The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1897-05-05

,,a.,,, o. woman i2Taryl the lalU OF Judah,
They waQtGye to &C; across the desert
TGcr WI, &c drowned il the sea or the jack
ais o. the wilderness vii destroy them. Il
WAS a very G4.I, morning when Gu,h started
OF with Naomi. hU' behold her in my text IN
he hayve fed Of Boaz. 10 be atIianced to
one OF the lo.,iS ot the land ana become one
Of the granimoJhers OF Jesus Christ, the
Lorl, Q: glory And so i often is that path
which often starts very darkly ends very
brightly.
When You started out tor heaven Oh, how
dark was the hoar oEconvic:ion How Sinai
thuudereG, and devils tormented, and the
darkueSs thickened All the sins OF your
life pouGced upon you, and 1t vas the dark
est hot vcI ever saw when you first found
OUT your Sius After awhile you went into
the harvest FIELD otGoi.S mercy You be-
can = CLEAN in the fields o: divine promise.
ana YoU had more shcaves than you could
carry, as the voice Of God addressed you,
saying. Blessed is the man whose trangres-
s;ons are forgiven and whose sins are COW
cred. i very dark starting III conviction,
a very bright ending IN the pardon and the
hope and the triumph oithe gospel.
So very often in our worldly business or
in our spiritual career We start OF on very
dark path. We mast 60. The flesh may
shrink back. bu; there is voice within. or
q voice from a5ore. saying. ''A on must go,
and we have to drink the gall. and We have
10 carrv the cross. and We have 10 traverse
the desert, and We are pounded and failed
Of misrepresentation anu abuse. and we have
10 urge our way through 10000 obstacles
that have been slain by our own right arm.
We have TO torti the river. we have 10 climb
the mountain. We have 10 storm the castle:
6ut. blessed be God the day of rest and r. !.
ward viii come On the tiptop Of the cap
urel ba,tlements we will shout the victory,
# not in this world then in that world where
there IS no gall 70 drink, nc burdens to car
~, no battles to fight. How do l know it?
Know it. | know i: because God says so,
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst
any more, neither shall the sun light on
them, nor any heat, for the Lamb which is
iu the midst Of the throne shall lead them to
living fountains OF water, and God shall wipe
ell tears from their eyes.
1t was very hard for Noah to erdure the
scotting .: the people in his day, while he
was trying to build the ark, and was every
morning quizzed about his old boat thar
would never be Of any practical use. But
when the deiuge came and the tops of the
mountains disappeared like the backs OF sea
monsters, and the elements, lsshed up in
fury, c!apped their hands over drowned
world, then Noah in the ark rejoiced in his
own safety and IN the safety of his family,
and looked out on the wreck OF ruined
earth.
Christ, bounded Of prosecutors, denied a
pillow. worse maltreated than the thieves or
either side OF the cross. human hate smack
inc its lips in satisfaction after It had been
draining his last drop Of blood. the sheeted
dead bursting from the se2ulchres at his
cruciGxion Tell me. 0 Gethsemane and
Golgotha. were there ever darker times than
those? Like ;Ge booming OF the midnight
sea against The rock, the surges OF Christ S
anguish beat against the gates of eternity,
10 be echoed back by all the thrones OF
heaven and all the dungeons of hell. But
the day of reward comes for Christ. AL the
pomp and dominion Of this world are TO be
hung on his throne, crowned heads are to
bow before him on whose head are many
crowns, and all the celestial worship is to
come up at his feet, like the humming Of the
forest, ike the rushing Of the waters, like
the laundering OF the seas, while all heaven,
rising on their thrones, beat time with their
scepters, "Halleluiah, for the Lord God on
nipotent re;gpeth." :"
That sonc Of love, now low and far,
Ere ,v1s shall swell from star to star:
That light. the breaking day which tips
The golden spired apocalypse.
Again, learn from my subject that events
which seem to be most Insignificant may be
mCmentous. Can you imagine anything
more Uniuportant than the coming Of a poor
woman from Moab TO Judah? Can you i'm.
agine anything more trivial than the fact
that this Ruth just happened to eGght-as
they say-just happened to alight on that
field of Boaz? Yet all ages, all generations,
have an interest in the fact that she was to
become an anceStress of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and all nations and kingdoms must
look at that one little incident with thrill
Of U1speakable and eternal satisfaction. So
it is in your history and in mine, events that
you thought Of no Importance at all have
been Of very great moa.cnt. That casual con-
versation; that accidental meeting-you did
not think Of it again for long while. But
how it changed al the phases of your life.
Il seemed 20 be of 70 importance that Ju-
bal invented rude Instruments Of music,
calling them harp and organ, but they were
the introduction Of all the worlds minstrel
81, and as you hear the vibration Of a string
ed instrument. even after the fingers have
been taken away from it, so all music now
of lutte and drum and corret is only the long
continued strains ofJubaps harp and Jubars
organ. II seemed to be o matter of very lit
tie importance that Jubal Cain learned the
uses Of copper and iron, but that rude foun-
dry of ancient days has its echo in the rat
tic of Birmingham machinery and the roar
and bang Of factories on the Merrimac.
II seemed TO be matter Of no importance
that Luther found Bible in monastery,
but as be opened that Bible and the brass
bound lids fell back they Jared everything,
and the ruStling Of the wormed leaves was
the sound Of the wings Of the angel Of the
reformation. 1t seemed to be a matter Of no
Importance that woman whose name has
been forgotten dropped a tract in the way CT
bad man by the name Of Richard Baxter.
He picked UP the tract and read it, and !;
was the means of his salvation. In after
days that man wrote book called The
Call TO the Unconverted," that was the
means of bringing multitude to Goo, among
others Philip Doddridge wrote book called
'.The Rise and Progress Of Religion which
hes brought thousands and tens ofthousands
into the Kingdom Of God. and among Others
the great Wiibertorce. Nil5eriorce wrote q
book called - Practical View of Christian
ity, which was the means Of bringing q
great multitude to Christ. among others
Legh Richmond Legh Richmond wrote a
tract called The Dairyman's Daughter,
which h&s been the means 0: salvation Of uu
converted multitudes. And that tide Of IL
fuences started from the fact that one Chris
tan woman dropped q Christian tract in the