Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-03-14
Above Our Troubles.

have noticed that when birds Ar.
emigrating they fly SO high that M
fowler's aim can disturb them. Whas
they fly lowest they are seldom within
the reach of the gun. l remember that
when l used to fire at the great flocks Of
fowls that were flying in the air tho NJ.
most effect upon them was to CAUSE
them to separate, only to come together
again in an instant. So does God enahla
his people to fly so far above the world
that the troubles by which other men
are smitten down only AUS them to
swerve from their course, which thev
instantly resume. and follow again, with
strong beat and full speed. It is a great
thing to live higher than trouble, higher
than disappointments, higher than mis-
chiefs that would embroil us; and We
may do it. If we propose to do ii, il
we feel the need of doing it, il we are
determined to do it, then we can do it.
If we seek for this supernal state Of
high, spiritual living, as we seek for
other things, we shall find it. If we
search for it as for hidden treasures We
shall surely not miss it.
And when we have come to that state,
we are not, as some perhaps may Think
rendered unfit for the world and worldly
business. 1t is just the state that rem
ders q man fit for these things. When
you have been excited even by lower
influences. when you have received some
exhilarating news, when some good
fortune has bcfallen you and raised
your spirits, you can do rs much work
in a day, and do it quite as easily, as
ordinarily. You know that the effect
of %exaltation springing from lower
things, even, is to tighten your burden
in life. And if the Divine Spirit rests
on you mind it will enable you to carry
yourself q great deal easier through the
trials and perplexities Of your worldly
experience than you otherwise could.
But we are like ducks. We have
wings, but we never fly. We go walk
ing clumsily along the land one aide at
a time, day by day. We are made ca
pable of soaring, with all the promises
and pledges that God Almighty can ut
ter; but we creep, we walk, we Stun
BILE, we fall behind. We are weak, like
other men. We are, at times, of all
men most miserable; burdened with
conscience, darkened IN reason, wor-
ried and fretted in affection, full of
%yearnings unfulflled and desires unsat-
isfied, tempest-tossed, and not com
forted; and yet all the while there is q
provision in nature and grace for lifting
us out of these things and making us
what? Children of light
Can you not imagine a bird to fly SO
high that to it the sun setsp Night
is only the shadow of the earth; and can
you not imagine a bird to be lifted so
high that no darkness and no night
comes upon it, and it is q child of light?
1t is because we live SO low that we do
not find our Christian experience to be
what u imagination pictured it.
Blessed are they with whom is this
secret of God. Blessed are they to
whom is fulfilled the promise of God
that He will hide them in His pavilion
until the storm is overpast. And when
you live as seeing Him every day and
every hour, just as if He were present
before you; when you live with a full
reliance that Heaven, and not earth, is
your true home; when you live so that
you can say sincerely: ''All the things
l seek here are not worthy to be COM
pared with the Joy l have laid up for
me there; there my mind rests, there
my treasure is, and there is my heart
also;' when you come into that state in
which the power of the world to come
is stronger on you than the power of
the world that n-then you will
have this peace, and. out of it and with
it, this e%xaltation: and man can not
hurt you; the devil can not overcome
you; the world can not seduce nor cir
cumvent you: God will be for you; and
who can be against YOU'LL ". Beech.
er.