Connecticut western news., 1899-01-19
God upon his household and upon the stranger within their gates. Rude but glorious Christian hospitality!

stranger within their gates. Rude but glorious Christian hospitality
 woman's sympathy.
 Again, this woman of my text. was great in her kindness toward Gods messenger Elisha may have been a stranger in that household, but as she found out he had come on divine mis- sion he was cordially welcomed. We
 have great many books in our day about the hardships of ministers and the trials of Christian ministers. wish
 somebody would write book about the joys of the Christian minister, about the sympathies all around about him, 1 about the kindness, about the genial | considerations of him. Does sorrow | come to oushome and is there shadow l on the cradle, there are hundreds of hands to help and many who weary not | through the night watching and hun | dreds of prayers going up that God l would restore the sick. Is there burn l ing brimming cup of calamity placed ] on the pastors table, are there not | many to help him drink of that cup and | who will not be comforted because he | is stricken2 Oh, for somebody to write | a book about the rewards of the Chris l tian ministry-about his surroundings ! of Christian sympathy
 This woman of the text was only I type of thousands of men and women | who come down from mansion and from | cot to do kindness to the Lords serv- | ants. 1 could tell you of something that | you might think romance. A young | man graduated from New Brunswick | Theological seminary was called to a | village church. He had not the means | go furnish the parsonage. After three | pr four weeks of preaching a committee | 5f the officers of the church waited on | him and told him he looked tired and | thought he had better take vacation | )f few days. The young pastor took | 1t as an intimation that his work was | done or not acceptable. He took the va | cation, and at the end of a few days came back when an old elder said: ] Here is the key of the parsonage. We | have been cleaning it up. You had bet | ter % up and look at it. " So the young | pastor took the key, went up to the par | sonage, opened the door, and To, it was carpeted, and there was the hatrack all | ready for the canes and the umbrellas | and the overcoats, and on the left hand | of the hall was the parlor, sofaed, | chaired, pictured. He passed on to the other side of the hall and there was | the study table in the center of the floor with stationery upon it, bookshelves 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 up stairs and found all the sleeping apartments fur ! nished, came down stairs and entered ! the pantry, and there were the spices, ! and the coffees, and the sugars, and the | groceries for six months. He went down into the cellar, and there was the coal | for all 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 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 it lucifer match, and | all that young man had to do in start | ing to keep house was to strike the | match. You tell me that is apocryphal. l Oh, no, that was my own experience. | Oh the kmdnesses, oh, the enlarged sympathies sometimes clustered around l those who enter the gospel ministry l
 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.
 Strong to Bear Trouble.
 Again, this woman of the text was great in her behavior under trouble. Her only son had died on her lap. A
 very bright light went out in that household. The sacred writer puts it very tersely when he says, He sat on her knee until noon, and then he died. y Yet the writer goes on to say that she exclaimed, ''It is well!' Great in pros perity, this woman was great in trouble. Where are the feet that have not been blistered on the hot sands of this great Sahara? Where are the soldiers that have not bent under the burden of grief2 Where is the ship sailing over glassy sea that has not after awhile been caught in cyclone2 Where is the garden of earthly comfort, but trouble hath hitched up it's fiery and panting team and gone through it with burning plowshare of disaster? Under the pelt- ing of ages of suffering the great heart of the world has burst with woe. Navi- gators 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 fam flies, and of communities, and of em-
 pires, foaming, writhing, boiling with
 the agonies of 5000 years. Etna, Coto- paxi 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 nations2 Oh, if I could gather all the heart strings the broken heartstrings, into a harp l would play on 1t dirge such as
 was never sounded Mythologists tell
 us of gorgon and centaur and Titan,
 and geologists 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, monster with an iron jaw and
 a hundred iron hoofs has walked across
 the nations, and history and poetry and
 sculpture, in their attempt to sketch it
 and describe it, have seemed to sweat
 great drops of blood. But thazAz God
 there are those who can conquer as this
 woman of the text conquered, and say:
 Tt is we'll. Though my property be
 gone, though my children be gone, 1 though my home be broken up, though