Owingsville outlook. [volume] (Owingsville, Ky.) 1879-192?, 1899-01-19

altar and brought down the blessing of
God upon his household and upon the
stranger within their gates. Rude but
glorious Christian hospitality!
Again, this woman OF my text was
great in her kindness toward GoG's
messenger. Elisha may have been II
stranger in that household, but as he
found ont he had come on Divine mrs
sion he was cordially welcomed. We
have II great many books in our day
about the EardshipS Of ministers and
the trials of Christian ministers. |
wish somebody would write a book
about the joys of the Christian minis
ter, about the sympathics all around
him, about the kindness, about the
genial considerations of him. Does sor-
row come tn our home, aud is there a
shadow on the cradle, there are hum
drrds of hands To help, aud many who
weary not through the night watching.
and hundreds of prayers going up that
God would restore the sick. l. Their, n
burning, trimming cup of calamity
placed ON the pastors table? Are there
not many to help him drink of that cup,
and who will not he comfCrtcd bcCau,c
lac is stricken? oh. for somebody to
write a book about the rewards of the
Christian ministry about his sur
rouuGirgs of Christian sympathy!
This woman of the text was only a
type of thousands of men and women
who come down from mansion and
tn ln l. IN g, 81 L., 4
servants. ! could tell YOU of some
thing that you might think "A romance.
\ Young man graduated from New
Brunswick theological seminary was
called to a village church. lie had not
the means To furnish the parsonage.
After three or four weeks of preaching
II committee of the officers of the
church waited on him and told him he
looked tired and thought he had better
take a vacation of a few DAYS. The
young pastor took ii as an intimatiOn
that his work Was done or not accept
able. lie took the vacation, aud at he
end of few days came back. when an
old elder said: There i the key of the
parsonage. We have been cleaning il
up. You had better go up and look at
it," So the young pastor took the key,
went up to the parsonage. opened the
door, and 10, il was carpcted. and there
was a hatrack all ready for the canes
and umbrellas and the Overcoats, and
on the left hand of the hall was the par
lor, sofaed, chaired, pictured. lie
passed on to the other side of the hail.
and there was the study table in the
center of the floor with stationery up
on il. bookShclvcs built, long ranges of
new volumes. far beyond the reach of
the means of the young pastor many of
these volumes. The young pastor went
upstairs and found all the sleeping
apartments furnished, came downstairs
and entered the pantry, and there were
the spices and the cUffrcs and the
sugars, and the groceries for six
months. lie went down into the cellar,
and there was the coal for the coming
winter. He went into the dining hall.
and there was the table already set
the glass and the silver ware. He went
into the kitchen. and there were all the
culinary implements and a great stove.
The young pastor 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 another part of il a
lucifer match, and all that young man
had to do in starting 20 keep house was
TO strike the match. You tell me that is
apocryphal. Oh, no. that was my own
experience. Oh, the Kindness, the en-
larged sympathies sometimes cluster
ing around those who enter the GOSPEL
ministry: suppose the man oHSluncm
had to pay the bills. but il was the
large-hcartcd Christian woman of
Shunem that looked after the Lords
messenger.
Again, this woman of the text was
great in her behavior under trouble
Her only son had died on her lap. \
very bright light went out in that
ousehold. The sacred writer puts it
very tersely when he says: "He sat on
her knee until noon and then he died. -
Yet the writer goes on to say that she
exclaimed: 1T is well," Great in pros
peri;y, this woman was great in trouble.
Where are the feet that have not been
blstered on the hot sands of this great
Sahara? Where are the soldiers that
have not bent under the burden of
CLASSY sea that has not after awhile
been caught in cyclone? Where is
the garden of earthly comfort but trou-
bic hath hitched up its fiery and pant
ing team and gone through il with
burning plowshare of disaster? Under
the pelting of ages of suffering the
great heart of the world has burst with
woe. Navigators tell us about the riv-
ers, and the Amazon and the Danube
al 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
| Ct families and of communities and of
empires, foaming. writhing, boiling
with the agonies of G,000 years? Etna,
CofopaXi and Nesuvius have been de-
| scribed, but who ever has sketched the
volcano of suffering retching up from
| i depths the lava and scoria and pour
| ing them down the sides to whelm ma
tions Oh, if could gather all the heart
strings. the broken heartstrings, into
a harp, | would play on il dirge such
| as was never sounded! Mythologists
| tell us of gorgon and centaur and Titan
F, 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 hundred iron hoofs has walked
| across the nations, and history and
| poetry and sculpture, in their attempt
to sketch il and describe it, have seemed
| t. sweat great drops of blood. But.
| thank God, there are those who can
| conquer as this woman of the text con-
| quered and say: 1T is well, though my
property be gone, though my children
be gone, though my home be broken
", though my health be sacrificed, il
is well, it is Welt" 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 constella-
ton of Gods eternal love can illumine
| it, and, though the winter comes out OF
| the northern sky, you have sometimes
seen that northern sky all ablaze with
| auroras which seem TO say: Come up