The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-03-13

the letter 7. standing for trouble.
When in olden time man was to be hon
ored with knighthood, he was struck with
the fat Of the sword. But those who have
come to the honor Of knighthood in the
kingdom OF God were first struck not with
the fiat of the sword but with the keen
edge Of the crimeter. To build his magnl.
fcence of character, Paul could not
have spared one lash, one prison, one ston'ng,
one anathema, one poisonous viper from
the hand. one shipwreck. What IS true OF
individuals is true Of nations. The horrors OF
the American revolution gave this country
this side of the Mississippi River to indie
pendence. and the conflict between Eng
land and France gave the most OF this
country west of the Mississippi to the United
States. France owned it. but Napoleon,
fearing that England would take it. prac-
tically made present to the , United nit states.
for he received only 81, 600, OOO-of Louis
lana. Missouri. Arkansas, Kansas. Ne
braska. Iowa. Minnesota. Colorado. Dakota.
Montana, Wyoming and the Indian Terri
tory. Out c7 the fire of the American revolu-
tion came this country east OF the Mississippi.
out of the European war came that west
Of the Mississippi River The British EN-
pire rose to its present overtowering, gran
deur through gunpowder plot, and Guy
Fawkes's conspiracy, and Northampton in
surrection, and Walter Raliegh's beheading,
and Bacon's bribery, and Cromwelrs dtsso-
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 Charles
the First, and London plague, and
london fire, and Londo1 insur.
rection and Ryehouse plot, and the vlcissi-
tudes of centuries. So the earth itself, be-
full residence for the human family had,
according to geology, to be washed by uni
versal deluge, and scorched and made in
candescent BY universal fires, and pounded
by sledge. hammer of icebprgs, and wrenched
by earthquakes that split continents, 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 the Hiddeke!. Trouble a good
thing for the rocks, a good thing for
nations, as we'll as good thing for In
diviluals. So when you push against me
with a sharp Interrogation point, Why do
the good suffer? open the dark saying on
harp and shSugh sa neither bnss Day an
clarionet have taken some lessons on the
gospel harp, and if you would like to hear
me l will play you these: Gall things work
together for good to those who love Cod"
Now no Christening for the present seemeth to
be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless after.
righteousness unto them which are exer.
cised thereby" weeping may en-
dure for night but joy cometh in
the morning. What a sweet thing Is a
harp, and I wonder not that in Wales, the
country Of my ancestors, the harp has be-
come the national instrument, and that they
have festivals where great prizes are offered
in the competition between harp an harp;
or that weird Sch Sebastian S, Err Erard dso.Sss was
and vibrating triangle, and was not
satisfied until he had given it a com.
pass of six octaves from Z to E with all the
semi-t tones, or that when King Saul was de.
mented the son Of Jesse came before him
and putting his fingers among the charmed
strings Of the harp played the devil out OF
the crazed monarch, or that in heaven there
So you will not blame me for opening the
dark saying on the gospel harp.
Your herps, ye trembling saints.
Down from the willows take;
Loud 10 the praise OF love divine
Bid every string awake!
Interrogation third: Why did good God
let sin and trouble come into the world when
He might have kept them out? My reply is,
He had good reason. He had reasons that
He has never given us. He had reasons which
He could no more make us understand
starting out on some great and
elaborate enterprise could make the two
year-old child in its armed chair compre-
hend it. Cne was TO demonstrate what
grandeur of character may be achieved on
earth by conquering evil. Had there been
no evil to conquer and no trouble TO console,
then this universe would never have
I,-ol ol,o,~, ch,,o
or an Ezekiel or Paul or a Christ or
Washington or a John Milton or a John
Howard, and million victories which have
been gained by the consecrated spirits Of oil
ages would never have been gained. Had
there been no bate there would have
been no victory. Nine-tenths OF the anthems
of heaven would never have been sung.
Heaven could never have been thousan!th
part Of the heaven that it is I will not say
that am glad that sin and sorrow did
enter. but l do say that l am glad that
after God has given all His reasons to an
assembled universe He will be more
honored than if sin and sorrow had never
entered and that the unfa!len ce!estials will
be outdone and will put down their trumpets
to listen and it will be in heaven when tLo;e
who have conquered sin and sorrow shall
enter, as it would be in n small sing
ing school on earth if Thalberg and
Gottschalk and Wagner and Beethoven and
Rheinherger and Schumann should all at
on"e enter. the immortals that have been
chanting ten thousand Years before the
throne will say, as they close their librettoS:
"Oh, il We cou'd only sing like that"
But God will say to those who have never
fallen and consequently have not been re-
eemed: You must Re silent now; you
have not the qualification for this anthem
80 they sit with closed lips and f>ldel hands
and sinners saved by grace take up the
harmony, for the Bible says mo man could
learn that song but the hundred and forty and
four thousand which were redeemed from
the earth.'
A great prima donna, who can now do
anything with her voice, told me that when
she first started in music her teacher In
Berlin tod her she could be a good singer,
but a certain note she could never reach;
"And then" she said, 81 went to work and
reach it, But the song Of the
sinner redeemed, the Bible says,
the exalted barmonists who have
never sinned could not reach and never Will
reach. Would you like to hear me in very
poor way play snatch of that tune! can
give you only one bar of the music on this
gospel harp: Unto Him that hath loved US
and washed US from our sins in n;Ian HIS own Sw5
priests unto Col and the Lamb, to
Him be glory and dominion forever
and ever, Amer" But before leaving this
interrogatory, Why God let sin come into
the world! let ME say that great battles seem
to be nothing but suffering and outrage at
the time of their occurrence, yet after they
have been a long while past We can see that
it was better for them to have been fought,
namely, Salamis, Inkerman. Toulouse, Ar
bella, Agincourt, Trafalgar, Blen-
helm, Lexington. Sedan. So now
that the great battles against sin and suf-
ering are going on we can see mostly that
which is deplorable But twenty thousand
years from now, standing in glory, we shall
appreciate that heaven is better of than if