Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-10-21
NO GOOD WITHOUT PAIN,
Personal Holiness Rea ched Only Through
Struggle and Suffering.

Struggle and Suffering.
Our preachers often tell us, in COM
mending a useful life, that it costs but
little to do good. In a sense this is
true. Without great outlay, either of
money or of energy, one may do many
helpful things. Yet there is sense in
which one can not be a real blessing in
this world save at much cost. 1t is
true, as a general principle, that
nothing is worth more than it costs
Even a grain of wheat must fall into
the earth and die before it can Weld
any harvest, and we have our Lord S
authority for carrying the analogy into
human life. To be truly useful we
must die to self and to all personal
ambitions and longings. HE that
loveth his life loseth it; and he that
hateth his life in this world shall keep
it unto life eternal"
So We have our choice. We may
live for self. take good care of our
lives. not exposing them to danger,
not making personal sacrifices, having
keen eye always for our own inter-
ests and advancement Then we NAV
reach old age hale and well preserved.
People may congratulate us on our
well-preserved state, and we may have
considerable pride in the result of our
prudence and carefulness.
There certainly seems something
quite pleasant about such life, but in
reality it is only the grain of wheat
preserved in the garner and kept from
falling into the earth. There is no
harvest. The life abides by itself
alone, well enough kept, but with no
increase. 1t has been no blessing to
the world. That is, indeed, the whole
outcome of seltishness. The other way
to live is altogether to forget self-not
to think of or care for ones own life,
but to throw it away in obedience to
God and in devotion to His service
People will say you arc foolish thus to
waste your golden life, thus to sacrifice
yourself in ways that return no profit.
But Christ made no mistake when He
went straight on to His cross rather
than turn aside to save His life; and no
one makes a mistake who follows Him.
The truth is we can not be great
blessings in this world, and at the
same time take good care of our own
lives. That which costs us nothing is
worth nothing. This principle lies
a great deal deeper in the heart of all
life than we are apt to think. All
along the ages, whatever is good and
beautiful and worthy has been the
fruit of suffering and pain. Civiliza-
ton has advanced through wars, rev.
olutions and failures. through the ruin
and overturning of empires and king
doms. Every thoughtful reader of the
worlds history understands this.
What Christian civilization is to-day.
1t is as the harvest of centuries of
weary struggle and toll, and human
failure. Earth's thrones of power are
built on the wrecks of hopes that have
failed. Every advice worth recording
Ia been made through carnage and
disaster. 1t seems that without she'd
ding of blood there is not only no re-
mission of sins, but no growth, no
progress in life. Heavens victorious
throngs, wearing white robes and way
ing branches of palm. come up out of
great tribulation. Even Jesus appears
in glory as Lamb that has been slain;
His blessedness is the fruit of suffering.
And We know that all the joys and
honors of redemption come from the
cross, and that personal holi-
ness is reached only through struggle
and suffering. Thus whatever is good
in earth and in Heaven is the outcome
of sacrifice. pain and death. D. Il.
Miller, in S. S. Times.