The Oskaloosa herald., 1902-06-05

@N( ak1.a 80
ing to hide in caves, and dens of the
earth. Yet at the death of his king
he broke out into this most pathetic
OF all ,aments.
"The beauty of Israel is slain upon
thy high places; how are the mighty
fallen.
Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be
no dew, neither let there be rain nor
fields of offerings, for there the shield
of h mighty is vilely cast away, the
shield of Saul, as though he had not
been anointed with oil.
Saul and Jonathan were lovely and
pleasant in their lives, and in their
death lhey were not divided, they were
swifter than eagles, they were stronger
than lions.
Ye daughters of Israel, weep over
Saul, who clothed you with scarlet,
who put on ornaments of gold upon
your apparel.
How are the mighty fallen in the
midst of the battle. o Jonathan, thou
vast slain in thy high places.
/ am distressed for thee, my brother
Jonathan; very pleasant hast thou been
unto me-"
When David was seated upon the
throne and was the busiest man in
the world in leading his armies to
battle, and in trying to pacify his d.
vided subjects he wrote many of the
sublimest psalms, beginning with
BLESSED is the man who walketh not
in the council of the ungodly, and
standeth in the way of sinners, nor
| stitch in the seat of ~thescornful. But
his delight is in the law of the Lord;
and in his law doth he mediate day
and night. He shall be like a tree
planted by the rivers of waters, that
bringeth forth his fruit in his sea-
son; his leaf shall not wither, and
whatsoever he doeth shall prosper"
If David, when a boy, had been
taken from following the sheep and
sent to a school of the prophets, there
is no likelihood that he would ever
have been heard of again, and we
never would have had those beautiful
psalms, in which nature figures so
sublimely.
In the eastern countries the women
have been the busiest and have borne
the hardest of the burdens. So let us
see how their thoughts will compare
with some of our Doctors of Divinity
who think it Is a disgrace in these
days, for preachers to work. Ruth
was a young widow who had had
much sickness in her family and was
thankful for a chance to earn her
bread by cleaning after the reapers
all day in the hot sum-. When her
mother-in-law wanted her to turn back
to her own people and not go win
her, afoot, on the long journey to
Bethlehem, the brave woman said:
"Intreat me not to leave thee, or to re-
turn from following after thee; for
whittier thou goest / will go; and
whittier thou lodgest / will lodge; thy
people shall be my people, and thy
God my God. Where thou diest, |
will die, and there will | be buried;
the Lord do so to me and more If
aught, but death part me and thee"
Deborah, the phophetess, was a busy
woman, but when Barak, the general
of Israel, proved to be a coward she
led their small army against the hosts
of the Cananites, with their nine
hundred ehariots Of iron. When the
enemy was utterly routed and their
general slain by the hand of a woman,
Deborah broke out in the beautiful
song found in the fifth chapter Of
Judges.
So far we have failed to find that
labor and even the hardest kind OF
drudgery has dulled the minds OF
Gods spokesmen. Now let us see
what idleness, leisure and luxury will
do for them. Although there were
two or three of the ancient prophets
who came from the line of the priests,
yet they were chased aboyt, driven
from their homes, sent into exile,
sawn asunder and prosecuted in every
conceivable way until we will have to
class them with the laborng men. SO
there is only one subject among the
writer's of the Old Testament that will
do to compare with a modern Doctor
of Divinity, and that is King Solomon.
He built the finest church in the
world. He had hundreds of singers
and musical instruments. He had
wealth and honor and wisdom, above
all other men. He never had to do a
days work, and never earned a
penny by the sweat of his face. Never
did a cloud of persecution overshadow
his life. The kings of the earth brought
their tithes and laid them at his feet.
And yet with all these blessings and
favors he was a failure. In his early
life, while his mind was yet clear
from the baptism of wisdom from God,
he did and said many wise things,
But after a few years spent in ease
and luxury he became gloomy and
seemed to have no hope for this world
or the next.
Let us quote a little from his ser
mons: ''The words of the Preacher,
the son of David, King in Jerusalem +;
vanity of vanities, saith the preacher;
vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What
profit hath a man of all his labor
which he taketh under the sun"
In the next sermon he begins in the
same strain: 81, the preacher, was
king over Israel in Jerusalem, and |
gave my heart to seek and to search
out by wisdom concerning all things,
that are lone under heaven, this sore
travail hath God given TO the sons OF
man to be exercised Herewith. |
have seen all the works that are done
under the sun; and behold all is
vanity and ~vexation of spirit"
Then the preacher goes on to enum.
crate his many blessings. how he in.
creased in iiches, and honor and
wisdom; how he "got men singers,
and women singers, and the delights
of the sons of men, as musical instru'
ments. and that of all sorts. This
also was vanity and vexation OF spirit
and there was no profit under the
sun"
He then tells how he hates life, and
how a man is no better than a beast
for both go to the same place. He
even SCOTS at the idea, that the spirit
of man goeth upward and the spirit