Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1870-02-15
Borrowers of Trouble.

Inc sOul, ilhe JOu, It's source duu seat
Is solemn, still, serene, sublime.
Borrowers of Trouble.
Our relations of knowledge to the events
Of the future are those of partial and i'm
perfect sight While we cannot and should |
not wholly exclude coming time from our !
thoughts, and thus live only in the present, |
it is equally true that we can never fully |
penetrate its secrets. Much of it must of |
necessity be unknown, except to that Be- |
ing with whom thousand years ale as |
one day, and one day as a thousand years. |
Such being the state and also the limita- |
ton of human knowledge, then properly |
to deal with the future, especially in refer
to its unknown and unexplored events, is a |
point of practical wisdom that has a very
vital bearing upon ones happiness. 1t is |
just here that the borrowers of trouble usu- |
ally commit their great mistake. Not con-
tent patiently to bear the trials and burdens
of the present, they send a Geographic dis
patch into the future, to get the first news
of what may be. They reckon up the ac-
count of what is to be in gloomy figures,
and hence manage to bring themselves
largely in debt to prospective calamity
There are no special reasons in their case,
different from those which are common to
all men, why they should turn prophets
against themselves and against the beney-
olence of God. 1t is their habit thus to
mediate and speculate in reference to the
coming future. An augury of evil belongs
to the quality of their vision rather than to
any existing facts which either demand or
justify it.
Sternly and terribly do these croaking
borrowers of trouble pay for this mental
habit. 1t always charges them a very high
rate of interest. They would be quite Sc
rene in thought, and content to delight
themselves with the blessings and Joys of
the present hour if they did not anticipate
so much evil that they may never live to
experience. Things as they are would
make them composed and happy, if they
did not cruelty murder their own peace
with morbid dreams. AT every turn and
corner of life. they are on the look out for
evil tidings What is to be is so promin-
ent an object of anxious thought that they
have very little relish for what is They
hence destroy both the present and the flu
ture, except as elements of mental Attic
ton. OF course, they are not and cannot
be hOpers. They are too mOpish to hope
and far too heavily laden with evil proph-
ecy to enjoy the real blessings of life, or do
its work with effective vigor Make the
present ever so balmy and inviting, and
they have not the good sense toaccept it in
thankfulness; and if a slight cloud should
happen to overhang it, then the future will
be as dark as Egyptian midnight. Such
persons we have known in the church and
out of it, and always known them sincerely
to pity them. Their moods of mind keep
their bOsOms IN a constant turmoil; and
so long as these moods remain, there is no
rest for them any where, or under any cir
cumsances. They are their own victims.
In one sense we look upon them as cow
ards, not sufficiently heroic hopefully to
make the voyage of life. In another sense
they are the chronic subjects of a severe
and permanent mental dyspepsia.
1t is very simple matter to give the
diagnosis of this cowardice or disease, cal
it which you please, its symptoms are per
fectly obvious; but it is not so easy to pre-
scribe the remedy and induce the patien
to take it. And yet it is always true o
every one who makes it business to Dor
row trouble from the future. that he mus
himself correct his own errors of thought
or pay the penalty in perpetual Dispute
tude This he must do, or life will be t.
him wretched and gloomy day. TIL
great difficulty is with himself, and no
with things. While there is prudential
q, wisdom in always preparing for the worst
there is equal wisdom in always hoping 70
the best. Hope is better than despair
The one is a power, and the other weak
ness and calamity.
Attend then to the duties of the present
we persistent and stereotyped borrowers c
> trouble, and make good use oft in its priv
{ ileges and enioyments, seek to be happ
~ just as you are, and let the future take car
Il of itself-or, rather, let God take care of i
Il God will manage its events according t
the sovereign pleasure of his own wise an
g unerring will. To leave it with him in fl
C ial reliance upon his paternal providenC
/" of wisdom and grace is far better than t
be forever torturing ones self with fruitle'
y signs over what may be. This course
!! alike conducive to the peace and virtue
the soul, while the opposite is friendly
. neither. So live as to give no Just occasio
~ for the evil surmisings Of guilty col
10 science, so live as to have nothing to fe;
from the existence and attributes of Go
Do and then understand once for all and 70
10 ever that this God is pledged to make a
. things work together for your good. Doir
w. this you may safely leave his unwriten wi
l1 to be published when and as it shall plea
- him. Doing this, you will be more NOR
% heroes in life, and triumphant victors
NJ death. Take the remedy and be at peac
W We borrowers of trouble! We know of
- other prescription that is suited to 20
case, or that promises an effective cure