St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-02-13
DEPREssION's HEAVY HAND.
DIR. Shutter Talks of the Cause and
Cure of DespOndency,

At the Grand Opera house, Rev.
Marion ID. Shutter preached from Gal.
vi: 8. ''Be not weary in well-dOing, for
in due season we shall reap if we faint
not.''
In pursuing our moral tasks, depres-
sion often lays its heavy hand upon the
soul. The skies are black, the earth is
dreary. There is neither light nor in
spiratiOn. If we have tried to live above
the vulgar level, it seems hardly worth
while to continue the struggle. There
are times when all creation seems
against us. But it is not SO. We shall
see that the universe is not against us,
but for us. There is right way and
there is wrong way to deal with de-
spondency. The wrong way is to let it
crush us and drive US into dissipation.
The right way is to ascertain the causes,
remove them if possible, if not make
them sources of strength. Depression
often comes from physical causes. A
change in the weather, cold in the
head, fit of indigestion, overstrained
nerveS-theSe things are responsible for
much that is called backsliding IN the
religious world. The seat of human
depravity is not so much the heart as
the liver. Dyspepsia is responsible for
most of the dark, blue theology in the
world. There are times when judiciOuS
physician can do more for us than the
minister. A little exercise in the
open air will frequently conquer the
objectionable sin. Fresh air and eX-
ercise are wonderful means of grace.
But what if the cause be not one that
can be removed? Make it means of
help and strength. Profit by every
thing: by adverse criticism, by the lack
nf nInt on hn ri 0f nft
by the failures of those in whom we
trusted, by the persistence of tempta-
ton and trial. Learn their lessons.
Use them as opportunities, as materi-
ais out of which character may be
builded. The stairway that lets one
down into dark cellar will also lead
him upward to the light. The circum-
stances that bring us into mental dark
ness may be thrown by the brave soul
into a highway that shall conduct
him to the glory of the sun.
Those who become weary in
well-doing must remember tn at
their work is not to be considered by it
self. 1t finds the place in the building
of God, the house not made with hands
that is rising through the ages, that will
be completed in the heavens. He must
remember also that the universe is
organized in the interests of righteous
ness; and that the divine life is all
about us and within us, to respire and
console. Let us take these principles
and act upon them with brave hearts
and willing hands. The event is COM
ing that will justify the hardest toll,
the severeSt effort i'll building up our
own moral manhood in labOring for
others. There is story in Greece of
poor boy who labored for years in a
German forest to build a little cottage,
and who awOke one morning to find that
it had heen transformed into palace
glittering with jewels. Many a poor
soul will some day awake from the
slumber that will soon press down the
eyelids of us all, to find that each gentle
word and loving deed was rising into
shapes of beauty and glory beyond the
horizon and above the sky.