The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1898-12-16

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1t is a good thing to preach on Sun
day morning, the people assembled in
most respectable attire and seated on
soft cushions. the preacher standing in
neatly upholstered pulpit surrounded
by personal friends, and after an in
spring hymn has been sung. and that
sermon, If preached in faith. will do
good; but the most effective sermon is
preached by one seated in dressing
gown in an armchair into which the
invalid has with much care been lifted
the surrounding shelves filled with
medicine bottles, some to produce
sleep. some for the relief of sudden
paroNysm. some for stimuant. some
for tonic. some for anodyne and some
for fcbrfuge. the pale preacher quot
ing promises of the Gospel. telling of
the glories of n sympathetic Christ, as
surfing the one or two or three persons
who hear it OF the mighty reinforce
ments Of religion You say that TO
such sermon there are only one or
two or three hearers. Aye, but the
visitor calling at that room. then clos
ing the door softly and going away,
tells the story. and the whole neighbo
hood hears it. and il will take all eterni-
Is TO realize the grand and uplifting
| influence OF that sermon about God and
the soul. though preached to an audi
Cace of only one man or one woman.
| The Lord has ordained all such in
,Glids for style of usefulness which
athletics and men of 200 healthy nv-
oirdupois cannot affect. II was not an
enemy that fastened you in that one
room or sent you on crutches, the long
est journey you have made for many
weeks being from bed to sofa and from
sofa 10 looking glass, where you are
! shocked Mt the pallor of your own
cheek and the pinchedness Of your fea-
lures: then back again from mirror TO
sofa and sofa to bed, with long sigh
saying; "llow good it feels to get back
again to my old place on the pillow!
RENE mber who 1t is that appointed the
day when for the first time in many
years you could not go TO business and
who has kept a record of all the weary
days and all the sleepless nights of
your exile from the world o weary
man! o feeble woman, it was the Lord
who shut you in. Do you remember
that some of the nobest and best of
men have been prisoners? Ezekiel a
prisoner. Jeremiah a prisoner, Paul
prisoner, ST. John a prisoner, John
Bunyan Il prisoner. Though human
hate seemed 10 have all to do with them,
really the Lord shut them in.
No doubt, while on that voyage Noah
and his three sons and all the four la
dies of the antediluvian world often
thought of the bright hillsides and the
green fields where they had walked
and of the homes where they had lived.
They had had many years of expert
tnces. Noah was GOO years old at the
time OF this convulsion of nature. lie
had seen 600 springtimes, COO sum
mers. 600 autumns. 600 winters. We
are not told how old his wife was at
this wreck of earth and sky. The Bible
tells the age of a great many men, but
only once gives woman's age. Al
one time it gives Adams age as 100
years. and Jared's age at 1862 years, and
Enoch's age as 3Gj years. and all up
and down the Bible it gives the age Of
men. but does not give the age Of wom-
EN-. Why? Because. | suppose. II wom-
ans age is none OF our business. But
all the men and women that tossed in
| that oriental craft had lived long
enough to remember great many OF
| the mercics and Eindnesscs of God, and
/ they could not blot out. and think
| tury had no disposition to blot out the
memory of those brightncssses. though
| now they were shut in. Neither should
! The shut in Of our time forget the bless
| ings of the past. Have you been blind
| for ten years? Thank God for the time
when you saw as clearly as any of MS
| can see. and let the pageant of all the
radiant landscapes and illumined skies
| which YOU ever looked upon kindle
! your rapturous gratitude. | do not see
/ Raphae's madonna di San Sisto" i'm
| the picture gallery of Dresden, nor
! Rubens' descent from the Cross" at
| Antwerp, nor Michael Angeles Last
Judgment" on the ceiling of the vati-
can, nor Saint Sophia at Constantine
pie, nor the Parthenon on the Acrop-
oils, nor the Tai Mahal of India. But
shall | not thank God that have seen
them? Is it possible that such mid
night darkness shall ever blast my vi
sion that | cannot call them up again?
Perhaps you are so deaf that you can
not hear the chirp of bird or solo of
cantatrce. or even organ in full diapa-
son, though you feel the foundations
tremble under its majestic roll, or even
the thunderstorm that makes Mount
Washington echo. But are you not
grateful that once you could hear trill
and chant and carol doXology?
Do you forget when in childhood you
danced and skipped because you We're
so full of life you had not patience to
walk. and in after years you climbed
the mountains of Switzerland, putting
your alpenstock high up on glaciers
which few others ever dared and
jumped long reaches in competition
and after a walk of ten miles YOU came
in jocund as the morning? Oh. you