Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1902-02-14
LIGHT IN THE NIGHT
Words of Comfort for the Gloomy
and Suffering.
Text from which DIR. TaImage Has
Drawn His Sermon = How the
Evening OF the Christians
Life VIII BE Frightened.

w >r SU %
In this subject DR.. Talmage puts a
show of g.adness and triumph upon
passages of life that are usually
thought to be somewhat gloomy; text,
Zechariah 14:7: Sat evening time it
shall be light
While might" in all languages is the
symbol for gloom and suffering, it is
often really cheerful, bright and i'm
pressive. l speak not of such nights
come down with no star pouring light
from above or silvered wave tossing up
light from beneath-murky, hurting,
portentous, but such as you often see
when the pomp and magnificence of
Heaven turn out on night parade, and
it seems as though the song which the
morning stars began so long ago were
Ginning yet among the consultations
and the sons of God were shouting for
JOY. Such nights the sailor blesses
from the forecastle, and the trapper
on asst prairie, and the bella ted traveller
by the roadside, and the soldier from
the tent, earthly hosts gazing upon
Heavenly and shepherds guarding
their focks afield, while angel hands
above them set the silver bells airing
ing: GLORY to God in the highest and
on earth peace; good Will toward men,"
What solemn and glorious thing
is night in the wilderness. Night
among the mountains! Night on the
ocean! Fragrant night among tropic-
al groves! Fla hing night amid arctic
severitiesi Cam night on Roman cam
pagna! Awful night among the cor
dilleras! Glorious night mid sea after
a tempest! Thank God for the night!
The moon and the stars which rule it
are lighthouses on the coast toward
which / hope we are all sailing, and
blind mariners are we if, with so many
beaming, burning, flaming glories to
guide US, we cannot find our way into
the harbor.
Ny text may well suggest that. as the
natural evening is often luminous, so
it shall be light in the evening of our
SORROWS. of old age, of the worlds his
tory, of the Christian life. "At even
time it shall be light"
The prophecy will be fulfilled in
the evening of Christian sorrow. For
long time it is broad daylight. The
sun rides high. Innumerab,e activi-
ties go ahead with a thousand arms,
and the pickax struck mine, and the
battery made discovery, and the in
vestmerit yielded 20 per cent, and the
book came to its twentieth edition,
and. the farm quadrupled in valde. and
the sudden fortune hoisted to high po-
sition, and The children were praised.
and friends without number swarmed
into the family hive, and prosperity
sang in the music and stepped in the
dance and glowed in the wine and ate
at the banquet, and all the gods of mu-
sic and ease and gra tifica tion gathered
around this Jupiter holding in his
hands so many thunderbolts os>poMer
But every sun must set, and the bright
est day must have its twilight. Sudden
~ the sky was overcast. The fountain
dried up. The song hushed. The wolf
broke into the family fold and carried
off the best lamb. A deep howl of woe
came crashing through the joyous SYM
phonies. At one rough twang of the
hand of"disaster the harpstrings all
broke. Down went the strong business
firm! Away went long esta blished
credit! Up flew flock of calumnies!
The new book would not sell! A pat
ent could not be secured for the inven-
ton! Stocks sank like leadl The in
surance company exploded! 'How
much" says the sheriff, twill you bid
for this piano? How much for this IL
; brary? How much for this family pic
ture? How much2 VIII you let it go
at less than half price? Going-going
-gone!"
Will the grace of God hold one up in
such circumstances? What has become
of the great multitude of Gods chill
dren who have been pounded of the
fail and crushed under the wheel and
trampled under hoof? Did they lie
down in the dust, weeping, wailing and
crashing their teeth? Did they when
they were afflicted like Job curse God
and want to die? When the rod of
fatherly chastisement struck them.
did they strike back? Because they
found one bitter cup on the table of
Gods supply, did they upset the whole
table? Did they kneel down at their
empty money vault and say: cali my
treasures are gomez" Did they stand
by the grave of their dead, saying:
''There never will be resurrection
Did they bemoan their thwarted
plans and say: 1.-THE stocks are down;
Would God were dead?" Did the night
of their disa ster come upon them moon
less, starless,. dank and how,ing,
smothering and choking their life out I?
No. no! At eventide it was light. The
swift promises overlook them. The
eternal constella tions, from their cir
cult about Gods throne. poured down
an infinite luster. Under their shin
ing the pillows of trouble took on
crests and plumes of gold and jasper
and amethyst and flames. All the trees
of life rustled in the midsummer of
Gods love. The night blooming assur-
ances of Christ's sympathy filed all the
atmosphere with Heaven. The soul at