The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-08-31
Our Contributors.
Stand from Between Me and
the Sun"


These were the words, which Plutarch
says were used by Diogenes the Cynic, to
Alexander the Great, when commander
of the Greeks against the Persians. Sit
ting in his tub, and in profound contempt
for all human greatness and glory, when
asked by the dazzling conqueror, what
service he could render him. his reply
was, "stand from between me and the
sun"
Mythical as this old story seems to be,
there is a sense in which these words
have q most significant meaning at the
present day. There are persons who are
always coming between us and the sun
shine, shutting out the light, and keeping
away the warmth, which ought always
to shine and to radiate from the Sun of
righteousness" They may not intend it,
and if told that such was the case, they
would be as much surprised as Alexan-
der must have been at the old Cynic phil
osopher.
Self-constituted censors, who are al
ways ready to tell us how we ought to
do, shut out good deal of sunshine.
Preachers to preachers are found in all
our churches, and all of us have some
kind friends, male or female, who know
great deal more about how we ought to
preach, than the best books on Homi-
letics. have often amused myself, after
such as these had gotten out of my sun
shine, at the crude notions and profound
stupidity which thoughtless comments
had set up between me and the sunshine
One of these met me once at the foot of
the pulpit, with all the glow of the SER
vices making me as sensitive as raw
sore, and said to me, az want to tell you
that the whole of that discourse was
based upon rotten theology" What
bushel right over my candlestickl But
the next moment l found out she was
Plymouth brother, and so, l brushed her
out of my sunshine.
Another met me one blue Monday,5and
said to me, 81 feel like telling you that
your sermon yesterday suited me to
dot. OH how the sunshine sparkled
in all its radiance around my darkened
soul But the next moment, he said, 81
want to advise you, however, not to
preach many of that sort, as my taste diff
fers from the most of the people" "And
dark as Egypt" etc.
Now such comments are not intended
for unkindness. Far from it, they are
the expressions often of the deepest and
kindliest interest on the part of our best
friends. But they get between us and
the sun-and sometimes shut out the last
rays that are cleaning in soul depressed
and saddened it may be by the convic-
tions Of conscience, or some other personal
causes.
Gossips and tattlers also get between
me and the sunshine. A pastor, going
every day from house to house, among
his people, is sure to get a peep at the
closet where the family skeleton is hung
There is very apt to be one there, and
sooner or later, if sympathetic man, he
is sure to find it out, and as he is mem
Der Of all the families in his charge, in
few years there is quite an anatomical
museum about him at best. But to have
these gossips acceding to Mark Twain
request, and "trotting out fresh corpse,
is too much for mere flesh and blood.
And next to this, is to have them trying
to worm out of his sacred confidence, for
the purpose of scandal, some of those sad
secrets that lie buried in his pastor's
heart. And this is often done so adroitly.
that the poor man is afterwards mortified
and ashamed at having been made the
dupe Of a prurient curiosity.
But apart from such as these, there are
such things as sickness and death that
will sometimes stand between us and the
sunshine. The constant watching with
an anxious heart, over one as dear as life,
and who is steadily drifting away from
us with the receding tide. This shuts
out the sunshine from many a home and
from many heart. The constant huc-
tuation Of hope and fear-with the
change Of scene and the change of rem