Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1886-09-23
THE NORTHWEST
TFor the HOrthWest.l
Burdens.

encompassed eternity. The OK is the emblem
of service and the yoke the instrument by
which the labor is accomplished. The bur
den of life are perpetual and oppressive; each
and all at times take up the refrain, my
punishment is greater than can bear who
is sufficient for these thingsr On mans fall
the burden came uppermost, and the cumber-
som globe has maintained the ascendency
and ''the whole world groaneth and traveleth
in pain together until now" Perhaps no
word in the English language ismore signif-
cant and expressive of human experience
than burden. Burdens of the past, burdens
of the present, burdens of the future. Bur-
dens of the past in full measure by the cable
of faithful memory are piled high as the ever
lasting hills upon an awakened and strug-
Cling concience, and the soul involuntarily
cries out ''who shall deliver me from the
body of this DEATH"
AsI am penning these words there comes
flashing over the wires from Chicago the fear
full verdict that consigns to the scaffold seven
of our fellow beings and one to fifteen
years term in State prison. o, the past! the
past! How must retrospection sigh with un-
availing regret in the case of those deeply
dyed criminals, who with mastery strides
have already raised their right foot to cross
the threshold of eternity and assume the in
tolerable burden of accumulated guilt forey-
er. How much of the past, when viewed in the
light of serious meditation, has been with
them a causeless and excuseless failure. Has
there been in the history of their short life a
spark of lauable ambition in the hearts of
those crimson culprits, and has that spark as
an angelic message sent from God to incite
them to high and noble manhood, even to
blessedness of pure life rejected by the viru-
lence of depraved nature, and finally gone
out in darkness? O, could they but sever the
link that binds them to the past. With them
life has not only been a failure, sad and sor-
rowful, but in the extreme disgraceful and
criminal.
They have lived but to asperse human char
acter; the most hallowed friendships of life,
and the country of their adoption. But had
not these men in mind when I sat down to
write. The intelligence comes on the tele-
graph wire and to my room by telephone. So
we can sit in our rooms and speak almost to
the ends of the earth. What demonstration
of the wonderful possibilities of mans in
ventive genius. And are there not still high
or attitudes to which the human intellect may
ascend and enrich the world with yet more
marvellous discoveries in the realms of sci
Ax,1 khve Enl6II Aha
poses of our benefcient creator. The high
est possible intelligence, intellectual and
moral attainments come under the ban of
human obligation. Our responsibility is
commensurate with our opportunities and
possibilities. Happy is the man who recog-
nizes this truth and makes it an active prin-
ciple in his life. How vastly would it tend to
alleviate the ipnumerable burdens in the world
and augment the sum of human happiness.
The burden of omissions and commissions,
of neglected opportunities and of sad failures,
the dreadful mistakes and fatal sins commit
ed is more than human strength can master,
or the combined forces of this world can re-
move. Nothing remains but fearful look
ing forward to Judgment and fiery indigna-
ton. Nevertheless, the truth still remains;
"My yoke is easy and my burden is light"
"Cast thy burden on the Lord and he will
sustain thee" "He has borne our sorrows
and carried our griefs." Bless God that he
has provided for the world burden bearer
who graciously assumes in his strength that
which humanity in its helplessness can never
sustain. He will bury all our burdens in the
depths of the sea. There are burdens of the
present. Each day brings its cares, respon-
sibilities and anxious solicitude in behalf of
loved ones whose veal or woe, from an earth
ly stand point appears to depend upon the
purity of our intentions and faithfulness in
duty under the heavy shadow, it may be, of a
complicated net work of extraneous circum
stances which might battle the wisdom of the
most eminent philosopher. Bring it to the
Lord. "His yoke is easy and his burden is
light" Disease in malignant form enters the
family circle and lays darling child low up
on its cot. The devoted mother bends in
bitterness over the meek little sufferer. Death
soon ends the struggle but augments and in
tensifies the burden upon the parents heart.
Bring it at once to the Lord and lay it down
at his feet
These are burdens that come from the re-
lationships of life. These relationships may
have been contaminated or embroiled by the
introduction of an impure or uncongenial
element by matrimonial alliances, and the
blissful realm of home, the place of all on
earth the most fruitful in what of enjoyment
this world can afford, is awarded by an ele-
ment of too delicate a nature for common
discussion and too sacred and permanent to
admit of the faintest hope of satisfactory ad-
iustment by the wisdom of this world. Bring
it to the Lord in prayer. Whatever burdens
of to-day, of the present hour, bring them di-
rectly to the Heavenly Father; he will toss
them with the right hand of his power into
the depths of the sea.
Again there are the burdens of the future
tits characteristic of some to live most of their
lives in the future. Anticipation makes all
that is before them real, whether it be hap
piness or misery; SO the present is crowded
with evil or good as the case may be, which
never has an existence but in the imagina-
ton. Indeed, too many of us live in the fu-
ture to the neglect of the present. The fore
bodings of evil constitute a very great bur-
den grevious to be borne. The apprehension
of evil is universal. The larger portion of
this life ia coyered nv the somhra shadow of