The Penn's Grove record., 1899-01-20

lifted one lid of the stove, and he found
the fuel all ready for ignition. Putting
back the cover Of the stove, he saw In an
other part of 1t a lucifer match, and all
that young man had to do ia starting to
keep house was to strike the match. You
tell me that is apocIyphal. Oh, no, that
was my own experience. Oh, the kind
ness; oh, the enlarged sympathies some-
times clustered around those who enter
the gospel ministry 1 suppose the man OF
Shunem had to pay the bills, but it was
the large-hearted Christian sympathies OF
the woman Of shunem that looked after
| the Lords messenger.
Where are the feet that have not been
blistered on the hot sands Of this great
Sahara2 Where are the soldiers that have
not bent under the burden of grief2 Where
Is the ship sailing over CLASSY sea that has
not after awhile been caught IN a cyclone3
Where Is the garden Of earthly comfort,
but trouble hath hitehed up its fiery and
painting team and gone through 1t with
burning plowshares Of disaster7 Under
the pelting of ages Of suffering the great
heart of the world has burst with woe.
Nayigators tell US about the rivers, and
the Amazon, and the Danube, and the
Mississippi have been explored, but who
can tell the depth or the length of the
great river Of sorrow, made up Of tears
and blood rolling through all lands and
all ages. bearing the wreck OF families,
and Of communities, and Of empires, foam
ing, writing, boiling with the agonies Of
5000 years; Etna; Cotopaxi and Vesuvius
have been described, but who has ever
sketched the volcano OF suffering retching
up from Its depths the lava and scoria, and
pouring them down the sides to whelm the
nations? Oh, II l could gather all the heart
strings, the broken heartstrlngs, into a
harp l would play on 1t a dirge such as
was never sounded. Mythoiogists tell
us OF gorgon and centaur and Titan,
and biologists tell us Of extinct species
of monsters, but greater than gorgon or
megatherium, and not belonging to the
realm Of fable, and not of an extinct
species, a monster with an iron jaw and a
hundred iron hoofs has walked across the
nations, and history and poetry and sculp.
ture, In their attempt to sketch it and de.
scribe It, have seemed to sweat great drops
OF blood. But, thank God, there are those
who can conquer as this woman of the text
conquered, and say: at Is we'll. Though
my property be gone, though my children
be gone, though my home be broken up,
though my health be sacrificed, it is we'll; 1t
is welli'' There is no storm on the sea but
Christ Is ready to rise in the hinder part OF
the ship and hush it. There is no darkness
but the constellation OF Gods eternal love
can illumine, and, thoughthe winter comes
out Of the Northern sky, you have some
times seen that Northern sky all ablaze
VIII dulOEhs Nlltu sttll u say. tuIlC up
this way. Up this way are thrones OF light
and seas of sapphire and the s%plendor OF
an eternal heaven. Come up this way"
Again, this woman of my text was great
In her application to domestic duties.
Every picture is u home picture, whether
she is entertaining an Elisha or whether
she Is giving careful attention to her sick
boy or whether she is appealing for the
restoration of her property, Every picture
in her case Is one Of domesticity. Those are
not disciples of this Shunemite woman who,
going out to attend to outside charities,
neglect the duty of home-the duty of
wife, OF mother. Of daughter. No faith
fulness in public benelaction can ever
atone for domestic negligence. There
has been many q mother who by indie
f~atigable toll has reared n large family
Of children, ~equippng them for the du-
ties Of life with good manners and large
intelligence and Christian principle,
starting them out, who has done more
for the world than many a woman
whose name has sounded through all
the lands and through the centuries. l
remember when Kossuth was in this
country there were some ladies who got
honorable regulations by presenting
him very gracefully with bouquets OF
flowers on public occasions, but what
was oil that compared with the plain
Hungarian mother who gave to truth
uuu NlNllAAnbAVh ahu ~ t"sSN " 49,
versal liberty a Kossuth2 Yes, this wom-
an of my text was great in her sim
plicity. When this prophet wanted to re-
ward her for her hospitality by asking some
~preferment from the king, what did she
say2 She declined 1t. She said, 81 dwell
among my own people, asmuch as 70 say,
~ am satisfied with my lot; all l want Is my
family and my friends around mei dwell
among my own people"
oh, what a rebuke to the strife for pre-
cedence in all agesl How many there are
who want to get great architecture and
homes furnished with all art, all painting,
all %statuary, who have not enough taste to
distinguish between Gothic and Byzantine,
and who could not tell a figure in plaster OF
paris from Palmer's white Captive and
would not know a boys penciling from
Bierstadt's Yosemite" Men who buy
large libraries by the square foot, buy
ing these libraries when they have scarcely
enough education to pick out the day OF
the month in the almanac Oh, how many
there ere striving to nave things as well as
their n%eighbors or better than their neigh
bors, and In the struggle vast fortunes are
exhausted and business firms thrown into
bankruptcy and men of reputed honesty
rush into %astoundi' = forgeries!
But what / want to impress upon you,
my hearert, hat you ought not to In
v%entory the Injuries Of life among the In
dispensables, and you ought not to depre-
ciate this woman OF the text, who, when
offered klngly preferment, responded, II
dwell among my " people, Yes,
this woman Of the text was great
In her piety. Just read the chap
ter after you so home. Faith In
God, and she was not ashamed to talk
about 1t before idolaters. All, woman will
never appreciate what she owes TO
Christianity until she knows and secs
the degradation of her sex under pagan
SIN and Mohammedanisin! Her very
birth considered a misfortune. Sold like
cattle on the shambles, Slave of all
work, and at last her body fuel for the
funeral pyre OF her husband. Above the
shrek Of the fire ~worshipers in India, and
above the |rumSling Ct the Juggerneuts l
hear the million voiced groan OF wronged,
insulted, broken-hearted, downtrodden
women. Her tears have fallen In the Nile
and I.gris, the La Plata and on the steppes
OF Tartary. She has been d~ishonored in
Turkish garden and Persian palace and
Spanish Ahambra. Her little ones have been
sacrificed in the Indus and the Ganges.
There is not a groan, or a dungeon, or
an island, or a mountain, or a river, or
a lake, or a sea but could tell a story OF
the outrages heaped upon her. But,
thanks to God, this glorious Christianity
comes forth, and all the claims OF this
vassalage are snapped, and she rises
from ignominY to exalted sphere and be-
comes the affeetioDate daughter, the gentle
wife, the honored mother, the useful Chris
tian. oh, II Christianity has done so much
for woman, surely woman will become its
most ardent advocate and its sublimest en-
emplifcationi