Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1897-05-01

she was i'll prosperity, but of all her ac-
quaintanccs how many were willing to
trudge off with her toward Judah, when
she had to make that lonely journey?
One-the heroine of my text. One-ab-
solutely one. suppose when Naomi S
husband was living, and they had plen-
ty of money, and all things went well,
they had IL great many callers, but l
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 Como to their nests now the night
has fallen.
Oh, these beautiful sunnowers that
spread out their color in the morning
hourl But they are always asleep when
the sun is going down. Job had plenty
of friends when he was the richest man
III Uz, 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.
Lifo often seems TO be mere game,
where the successful player pulls down
all tho other men into his own lap. Let
suspicious arise about mans charac-
ter, and he becomes like bank in a
panic, and all the imputations rush on
him and break down in a day that
character which in duo time would
have had strength to defend itself. There
are regulations that have been half q
century III building which 90 down
under one push. as vast temple is con-
sumcd by tho touch of 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 friend in Mordecai,
who never forgot their cause; Paul had
such friend i'll Onesiphorus, who Wis
tied him in Jail; Christ had such in the
Marys, who adhered to him on tho
cross; Noami had such one in Ruth,
who cried out: "Entrcat me not TO leave
thee, or to return from following after
thee, for whittier thou goost l will go,
and whittier thou lodgest / will lodge.
Thy people shall be my people, and thy
God my God Where thou diest will l
die, and there will be buried. Tie
Lord do so to me, and more also, if
aught but death part thee and me. :"
After Storm. Sunshine.
Again, l learn from this subject that
paths which open in hardship and dark
ness often como out in places of joy
When Ruth started from Moab toward
Jerusalem to go along with her mother
in-law, 1 suppose the people said; ooh,
what foolish creature to 90 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 III the sea, or the
iackals Of the wilderness will destroy
them. 1t was 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 a
path which often starts very darkly ends
very brightly.
When you started out for heaven, oh,
how dark was the hour of convictions;
how Sinai Numbered and devils tor
mented and the darkness thickened! All
the sins of your life pounccd 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
erosion are forgiven and whose sins are
covered" a very dark starting in con-
viction, very bright ending in the par
don and the hope and the triumph Of
the gospel
So, very often in our worldly business
OF III our spiritual career We start off On
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 10000
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 castle, but blessed
be God, the day Of rest and reward will
come. On the tip top of the captured
battlements we will shout the victory;
if not i'll this world, then in that world
where there is no gall to drink, no bur-
dens to carry, no battles 10 fight. How
do l know it? Know it'll L know it be-
cause God says so: '"rhey shall hunger
no more, neither thirst any more,
neither shall the sun light Oh them, nor
any heat, for the Lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall lead them to
living fountains of water, aid God shall
wipe all tears from their eyes. u
1t was very hard for Noah to endure
the scofilng Of the people i'll his day,
while he was trying to build the ark and
was every morning quizzed about his
old boat that wcuid never be of any
practical use; but when the dclUge
came and the tops of the mountains dis
appeared like the backs CT sea monsters.
and the clements, lashcd up i'll fury,
clapped their hands over a drowned
world, then Noah i'll the ark rcjoiccd III
his own safety and i'll the safety OF his
family and looked out on the wreck Of
a ruined earth.
Ttl.-;.t bouDdod of Dnrcpcut0r de-