Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1901-02-28

long enough away from home to lose
his professional opportunities. No
man that was ever put to death by
sword or instrument of torture was
more OF martyr than that man who
has been wrung to death by the de-
mands of official position. The scars
may not be visible. for these are scars
on the brain and scars on the nerves
and scars on the heart. but neverthe-
less are they scars, and God counts
them, and their reward will be abund-
ant.
The Unseen Scars.
In all lands there are veterans of
war who may not have had their face
scraped with one bullet or their foot
famed by one bursting shell and who
could not roll up their sleeve and show
you one mark suggestive of battle, yet
carry with them weaknesses got in ex-
posures to disease along malarial
swamps or from many miles of march
ing. and ever and anon they feel a
twinge OF pain, each recurrence of
which is sharper or more lasting, until
after awhile they will be captured for
the tomb by disorders which started 20
or 80 or 40 years before. And their
scars are all unseen by human eyes.
But those people are as certainly the
victims of war as though they had been
blown up in an undermined fortress or
thrust through with a cavalryman's
lance. What I want to make out is
that there are scars which are never
counted except as God counts them,
and want to enlarge your sympathies.
There is a woman who has suffered
domestic injustice of which there is no
| cogniZance. She saws nothing about it.
An inquisitor's machine of torture
could not wiring from her the story of
domestic woe. Ever since the day of
orange blossoms and long white veil
she has done her full duty and re-
ceived for it harshness and blame and
neglect. The marriage ring, that was
supposed to be sign of unending af-
| lection, has turned out to be one link
of chain of horrible servitude. A
wreath of nettle and nightshade of
brightest form would have been a more
accurate prophecy. There are those
who find 1t hard to believe that there is
such place as hell, but you could go
right out in any community and find
more than one hell of domestic tor
ment. There is no escape for that
woman but the grave, and that, COM
pared with the life she now lives, will
be an arbor of jasmine and Of the hum
ming birds song poured into the ear of
the honeysuckle. Scars! II there be
none on the brow showing where he
| struck her arriving home from mid
| night carousal, nevertheless there are
scars all up and down her injured and
immortal soul which will be remem-
bered on the day when there shall leap
forth for her Arrangement the live
| thunderbolts Of an incensed God.
When we see veteran in any land
who has lost limb in battle, our SYM
pathies are stirred. But, oh, how many
have in the domestic realm lost their
life and yet are denied a pillow Of
dust on which to slumber? Better en-
large your roll of martyrs. Better
adopt a new mode of counting human
Specifications. A broken bone is not
half as bad as broken heart.
Marks of Christian Service.
There are many who can, in the
same sense that Paul uttered 1t, say.
Il bear in my body the marks of the
Lord Jesus"-that is. for the sake of
| Christ and his cause they carry scars
which keep their indenture through all
time and all eternity. Do you think
| that Paul was accurate when he said
that? II you have studied his career,
you have no doubt of it. In his youth
he learned how to fashion the hair of
the Cicilian goat into canvas, a quiet
trade, and then went to college, the
president of which was Gamaliel, an
institution which scholars say could not
have been very thorough because of
what they call Paul's imperfect COM
mand Of Greek syntax. But his history
became exciting on the road to Damas-
Gus, where he was endorsed and blind
ed. His conversion was a CONFUSION.
| Whether that fall from the horse may
have left a mark upon him I know
not. but the mob soon took after him
and logged and imprisoned and mall
treated him until he had scars more
than enough to assure the truthfulness
of his utterance, II bear in my body
the marks of the Lord Jesus"
All of Paul's sufferings was for
Christ's sake. He had intellectual pow
ers which could have achieved for him
all worldly successes. You see what
he could do in a courtroom when with
extemporaneous speech he made the
judicial bench tremble; when on Mars
hill he COMPOUNDED the Athenian crit
les; when he preached amid the ex-
element Of tumbling penitentiary;
when In a storm at sea he took COM
mand Of the ship. the only one on
board cool headed. With his inspired
logic, and his courage OF utterance, and
his power Of Illustration. and his capa-
city to move audiences. and his spirit
Of defiance. there was no height Of
worldly power he might not have
gained.
Army OF Christian Soldiers.
All ye who bear In your body the
marks Of the Lord Jesus. have you
thought what use those marks will be
In the heavenly world? What source
Of glorious "reminiscences! In that world
you will sit together and talk over
earthly experiences. Where did you
get that scarf" saint will say to saint.
and there will come back story of
hardship and struggle and persecution
and wounds and victory through the
grace OF the gospel. Another spirit will
say to listening spirit, Where did you
get that hurt SO plainly marked?" And
the answer will be: "Oh. that was one