Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1897-04-26

after the foreign ar1StOcraCloS that have
Knocked and tyrannies that have jeered,
shall be swept down under the omnipS-
tent wrath of God, who hates despotism
and who, by the strength of his own red
right arm, will make all men free. And
SO it is individually, and in the family,
and in the church, and in the world,
that through darkness and storm and
trouble men, women, churches, nations,
are developed.
Faithful Friends.
Again, I see in my text the beauty Of
nnfaltering friendship. l suppose there
were plenty of friends for Naomi while
she was in prosperity, but of all her ac-
quaintances how many were willing to
trudge off with her toward Judah, when
she had to make that lonely journey?
i One-the heroine of my text. One-ab-
solutely one I suppose when Naomi's
husband was living, and they had plen-
ty of money, and all things went well,
they had great many callers, but /
suppose that after her husband died,
and her property went, and she got old
and poor, she was not troubled very
much with callers. All the birds that
sung in the bower while the sun shone
have gone to their nests now the night
has fallen.
Oh, these beautiful sunhowers that
spread out their color in the morning
hour! But they are always asleep when
the sun is going down. Job had plenty
of friends when he was the richest man
in W, but when his property went and
the trials came then there were none so
much that pestered as Eliphaz the Te-
mantle, and Bildad the Shuttle, and
Zophar the Naamathite.
Life often seems to be mere game,
where the successful player pulls down
all the other men into his own lap. Let
suspicious arise about a mans charac-
ter, and he becomes like bank in a
panic, and all the imputations rush on
him and break down i'll a 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 con-
sumed by the touch of a sulphurous
match. A hog can uprOOt a century
plant.
In this world, so full of heartlessness
and hypocrisy, how thrilling it is to
find some friend as faithful in days Of
adversely as in days of prosperity? Da-
vid had such friend in Hushai; the
Jews had such a friend in Mordecai
who never forgot their cause; Paul had
such friend in Onesiphorus, who Wis
tied him i'll Jail; Christ had such in the
Marys, who adhered to him on the
cross; Noami 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 I will go,
and whittier thou lodgest / will lodge.
Thy people shall be my people, and thy
God my God. Where thou diest will I
die, and there will I be buried. The
Lord do SO to me, and more also, if
aught but death part thee and me-. )"
After Storm. Sunshine.
Again, learn from this subject that
paths which open in hardship and dark
ness often come out III places of joy.
When Ruth started from Moab toward
Jerusalem to go along with her mother
in law, 1 suppose the people said: ''Oh,
what foolish creature to go away from
her fathers house; to go off with poor
old woman toward the land of Judah!
They won't live to get across the desert.
They will be drowned in the sea, or the
jackals of the wilderness will destroy
them. - It 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 affianced 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
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 tor
mented and the darkness thickened! All
the sins of your life bounced 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 mercy. You began to
CLEAN in the fields of divine promise and
you had more sheaves than you could
carry as the voice of God addressed you
saying, blessed is the man whose trans
gression are forgiven and whose sins are
covered" A very dark starting in con-
viction, a very bright ending in the par
don and the hope and the triumph of
the gospel!
So, very often in our worldly business
or in our spiritual career we start 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 CO. 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 10000
obstacles that have been slain by our
own right arm. We have to ford the
river we have TO clirnh the mountain