, 1876-11-18

men WHO hdNt Nl'NSWN wv H''''SA "l''
orhirycd the most, who have dome the
nrunlcst and greatest things Tor human.
it's, you will find that they we're not the
men who had everything they wished,
Tnry were the mrn who fought the bat.
tie Of LIE mch by inch, hy sheer force oI
will aud character, amt who came oil
congurors ut last in spite Of the dillicul.
ties that were before them; and they
wrought themselves up into higher and
uoblcr men and women by virtue of this
struggle with the difficulties Of their sur
roundngs, just as the man IN the gym.
nasum fits himself for the contest
makes his muscles strong. his tcndons
firm, and regulates and builds up the
whole physical condition OF his being,
We have no right, on the score Of this
Divine obligation to humanity to say
that we should be spared the loss OF
friends, for, since believe that God is
under obligation to answer these ycarn.
ings of our hcarts-at any rate, father
would-snce | believe, l say, that he is
under obligation, by virtue of his own
goodness and love, to answer these ycnrn-
ings of our hearts that long for those
who have been taken away from US, we
may believe that death does not contra
dict his goodness, does not contradict his
lOyc. does not contradict his fithcrly,
tender care. He is under no obligation
to keep us from sorrow, from struggle,
from heart.achc, from tears for so far
as we can see, these things consist per.
frctly with the noblcst human character,
and the grandest outcome OF human life.
The finest, truest, sweetest characters
that ever met have been those who
have suffered and Gods obligation to
us is not that he shall give us always
sunshine but that he shall give us that
which is best Do you not know, do
you not experience it every day-you
who have children about your feet-how
sometimes your very love and tenderness
compel YOU to force child into a path
that means temporary suffering to the
child1 1t is your foresight that it will
be tor the clld's good, that it is q ncces.
sity Ofthe child's cOndition-it is this
alone that gives you the nerve to do it,
for it is not the child only that suffers
when the true and tender father lays up
on it some burden. The fathers heart
and the mothers heart, pcrchance, suffer
more than the child was capable of; and
yet the wisdom and the love compel the
suffering. God is under obligation, then,
to see to 1t that our life, on the whole, be
for the best.
have just one or two practical sug
gestions. l know that a doctrine like
this which l am speaking OF this morn
ing is liable to msconCeption, liable to
be turned from its true intent and made
an excuse for looseness, for laziness, for
selishness ofhving. | believe that every
single human being on earth is to use the
expressive phrase of Frances Power Cobb
''doomcd 10 be saved" What then
Does it make any dilferencel May we
indulge ourselves-have good time
eat and drink No salvation is no
such easy thing Ns it has been popular
ly conceived-simpIy released from one
place and admitted to another having
u gate open at your feet and being well
coined into the god-strccted city. Sal
walton, | say, is no such easy thing as
this. Salvation is thing of character,
OF life, and the simple fact that you are
"doomed to be saved" may mean to you
all that you can conceive of hell. 1t may
mean sorrow it may mean scourging !;
" may mean the divine discipline that
Shall take away from you all that you
have lcaraed and habituated yourself to
love because the power of Omnipotence
and the wisdom of Omnipotence, and
the love of Omnipotence are committed
to this work of driving you, If need be,
into noble character and noble living.
as Robert Falchoner says to his father, in
that wonderful work of George Macdon
aid, " Father, it is Of no use for you to
indulge yourself any longer. ltis no use
for you to run away from the memories
of the past, to forget you have ever been
q man, anl sink down TO the lowest
A.