The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-05-12
When you started out for heaven, on, how

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 transgresstons are
forgiven and whose sins are covered" A
very dark starting in conviction, very
bright ending In the pardon and the hope
and the triumph OF the gospel!
So, very often In our worldly business or
In our spiritual career we start of on very
dark path. We must 60. The flesh may
shrink back, but thereis voice within, or
voice from above, saying. "You must 60"
And we have to drink the gall, and we have
to carry the cross. and we have to traverse
the desert, aud we are pounded and failed
OF Misrepresentation and abuse, and We have
to urge our way through 10000 obstacles
that havo been slain by our own right arm.
We have to ford the river. we have to climb
| the mountain. we have to storm the castle.
| but, blessed be God, the day Of rest and re-
ward will come. On the tin top OF the cap
| tured battlements we will shout the victory:
| IL 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 know it2 Know
| It! I knowit 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"
1t WAS very hard for Noah to endure the
scofing OF the people in his day, while he
was trying to build the ark and was everv
morning quIzzed about his old boat that
would never lie OF any practical use; but
when the deluge came and the tops Of the
monsters, and the elements, lashed up in
| fury, clapped their hands over a 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 on
either side Of the cross, human hate smack.
ing Its lips in satisfaction after it had been
draining its last drop of blood. the sheeted
dead bursting from the sepulchers at His
crucifxion! Tell me, o Gethsemane and
| Golgotha, were there ever darker times than
those? Like the booming OF the midnight
sea against the rock, the surges OF Chr1st's
anguish beat against the gates OF eternity, to
be echoed back by all the thrones OF heaven
and all the dungeons of hell. But the day
OF reward comes for Christ. All the pomp
and dominion of this world are to be hung
on His throne, crowned heads are to bow be-
| fore 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, like
the rushing OF the waters, like the thunder
ing OF the seas, while all heaven, rising on
| their thrones. beat time with their scepters,
"Halleluiah, for the Lord 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 tips
The golden spired Apocalypse.
Again, learn from my subject that events
which seem to be most insignificant may be
momentous. Car you imagine. anything
more unimportant than the coming OF poor
woman from Moab to Judah2 Can you
imagine anything more trivial than the fact
that this Ruth just happened to alight-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 unspeakable 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 moment. That
casual conversation, that accidental meet
ing-you did not think OF 1t again for long
while. but how 1t changed all the phases OF
your life.
1t seemed to be of no importance that
Juba Invented rude instruments OF music,
calling them harp and organs, but they were
the introduction of all the worlds minstrelsy,
and as you hear the vibration of stringed
instrument, even after the fingers have been
taken away from it, so all music now OF lutte
and drum and cornet is only the long con-
tinued strains Of Jubal's harp and Jubal's
organ. It seemed to be a matter OF very lit
tie importance that Tubal Cain learned the
| uses OF copper and iron, but that rude foun-
dry OF ancient days has its echo In the rattle
OF Birmingham machinery and the roar and
bang Of factories on the Merrimac.
It seemed to be n matter Of no Importance
that Luther found Bible in n monastery,
but as he 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 matter OF no
| importance that q woman whose name has
teen forgotten dropped tract in the way OF
very bad man of the name of Richard Bax-
ter He picked up the tract and read 1t. and
it 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 a multitude to God, among
others Phillip Doddridge. Philip Doddridge
wrote book called "The Rise and Pro-
gress OF Religion" which has brought
|
into the kingdom o: God and among others
the great Wilberforce. Wilberforce wrote
book called IA Practical View of Christian
itv." which was the means of bringing
| great multitude to Christ, among others
| Leigh Richmond. Leigh Richmond wrote
| tract called "The Dairyman's Daughter,
which has been the means Of the salvation OF
unconverted multitudes. And that tide OF
| infltence started from the fact that one
Christian woman dropped Christian tract
| in the way o. Richard Baxter, the tide OF IN
fuence rolling on through Richard Baxter,
through the great Wilberforce, through
Leigh Richmond, on, on, on, forever, for
ever. So the insignificant events OF this
world. seem, after all, to be the most mo-
mentous.
Nine. de Stael did a world OF work In her
| time. and one day, while she was Stated
amid instruments OF music, all OF which she
had mastered. and amid manuscript books
which she had written, some one SAID 10 her,
"How do you find time to attend to all these
things?' "Oh," she replied, "these are not
the things am proud Of / Ny chief boast Is
| in the fact that have seventeen trades, by
any one of which could make livelihood II
necessary" And, If in secular spheres there
is so much to be done, in spiritual work now
vust the field! How many dying all around
about US without one " ord OF comfort! we
want more Abigails. more Hnnnahs. more
Rebeccas, more Marys more Deborahs, con-
secrated, body, mind, soul, to the Lord who
bought them.
Once more learn from my subject the
value OF cleaning.
Ruth going into that harvest field might
have said "There is a straw, and there is
straw, but what Is straw can't ger any
barley for myself or my mother-in-laW out
| of these separate straws. Not so SAID
beautiful Ruth. She gathered two straws,
and she put them together, and more straws,
until she got enough to make sheaf. Put
| tipo that down che went and gathered more