The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1889-02-27

who listen with moist eye as you tell them
OF suffering and who have pathos In their
voice, and kindness In their manner and an
excuse or an allaviation for those gone as
trayi They are the men who have graduated
at the Royal Academy OF Trouble, and they
have the di Iona written In wrinkles on
their own countenance. My myi What
heartaches they hadl What tcrs they
have weptl What injustice they have
suffered The mghtieat influences for puri-
iication and salvation is trouble. No dIa-
moud fit for Il crown unit II is cut. No
wheat fit for bread till it is ground. There
are only three things that Can break of
q rhain-a hammer, file, or fire; and
trouble is all three OF them. The greatest
writers, orators, aud reformcrs get much OF
their force from trouble WHAT gave 10
Washington Irv ny that exquisite tender
ness and path which will make his books
iavOritcs while the English language con-
tinues to be written aud spokeni An early
heartbreak that he never once mentioned;
and when, thirty years fter the death OF
Matilda Hoffman, who was to have been his
bride. her father picked up piece OF en-
embroidery and said: "That Is piece OF
poor Matida's wor Smanship," Washington
Irving sank from hilarity into silence and
walked away. Out Of that lifetime OF grief
the great author dipped his penis mghtiest
reinforcement "Calvin's Institutes Of Re-
ligion,n than " ich a more wonderful book
was never written by human hand was be-
gun by the author at twenty-five years Of
age, becanse OF the persecution by Francis,
King of France. Farnday toilei for all time
on u salary Of eighty pounds ye = and can
dies. As ev ~ brick OF the wall OF Babylon
was stamped with The lctt'- N, sta ding for
Nebuchadnezz 30 every part OF the tenn
pie of Christian achievement is stamped
with the letter 7, Standing for trouble.
Wien IN Olen time a man was TO be hon.
ored with kniqhthOod he was struck with
the fiat Of the sword. But those who have
come to the honor o. knig thOod in the king
dom Of God were first t uok, not with the
fat Of the rd, but with the keen ed re Of the
cine er. To build his magniiiceuce Of char.
acter Paul could not have spared one lash,
one prison, one stoning, one anaihema,
one poisonous viper from the hand one
shipwreck. Whit is true of individuals Is
true OF nations The horrors Of the Ameri-
can Revolution gave this country this side
OF the Mississippi river to in Iepend &c and
the conflict between Eng and ard France
gave the most of this country west II the
Mississippi TO tie United Statc.. France
owned IT, but Napo con. fearing that En-
gland would take IL, practically made a
present 10 the United S,ates--ror he re-
ceived only ;l5,OOOOt--o Louisiana, Mis-
,ouri, Arkansas. Kansa', Nebraska, Iowa,
Minnesota Colorado, Dakota Montana Wy
oming and the Indian rerr itory. Out Of
the fire of the American Revolution came
this country east OF the Mississippi, out
OF the European war came that west
Of the Mississippi river. The British
Empire rose TO its present o1et wering
grandeur through gunpo WIDER plot, and
Guy Fawkes conspiracy, and Northampton
insurrection, and Walter Raleigh's behead-
ing, and Bacon bribery, and Cromwrll's
diss luton Of Parliament, and the battles OF
Edge HILL and Grantham. and Newberry,
and MarstOn Moor, and Naseby, and Dunbar,
and Sedgemoor, and execution Of Oh rles
the First and London plague, and London
fire, and London insurrection, and Ryehouse
plot and the vlcissitudes OF centuries. So
the earth itself, before II could become an
appropriate and beautiful residence for the
human family, had, according 10 geology,
70 be washed by universal dc luge and
scnrched and made incandescent by uni
versal fires. and pounded by sledge-hammer
Of icebergs and wrenched by earthquakes
that split contiaents, and shaken BY
volcanoes that tossed mountains, and
passed through the catastrophes Of
thousands OF years before Paradise
became possible and the groves could shake
out their green banners and the first garden
! pour its carnage OF color between the Gihon
and HIddekcl Trouble good thing for the
rocks, good thii g for nations, as well as q
| good thing for individuals. 30 when you
! push against me with a sharp Interrogation
point, why do the good sufferl Iopen the
dark saying on harp, and, though can
neither play an orgnn or coronet, or haut-
boy, or buglo, or clarionet, / have taken
some lessons on the gospel harp, and II you
would like 10 hear me will play you these |:
FAN things work together for the good OF
those who love God" snow no cha tenng
for the present scemeth 10 be joyous, but
grievous; nevertheless afterward IL yield
eth all possible fruits OF Righteousness
unto them which are exercised there
by.n "Weeping may endure for night,
bnt 10Y comeh in the morning"
What a sweet thing Is harp, and ] won
der not that In Wales, the countryof my IN
cestors, the harp has bIc1lns the national
instrument, and that they have festivals
where great priz . are offered in the compe-
tition between harp and harp; or that weird
Sebastian Erard was much OF his time b mt
over this chorded aud vibrating triangle,
and was not satisfied until he had given II a
compass OF six octavcs from + 10 4 with all
the semilones, or that when King Saul W s
demented tho son OF Jesse came before him
and putting his fingers among tile charmed
strln ~ OF the harp played the devil out OF
the crazcd monarch, or that In Heaven there
shall be harpers harping with the harps. So
you will not blame me for opening the dark
say ing on the gospel harp.
Your hnrps. We iremb inT saints,
Down fr m h whloas ate;
Loud IN the ais of low divine
Bidev.Iy STING awaoe!
Interrogation third: Why did good God
let sin and trouble come into the world
when He might have kept them oull NV
reply Is, He had good reason. He bad
reasons which He could no more make Us
understand In our finite state than the father
starting out on some great and elaborate
enterprise could make the two year-Old child
In It's armchair comprehend IT, One was
TO demonstrate what grandeur Of character
may be achieved on earth by conquering
evil. Had there been no evil tocopquer and
no trouble 10 console, then this universe
would never have known an Abraham or
Moses or q Joshua or an Ezekiel or q
Paul or Christ or n Washington or a
John Milton or John Howard, and a
million vict rles which have been gained
by tho consecrated spirits OF all ages