The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1897-06-18

BILE at the last Oh, how many have
experienced it!
Are there here those whO are voteries
of pleasure? Let NE warn you. my
brother. Your pleasure boat is
/ far from shore, and your summer day
is ending roughly. for the winds and
/ the waves are loud-voiced. and the
overcoming clouds are all awrithe and
/ agleam with terror. You are past the
/ "Narrows." and almost outside the
Hook" and if the Atlantic take thee,
/ frail mortal, thou shall never get to
shore again. Put back. row swiftly,
| swifter, swifter. Jesus from the shore
/ casteth rope. Clasp it quickly. now
or never. All. are there not some of
/ you who are freighting all your
loves and joys and hopes upon
vessel which shall never reach
/ the port of Heaven? Thou near
est the breakers. One heave upon the
rocks Oh. what an awful crash was
that! Another lunge may crush thee
beneath the spars or grind thy bones
| to powder amid the torn timbers.
Overheard for your life, overheard!
| Trust not that loose plank nor attempt
the wave, but quickly clasp the feet of
Jesus walking on the watery pavement,
shouting until He hear thee: Lord,
save me, or l perish Sin beautiful
at the start-oh, how sad, how dis
tressful at the last, The ground over
which it leads you is hollow. The
fruit ii offers to your taste is poison.
The promise it makes to you is a lie.
Over that ungodley banquet the keen
sword of Gods Judgment hangs. and
there are ominOus handwritings on the
walls.
Observe also in this subject how re-
polling sin is when appended to great
attractiveness. Since Ewes death
there has been no such perfection of
womanhood. You could not suggest
an attractiveness to the body or sug-
gest any refinement to the manner.
You could add no gracefulness to the
gait, no luster to the eve, no sweet
ness to the voice. A perfect God made
her perfect woman, to be the COM
paniOn of perfect man in a perfect
home, and her entire nature vibrated
in accord with the beauty and song of
Paradise. But she rebelled against
Gods government, and with the same
hand with which she plucked the fruit
she launched upon the world the
crimes, the wars, the tumults that
have set the universe awaiting.
A terrible offset to all her attractive
ness. We are not surprised when we
find men and women naturally vulgar
going into transgression. We expect
that people who live in the ditch shall
have the manners of the ditch; but
how shocking when we find sin ap-
pended to superior education and to
the refinements of social life! The ae-
cOmplishments of Mary Queen of Scots
make her patronage of Darnley, the
prOhigate, the more appalling. The
genius of Catherine III. of Russia only
sets forth in more powerful contrast
her unappeasable ambition. The trans
latiOns from the Greek and the Latin
by Elizabeth, and her wonderful quail
ificatiOns for queen, make the more
disgusting her capriciOusness of affec-
ton and her holiness of temper. The
greatness of ByrOn's mind makes the
more alarming Byron's sensuaity.
Let no one think that refinement Of
manner or exquisiteness of taste or
superiority of education can in any
wise apologize for ill-temper, for an
oppressive spirit, for unkindness, for
any kind of sin.
Ny subject also impresses me with
the regal influence of woman. When
l see Eve with this powerful influence
over Adam and over the generations
that have followed, it suggests TO me
the great power all women have
for good or for evil. / have no
sympathy, nor have you. with
the hollow batteries shOwered up
on woman from the platform and
the stage. They mean nothing; they
are accepted as nothing Woman's
nobility consists in the exercise of a
Christian influence; and when l see this
powerful influence of Eve upon her
husband and upon the whole human
race / make up my mind that the fraiI
arm of woman can strike blow which
will resound through all eternity down
among the dungeons or up among the
thrones.
OF course, l am not speaking Of rep
resentative women-Of Eve. who
ruined the race by one fruit-picking;
Of Joel. who drove spike through the
head of Sisera the warrior: of Esther.
who overcame royalty; OF Abigail. who
stopped host by her own beautiful
prowess; of Mary, who nurSed the
worlds Saviour; of Grandmother Lois,
immortalized in her grandson Tim
9thy; of Charlotte COrday, who drove
the dagger through the heart of the
assassin of her lover, or of Marie An
toinette, who by one look from the
balcony of her castle quoted a mob,
her own scaffold the throne of forgive
ness and womanly courage. speak
not of these extraordinary persons, but
Of those who, unambitious for political
power, as wives and mothers and sis
tiers and daughters, attend 70 the thou
sand sweet offices of home.
When at last we come to calculate
the forces that decided the destiny of
nations it viii be found that the
and grandest influence came
from home, where the wife cheered up