Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1899-12-28

| light Of heaven; that there is no wrath
where Gods face is; that If one could
once creep to the footstool of God there
i is everlasting peace there, like the
| fresh stiffness of the early morning?
While the atheist lay wondering and
afraid God bent down and said: 'My
child, here I AMI, whom you have
not known; I, whom you have not be-
lieved in. am here. 1 sent my mes.
senger, the white sheet lightning, to
call you home. am here"
Then the poor soul turned to the light.
Its weakness and pain were gone for
! ever.
Have they not known. have they not
heard, who it is rples9
.For little moment have hidden
my face from thee. but with eyerlast.
| ing Kindness will / have mercy mon
| thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemern
We mutter on 10 ourselves fiji some
! one pulls us Violently by the arm to re.
mind us we are in church. We see
/ nothing but our own ideas.
| Presently every one turns TO nray
/ There are GEO souls Hiring Themselves
! to the Everlasting Light
Behind us sit two prefty ladies' Ono
hands her scent bottle softly to the
other, and a mother pulls down her
little girls frock. One lady drons hor
She bushes. The women in the choir
| turn softly the leaves of their time.
| books to be ready when the prayine ia
done. 1t is ms though tbev thourht
more of the singing than the Eyerlast.
/ ing Father Oh, would IT not be more
worship-of him to sit alone in the "lSar.
roo and kiss one litrie purple flower
| that he had made? Is it not moclerv ?
1 Then the thought comes. "What doest
thou here, Elijah?s We who Judge
what are we better tban theyp Rather
| worse, Is it any excuse ia saw. a am
/ but a child and must Gomez. Does
God allow any soul to step in between
the spirit he made and himself? What
| do we there in that place where all
the words are lies against the All Fa-
Their? FILLED with horror. we turn ani,
flee out of the place. On the pavement
4 we smite oar foot and swear in our
child's soul never again to enter those
places where men come to sing and
pray. We are questioned aftarward.
| Why was it we went out Of the church
How can we evnIo,p, We stand
shaken solemnly nj MS No ore can
think IT wrong to IN to tbe ho,,se of the
1 Lord. 1t is the Idle excuse Of a}wicked
! boy. When will we think seriously of
our souls and love Going to church?
/ We are wicked. very wicked. And we
I'VE stink away and sos,lifone.to CIV.
4 Will it be always SO? Whether we
hate and doubt or whether we believe
i and love, to our dearest ave we to seem
I always wicked?
We do not vet know MAT in the soul's
search for truth the bitterness lies hero
the striving cannot ALWAYS hide IL.
self among the thoughts. Sooner or
later it will clothe itself in outward
action. Then it stsbs in and divides
between the soul dnd what it loves,
All things on earth have their price.
and for truth we pay the dearest We
barter It for love and sympathy. The
road to honor is paved with thorns.
but on the path to truth. at every step
you set your foot down on your own
heart.
VI.
Then at last a new time--the time Of
waking. short. sharp and not pleasant.
as wakings( often are.
| Sleep and dreams exist on this con.
dition-that no one wake the dreamer.
And now life takes us up between
her finger and thumb. shakes KS furi-
ously till our poor nodding head is well
nigh rolled from our shoulders! and she
sets us down n little hardly OF the bare
earth, bruised ana sore, hut prefer
naturally wide awake.
We have said in our days of dream
ing: "lninstice and wrong are a seem
ing. Pain is a shadow. Our God. he is
real. he who made all things, and he
Now life takes us by the neck and
\ shows lis q few other thingS--newmadp