The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1900-01-05


me that life Is not only story tod. but
u story listened 10. There is nothing
more vexatious to anyone than TO tell
a story when people are not attending.
They may whisper on some other sub
jet, or they are preoccupied. One
cannot tell story effectually unless
there are good listeners. Well, that
which in my text is called the tale that
is told" has plenty of listeners. There
is no such thing as solitude, no such
thing as being alone. God listens, and
the air is full of spiritual intelligences
all listening, and The world listens TO
the story of our life. some hoping 1t
will be successful, Others hoping it will
be failure.
We talk about public life and private
life, but there is no private life. The
story of our life, however Insignificant
il may seem TO be, will win the applause
or hiss of a great multitude that no
man can number. As a tale that is
told" among admirers or antagonists.
celestial or pandemoniacs, the universe
is full of listening ears as well as OF
cleaning eyes. If we say or do the
the population of the inteligences in
the air is more numerous than the pop.
uIation of intelHgeuces on the earth
Aye, all the world will yet listen TO
| and be redeemed 10y a''tale that is told"
We are all telling II. each in his own
way-some by voice. some by pen, some
| by artists pencil. some by harp and
some by song; mother telling II to
child, teacher telling it 10 Sabbath
class, reformer telling IL TO outcast,
/ preacher telling il TO assemblnge. he
story of the Loyeliest of Heaven coming
| down TO this SCARED and blasted island
| of world. lie was ordered back from
/ its shores and struck through with
| lances of human hate as soon as be
landed. Shepherds dog baying on The
! hills that Christmas night was better
| treated than this reScuer of race. yet
keeping right on. brambles on brow
feet on spikes, flagellated with whips
| that had Jumps of lead fastened to
them. through midnight without lau.
terms, through storms without shell
ter. through years that got blacker I'M
Ill they ended in Il nOOndaN with the
sun bloucd out Mightiest tale ever
told, and keep on telling il until the
last sorrow is assuaged and the last
animosity is quenched and the last des-
ert is white with the lily and golden
with the cowslip and blue with the
gentian and crimson with the rose.
My text, in referring TO the years, re-
minds me that in 12 hours this year will
forever have gone away. Ninety-nine
out Of the hundred years of this century
will have disappeared. We have only
one year of the century left. There
ought to be something especially sug-
gestive in the last year Of a century.
1t ought to be year of unparalleled in
dustries, of unheard of conservation.
Not a person in any of our audiences
this day can remember the first ear
Of this century. Not person in any of
our audiences to-day will ever again see
the last year of century.
Through medical science the worlds
longevity may he greatly improved in
The future, as ii has been in the past,
hut il would not he well for people to
live too long. Some of them would,
=,
gather too much. and some multi
millionaires would become billionaires
and trillionaires, and some one would
after awhile pocket Il hemisphere. No
Death is useful in its financial limta.
tious, and then all have enough sorrows
and annoyances and sutferiugs by the
time they become nonagenarians or
n Iag l,I 10
quit. Besides that, il would not be fair
so long TO keep 50 many gooG old peo.
pie out of Heaven. So it is well ar
ranged that those who stand by the
deaihbed Of the nineteenth century
will not be called to stand by the death
bed of the twenfieth century.
Oh, crowd this last year with prayers.
with hosannas, with kind words, with
helpfulness. Make the peroration OF
the century the climax Of Christlike
deeds. Close up the ranks of God and
during this remaining 10 months
charge nightly against the host of
Abaddon. Have no reserve corps. Let
swiftest gospel cavalry gallop, and
heaviest moral artillery roll, and
mightiest evangelistic batteries thun
der on the scene. Let ministers of the
Gospel quit all controversy with each
other, and in solid phalanx march out
for the worlds disinthrallment. Let
printing presses. secular and religious.
make combined movement 10 instruct
and emancipate the world. On all the
hills let there be Elijah, praying for "a
great rain" and on every contested
field Joshuas to see that final victory is
gained before the sun goes down, and
every mountain become a transfigura-
ton and every Galilee q walking place
for the worlds disenthrallment. Let
us be jealous OF every month. OF every
week, of every day that passes without
something significant and glorious
wrought for God and this sin cursed
world. Let our churches be througed
with devout assemblages. Let the
chorals be more like grand marches
than requiems. Let this cJming year
see the last wound Of TronsvaaI and