The Red Cloud chief., 1881-09-01
International Sunday School Lessons.
The Sunny Side.

Take the sunny side of homo. The
home i the ~sunniest side Of every great
people. Without devotion 20 home
there can be no devotion TO country
The home is the cradle of patriotism;
ii is the fountain OF happiness not only
10 individuals. but 10 nations as well,
and it is the one spot of earth that
should be guarded from needless shad-
ows. Enough must come to each. even
when most faithfully guarded by all the
multiplied Offices of love; but few there
are who make their homes what they
could or should be.
Take the sunny side Of faith. The
doubling, distrusting. unbelieving are
among the most unfortunate ani pitis-
BILE Of all classes Of people. Have faith
in yourself, in your fellows. in your
home, III Your religion. in everything
that has capabilities for good. Deceit
is a prevalent vice, and it will often
grievc you, but it is vastly better 10
mourn over disappointment than To a.
low general distrust 10 make you gen
orally miserable with yourself and all
about you. We thoughtlessly call ours
an age Of unbel!ef, but ii is not more so
thai nv hSNNo Va u IGLSb. ia 4tllltiit
that the inidel and the scoffer are bold
er. and hare greater following than in
what we call the better days of our
fathers, but it is not So. Paine. Frank
lin and Jefferson were men of like re-
ligiouS views. They were honored as
patriots, and two OF them made their
ame immortal among the founders Of
free government, and one of them
doomed his name and memory TO exe-
Grafton for making his boosted unbelief
a fountain of blasphcmy. There is o
day, less open unbeiiei than there was
n century ago. and what we have is
brought into prominence by the free
dom Of disputation and the universal
publicity which obtain in our times.
Take the sunny side of religion. The
time was. when 10 publicly accept the
religion of our civilization, was to &C.
cept public reproach and often TO invite
martyrdom. There was then no sunny
side 10 religion. save the hope of the
better life beyond; but in this enlight-
ened age our religion is the common
law of the State. and follows the flag of
our Nation to the remotest region Of the
world. 1t is so highly respected that
men defle it by hypocrisy to dignity
their positions in society. There is
everything. therefore. to make religion
the sunshine of life. but how many
there are who cloud religion with re-
pulsive deform:ties. There are some
who mistake dyspepsia for religion. and
how horribly they rack themselves un-
der the delusion that they are, in some
way or other. doing Gods service.
They see sin in every smile, in every
enjoyment, in every ray of sunshine
that peeps into the home or the social
or business circle. The sunny. dimple-
faced child is taught by them to look
upon religion as one of the mournful
things of earth, and TO wonder why q
merciful God made the worship OF Him.
self such a ghastlv work. If such peO-
pie could worry their way into heaven
and take their religion with them. they
would silence the song Of the redeemed.
and the pearly gates would have to be
guarded with iiaming swords 10 keep
the children of the angelic throng from
playing truant.
Take the sunny side Of death. Sooner
or later it must come TO all. and at the
latest it is only a few swiftly passing
days distant. Kings and potentates
have no refuge from the summons Of
the dreaded messenger. Death is the
great leveler of man. and dust TO dust
the heritage of all. Why. then. should
we shrink from its contemplation Why
Danish it from our thoughts with shud-
der? 1t is not rational to permit death
To shadow our lives; nor is it rational To
turn in terror from what must As surely
come as O-morrow's sun. Those who
arc suddenly chilled day after day by
the thought of death either shadow
their lives by misdeeds. or reject the
philosophy that should make every well
ordered life wait serenely for its end.
The rational apprehension Of the up
right man is. not that he may fall too
soon in the race. but that he may linger
too long and outlive everything but
hope.-C3l0ael 4. X. Nc C7urc's address
at Leaiyh University.