The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1901-09-27

hmA,l CIRCUMSTANCE depenQeQ what mighty
rcsultsf
Practical inference. There are no insig.
niicances In life. The minulest thing Is
part OF q magnitude. inhnity Ia made up
Of inhntcsimals; great things an aggrega-
ton Of email things. Bethlehem mangcr
pulling on a star In the Eastern sky. One
book in a drenehod sailors mouth the
evangohzation of n multitude. One boat
Of papyrus on the Nile freighted with
events Tor al ages. The fate Of Christen.
dom In a basket let down from q window
on the wall. What you DO, do well. III
you make q rope, make Il strong and true,
for you know not how much may depend
on your workmanship. IL you fashion q
boat. let II be waterproof, for you know
not who may sail in It. II you put q Bible
In the trunk OF your boy rs he goes from
home, let II be remembered IN your pray
era, for II may have q mission as far.reaeh.
ing as the book which the sailor carried
in his teeth 10 the Pitcairn beach
The plainest mans life Is an island DO
tween two eternites-eternity past rip
ping against his shoulders, eternity 20
come touching as brow. The casual the
accidental, that which merely happened
90, are parts Of q great plan, and the rope
that lets the fugitive apostle from the Da-
masous wall is the cable that holds 10 It's
mooring the ship Of tbe church In the
storm Of the centuries.
Again, notice unreeoEni2ed and mre-
corded service. Who spun that rope!
Who tied IL to the basketf Who steadied
the illustrious preacher as be stepped into
i'll Who relaxed not a muscle OF the arm
or dismissed an anxious look from his
face until the basket touched the ground
and discharged its magnificent cargo!
Not one of their names has come to US,
but thC-e was no work done that day in
Damascus OF in all earth compared with
the Importance Of their work What If
they had in their agitation tied a knot
Tat could slip? What If the sound Of
the mob at the door had led them to say,
Paul must take care of himself and we
will take care of ourselves" No, mol
They held the rope and in doing so did
more for the Christian church than any
thousand of us viii ever accomplish. But
God knows and has made record Of their
undertaking. And they know.
How exultant they must have felt when
they read his letters to the Romans, to
the Corinthians, to the Galatians, to the
Ephesians, to the Philippians, to the Co
lossians, to the Thessalonians, and when
they heard how he walked out of prison,
with the earthquake unlocking the door
for him, and took command Of the Alex
andrian corn ship when the sailors were
nearly scared to death and preached a
sermon that nearly shook Felix off his
Judgment seat! / hear the men and wom-
en- who helped him down through the win
dow and over the wall talking in private
over the matter and saying: "How glad |
am that we effected that rescue! In com
ing times others may get the glory of
Paul's work. but no one shall rob us of
the satisfaction of knowing that we held
the rope"
Once for thirty-six hours we expected
every moment to 20 to the bottom of the
ocean. The waves struck through the
skylights and rushed down into the hold
of the ship and Kissed against the boilers.
1t was an awful time, but by the blessing
of God and the faithfulness of the men in
charge we came out of the cyclone, and
we arrived at home. Each one before
leaving the ship thanked Captain An
drews I do not think there was a man
OF woman that went off that ship without
thanking Captain Andrews, and when
years after heard of his death l was i'm
PEELED to write a letter of coincidence ia
his family in Liverpool. Everybody rec
| ognized the goodness, the courage, the
| kindness of Captain Andrews, but it oc
|
| engineer. He stood away down in the
darkness amid the kissing furnaces, dom,
| his whole duty. Nobody thanked the en-
| gineer, but God recognized his heroisn
and his continuance and his fidelity, anC
there will be just as high reward for thu
| engineer, who worked out of sight, as fo
| the captain, who stood on the bridge o
! the ship in the midst of the bowling TEN
pest.
Come, let us go right up and accos
those on the circle of heavenly thrones
Surely they must have killed in battle
million men. Surely they must have beef
buried with all the cathedrals sounding
dirge and all the towers of all the cite
tolling the national grief. Who art thou
mighty one of heaven? II lived by choic
the unmarried daughter of an humbl
home that l might take care of my par
ents in their old age, and / endured with
out complaint all their querulousness an
administered to all their wants for twent
years" Let us pass on round the circl
of thrones. Who art thou, mighty one G
heaven? Il was for thirty-five years
Christian invalid and suffered all tn
while, occasionally writing a note of syn
pathy for those worse off than l. and wa
general confdant of all those who ha
trouble, and once in awhile | was stron
enough to make a garment for that poo
family in the back lane" Pass on to al
other throne. Who art thou, mighty on
of heaven? ct was the mother who raise
whole family of children for God an
they are out in the world Christian me-
chants, Christian mechanics, Christia
wives, and I have had full reward for a
my toll" Let us pass on in the circle {
thrones. 81 had a Sabbath-school elias
and they were always on my heart, an
they all entered the kingdom of God, an
am waiting for their arrival" But VIII
art thou, mighty one of heaven, on tn
other throne? I'm time of bitter persecl
ton 1 owned house in Damascus,
house on the wall A man who preache
Christ was bounded from street to stree
and I hid him from the assassins, an
when I found them breaking into m