice done him, but those men do
need a Last Judgment who at times,
in all armies, under the most violent
assault, in obedience to command,
themselves stood still. Deborah, who
encouraged Barak to bravery in battle
against the Oppressors of Israel, needs
no Last Judgment to get justice done
her, for thousands of years have
clapped her applause. But the wives
who in all ages have encouraged their
husbands in the battle of life,
women whose names were hardly
known beyond the next street
or the next farm house, must
have God say to them: You did we'll!
You did gloriously! l saw you down in
that dairy. 1 watched you in the old
farm house, mending those children's
clothes. heard what you said in the
way of cheer when the breadwinner of
the household was in despair. l re-
member all the sick cradles you have
sung to. 1 remember the backaches,
the headaches, the heartaches. | know
the story of your knitting needles as
well as l know the story of the queens
scepter. Your castle of the heavenly
hill is all ready for you. Go up and
take itr' And turning the surprised
of Heaven, He will say,
''She did what she could" God will
say so.
And now / close with giving you my
own personal testimony, for l must not
enjoin upon others that which / de-
cline myself to do. Born at Bound
brook, n. J., of a parentage as pious
as the world ever saw, | attest before
earth and Heaven that / have always
felt the elevating and restraining in
fuence of having had good father and
a good mother, and if am able to do
half as we'll for my children as the old
folks did for me will be thankful for
ever. The years of my life passed
on until, at about IS years of age,
felt the pressure of eternal
realities, and after prayer and re-
ligious counsel 1 passed into what
l took to be saved state, and joined
the church, and attest before earth
and Heaven that / have found it .
most helpful and aspiring association.
For the cheer of younger men in all
departments, let me say you will come
out all right if you mind your own
business and are patient. The assault
of the world is being rubbed down by
a rough Turkish towel, and it improves
the circulation and makes one more
vigorous While the future holds for
me many mysteries which l do not