Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1898-08-19

quies have absorbed all that was left in
the savings bank, and, wan and wasted
with weeping and watching, she goes
forth-a grave, hearse a coffin behind
I her-tO contend for her existence and
the existence Of her children. When /
see such a battle as that open, | shud-
der at the ghastliness Of the spectacle.
Men sit with embroidered slippers and
write heartless essays about women's
wages, hut that question is made up Of
tears and bioUd, ard there is more blood
than tears. Oh, give woman free access
to all the realms where she can get a
livelihood, from the telegraph Office to
the pulpit Let mems wages be cut
down before hers are cut down. Men
have iron in their souls and can stand
1t. Make the way free ts her Of the
broken heart. May God put into my
hand the cold, bitter cup OF priyatiOn
and give me nothing but q windowless
hut for shelter for many years rather
than that after am dead there should
go out from my home into the pitiless
world a woman's arm TO fight the Get
tysburg, the Austerlitz, the Waterloo
Of life for bread And yet how many
women there are seated between the
rock Of bereavement on the one side
and the rock Of destitution on the 9TH
er. Bozez and Seneh interlocking their
shadows and dropping them upon her
miserable way. "There is sharp rock
on the one side, and a sharp rock ON
the other side -
What are such to do? Somehow le.
them climb up into the heightsTof the
glorious promise, Leave thy fatherless
children, Twill preserve them alive and
let thy widows trust in me- " Or get up
into the heights Of that other glorious
promise, THE Lord preserveth the
stranger and relieyeth the widow and
the fatherless " Oh, ye sewing women,
on starving wages Oh, ye widows,
turned out from the once beautiful
home Oh, ye female teachers, kept on
niggardly stipend Oh, ye despairing
women, seeking in vain for work. wan
dering along the docks aud thinking to
throw yourselves into the river last
night Oh. ye women OF weak nerves,
and aching sides, and short breath, and
broken heart, you need something more
than human sympathy, you need the
sympathy of God. Climb up into his
arms He knows it all. and he loves
you more than father or mother or hus-
band ever could or ever did, and instead
Of sitting down, wringing your hands
in despair, you had better begin to climb.
There are heights of consolation for
you. though now There is a sharp rock
on one side, and a sharp rock on the
other side.
An Invitation.
Again. that man is in the crisis OF
the text who has wasted life on the
one side and an unilluminated eternity
on the other. Though a man may all
his life have cultured deliberatiOn and
self poise, if he gets into that position,
all his self possession is gone. There
are all the wrong thoughts Of his exist
ence, all the wrong deeds, all the wrong
words-strata above strata, granitic,
ponderous, overshadowing. That rock
call Bozez On the other side are all
the retributious of the future the
thrones Of Judgment, the eternal ages.
angry with his long defiance. That
rock | call Seneh Between these two
rocks 10000 times 10000 have per-
ished.
0 man immortal, man redeemed,
man blood bought climb up out OF
those shadows Climb up by the way
of the cross. Have your wasted life for
given; have your eternal life secured.
This hour Just take one look TO the past
and see what it has been, and take one
look to the future and see what 1t
threatens TO be. You eau afford to lose
your health, you can afford to lose your
property, you can afford to lose your
reputation, but you cannot afford TO lose
your soul. That bright, cleaning, glori-
Gus, precious, eternal possession you
must carry aloft in the day when the
earth burns up and the heavens burst.
You see from my subject that when
a man gets into the safety and peace OF
the gospel he does not demean himself.
There is nothing in religion that leads
to meanness or unmanliness. The gos-
pei of Jesus Christ only asks you to
climb as Jonathan did-climb toward
God, climb toward heaven, climb into
the sunshine Of Gods favor. To become
a Christian is not to 90 meanly down;
it is to come gloriously up-up into the
communion Of saints; up into the peace
that passeth all understanding up into
the companionship Of angels. He lives
upward; he dies upward.
Oh, then, accept the wholesale inyi-
tation which make this day to all th'
people Come up from between your
invalidism and financial embarrass-
ments. Come up from between your
bereavements and your destitutlon.
Come up from between a wasted life
and an unillumined eternity. Like JoI.-
athan, climb up with all your might,
instead of sitting down to wiring your
hands in the shadow and in the dark
ness-"a sharp rock on the one side and
a sharp rock on the other side.