The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1898-08-17

up into the heights of Christian JOY,
and after preaching forty thousand
sermons, and travelling two hundred
and seventy thousand miles, reached
the heights of Heaven, though in this
world he had it hard enough-"a sharp
rock on the one side, and sharp rock
on the other"
Again, that woman stands in the
crisis of the text who has bereavement
and a struggle for livelihood at the
same time. Without mentioning
names, l speak from observation. An,
it is hard thing for woman to make
an honest living, even when her heart
is not troubled, and she has a ralr
cheek, and the magnetism OF an eN-
quisite presence. But now the hus-
band, or the father, is dead. The eX-
penses of the obsequies have absorbed
/ all that was left in the savings bank;
and, wan and wasted with weeping
and watching, she goes forth-a grave,
hearSe, coffin behind her-to con-
tend for her existence and the exist
ence of her children. When see such
battle as that open, | shudder at the
ghastliness of the spectacle. Men sit
with embroidered slippers and write
heartless essays about the Womens
wages; but that question is made up
of tears and blood, and there is more
blood than tears. Oh, give women free
access to all the realms where she can
get 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 it, Make the way free to her
of the broken heart. May God put into
my hand the cold, bitter cup OF priva-
ton, and give me nothing but win
dowless hut for shelter for many
wears, rather than that after / am dead
there should go from my home into the
pitiless world woman's arm to fight
the Gettysburg, the Austerlitz, the
Waterloo of life for bread! And yet,
how many women there are seated be-
tween the rock of bereavement on
the one side and the rock of destitu-
ton on the other! Bozez and Seneh
interlocking their shadows and drop
ping 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, let
them climb high up into the heights OF
the glorious promise: Leave thy
fatherless children, l will 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 re-
lieveth the widow and the fatherless,
o We sewing women, on starving
wages! o we widows, turned out from
the once beautiful home! O. ye female
teachers, kept on niggardly stipend!
} o We despairing women, seeking IN
vain for work, wandering along the
docks. and thinking to throw your
selves into the river last night! o we
women of weak nerves, and aching
; sides. and short breath, and broken
, heart, you need something more than
human sympathy; you need the sym
pathy of God. Climb up into his arms.
He knows it all, and he loves you more
than father, or mother, or husband
! ever could or ever did; and, instead of
! sitting down, wringing your hands in
J despair, you had better begin to climb
l There are heights of consolation for
= YOU, though now there is sharp
5 rock on one side, and a sharp rock on
the other side"
r Again, that man is in the crisis OF
| ~ ,HA hoC
{ one side and an unilluminated eternity
! on the other. Though 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 eX'
l istence, all the wrong deeds, all the
| wrong words-strata above strata
Y granite, ponderous, overshadowing
! That rock | call Bozez. On the other
side are all the retributions of the fu'
: ture, the thrones of judgment, the
S eternal ages, angry with his Ong def
/ ance. That rock / call Seneh. Be-
/ tween these two rocks ten thousand
= times ten thousand have perished.
: o man immortal, man redeemed, man
e blood bought, climb up out of those
D shadows! Climb up by the way of the
n cross. Have your wasted life for
:. given; have your eternal life secured
e This hour just take one look to the
e past and see what it has been, anc
= take one look to the future and see
h what it threatens to be. You can at
j ford to lose your health, you can al
n ford to lose your property, you can al
i ford to lose your reputation, but yol
o cannot afford to lose your soul. Tha'
k bright, cleaning, glorious, eternal pos
r session you must carry aloft in thu
? day when the earth burns up and th'
!. heavens burst.
o You see from my subject that wheI
man gets into the safety and peace
r of the gospel he does not demean him
t self. There is nothing in religion tha
l. leads to meanness or unmanliness
S The gospel of Jesus Christ only ask
r YOU to climb as Jonathan did-climl
s toward God, climb toward Heaven
n climb into the sunshine of Gods favor
It To become a Christian is not to e
/ meanly down; it is to come gloriousl!
e up-up into the communion of saints
l. up into the peace that passeth all un
d derstanding; up into the companion
y ship of angels. He lives upward; hi
d dies upward.
: Oh, then, accept the wholesale invi
Il tation which I make this day to al
d the people! Come up from betweeI
s. your invalidism and financial embar
o easements. Come up from betweei
d your bereavements and your destitu
: ton. Come up from between wasted
:, ,.e. - -. ,n;11,u,;1ofaJ atarnity