The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-04-26

: y
| hour But they are always asleep when
the sun Is going down, Job had plenty
| or friends when he was the richest man In
"; but when his property went and the
| trials came. then there were none so much
that pestered as Ellphaz the Temanite,
and Bildad the Shuttle, and Zophar the
! Naamathite
Life often seems TO be a mere game,
! where the successful player pulls down all
| the other men into his own lap. Let sus-
| picion arise about mans character. and
! he becomes like a bank in a panic, and all
! the tmputations rush on him and break
/ down in day that character which in due
time would have had strength to defend
| itself. There are regulations that have
! been half century in building which go
| down under one push, as vast temple is
! consumed by the touch of a sulphurous
match. A hog can uproot century plant.
In this world so full of heartlessness
and hypocrisy, how thrilling it is to find
some friend as faithful in days of adj
versity as in days Of prosperity? David
| had such friend in Hushai the Jews had
such a friend in Mordecai, who never for
got their cause; Paul had such friend in
| Onesiphorus, who visited him in Jail Christ
| had such in the Marys, who adhered to
| him on the cross; Naomi had such a one
! in Ruth, who cried out: "Entreat me not
| to leave thee, or TO return from following
| after thee; for whittier thou goest, l will
| go, and Wther thou lodgest i will lodge
thy people shall be my people, and thy
God my God: where thou diest will 1 die,
and there will l be buried; the Lord do so
to me, and more also, if aught but death
part thee and me-
Again l learn from this subject that
paths which open in hardship and dark
| ness often come out in places of joy. When
| Ruth started from Moab toward Jerusa-
| lem, to go along with her mother-in-law,
1 suppose the people said: "Oh. what a
foolish creature to 90 away from her ia
TIERS house, to go off with a poor old
woman toward the land of JUDAH They
won't live to get across the desert. They
| viii be drowned in the sea, or the jackals
| of the wilderness will destroy them" 1t
| was a very dark morning when Ruth
started off with Naomi; but behold her in
my text in the harvest-field of Boaz, to be
| affanced to one of the lords of the land,
and become one of the grandmothers of
Jesus Christ the Lord of glory And so
| it often is that a path which often starts
very darkly ends very brightly.
When you started out for heaven, oh,
| how dark was the hour of conViction-how
Sinai Numbered, and devils tormented,
and the darkness thickenedl All the sins
of your life pounced upon you. and it was
the darkest hour you ever saw when you
first found out your sins After awhile you
went into the harVest-field of Gods mer-
cy; you began to CLEAN in the fields of di-
vine promise, and you had more sheaves
than you could carry, as the voice of God
addressed you, saying: BLESSED is the man
| whose transgressions are forgiven ana
whose sins are covered" A very dark
| starting in conviction, a very bright end
| ing in the pardon and the hope and the
| triumph of the Gospel!
So, very often in our worldly business
or in our spiritual career, we1start'off on a
very dark path. We must go. The flesh
| may shrink back, but there is a voice
within, or a voice from above, saying,
You must go;' and we have to drink the
| gall and we have to carry the cross, and
we have to traverse the desert and we are
pounded and failed of Misrepresentation
and abuse, and we have to urge our way
| through ten thousand obstacles that have
been slain by our own right arm. We
| have to ford the river, we have to climb
the mountain, we have to storm the cas-
! tie; but, blessed be God, the day of rest
| and reward will come. On the tiD-top of
! the captured battlements we will shout
| the victory; If not in this world then in
| that world where there is no gall to drink,
/ no burdens to carry, no battles to fight
! How do l know it2 Know 1t. / know II
| 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 in the midst of the
| throne shall lead them to living fountains
of water. and God shall wipe all tears
| from their eyes"
II was very hard for Noah to endure
the soothing of the people in his day, while
\ he was trying TO build the ark, and was
| every morning quizzed about his old boa
| that would never be Of any practical use
| but when the deluge came, and the tops
| of the mountains disappeared like the
| backs of monsters, and the elements
aNa - hot. l.n FaIa
| over a drowned world, then Moan IN the
ark rejoiced in his own safety and in th'
safety of his family, and looked out on tn,
| wreck of a ruined earth.
Christ, bounded of prosecutors, denied
| a pillow worse maltreated than thu
| thieves on either side of the cross, hu
| man hate smaeking its lips in satisfaction
after IL had been draining his last drop o.
blood. the sheeted dead bursting from TIN
sepulchres at his crucfXion. Tell me,
| Gethsemane and Golgotha, were there eve
darker times than those? Like the boom
ing of the midnight sea against the rock
the surges of Christ's anguish beat agains
the gates of eternity, TO be echoed bael
| by all the thrones of heaven and all thu
dungeons of hell. But the day of re
ward comes for Christ; all the pomp anC
dominion of this world are TO be hung OF
his throne crowned heads are to bow be
fore him on whose head are many crowns
and ali the celestial worship is TO come VI
at his feet, like the humming of the for
est, like the rushing of the waters, like
the laundering of the seas while all heav
en-, rising on their thrones, beat time will
their sceptres: "Hallelujah, for the Lore
God omnipotent reigneth."
That song Of love, now low and far
Ere long shall swell from star TO star;
That light. the breaking day which tip
The golden-spired Apocalypse.
Again I learn from my subject tina
events which seem to be most insignih
cant may be momentous. Can you i'm
agine anything more unimportant thai
the coming of poor woman from Moab 4
Judah? Can you imagine anything NOR
trivial than the fact that this Ruth jus
happened TO alight-as they say-just hap
pened TO ahght on that field of Boaz? Ye
all ages all generations. have an interes
in the fact that she was to become an an
cestress of the Lord Jesus Christ. and al
nations and Kingdoms must look at tina
one little incident with "A thrill OF un
speakable and eternal satisfaction. SO /
Is IN your history and In mine events tina
you thought OF no Importance at an. hav
been Of very great moment That casua