Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-11-09

| fauls Cathedral, or o Mlchael Angelo
TO dash out his w Last Judgment"
or a Handel to discord his Israel in
Egypt" and you cannot expect God TO
spoil the architecture and music
/ Of his own world. How then are we
to be made willing to leave? Here is
whore the trouble m in. After a man
has had a good deal of trouble, he says:
: "Well, / am ready TO go. IL there is
a house somewhere whose roof doesn't
leak, / would like to live there. II
there Is an atmosphere somewhere that
does at distress the lungs, / would
like to breathe It. If there is a society
somewhere where there is no title
tattle, / would like to live there. IL
there is a home circle somewhere. where
/ a find my lost friends, / would like
to go there" He used to read the first
part of the Bible chiefly, now he reads
the last part of the Bible chiefly. Why
has no changed Genesis for Revelation?
All! he used TO be anxious chiefly to
know how this world was made, and all
about its geological construction. Now
he Is chiefly anxious to know hew the
next world "a made, and how 1t looks,
and who live there and hcw they dress.
He reads Revelation ten times now
where he reads Genesis once. The old
story, SIN the beginning Ged created
the heavens and the earth" does not
thrill him half as much as the other
story, II saw a new heaven and q new
earth" The old mans hand trembles
as he turns over this apocalyptic leaf,
and he has to take out his handkerchief
70 wipe his ~speetacles. That book Of
Revelation is o prospectus now Of the
country into which he Is to soon immi-
CRATE; the country in which he has lots
already laid out, and opened,
and trees planted, and mansions built.
The thought of that blessed place
comes over me nightly, and / declare
that IL this house were a great ship, and
you all were passengers on board it, and
one hand could launch that ship into
the glories Of heaven, l should be
tempted to take the responsibility and
launch you all into glory with one
stroke, holding on to the side OF the boat
until could get in myself. And yet
there are people here to whom this
world is brighter than heaven. Well,
dear souls, l do not blame you. 1t is
natural. But after q while you will be
ready to go. 1t was not until Job had
been worn out with bereavements and
carbuncles and q pest OF a wife that he
wanted to see God 1t was not until
the prodigal got tired Of living among
the hogs that he wanted TO go To his
fathers house. 1t is the ministry of
trouble TO make this world worth less
and heaven worth more.
Again, il is the use of trouble TO make
US feel sur complete dependence upon
God. King Alphoaso said that If he had
been present at tho creation he could
have made q better world than this.
What a pity he was not present! do
not know what God will do when some
men die. Men think they can do any
thing until God shows them they can
do nothing at all. We lay our great
plans and we like to execute them. 1t
looks big. God zones and takes as
down. As Prometheus was assaulted by
his enemy, when the lance struck him
it opned a great swelling that had
threatened his death, and he got well.
So it is the sorrow of trouble that lets
out great swellings Of pride. We never
feel our dependence upon God until we
get trouble. l was riding with my little
child along the road, and she asked II
she might drive. 1 said, Certainly"
handed over the reins TO her, and I
had 10 admire the glee with which she
drove. Blu after awhile we me q team
and we had u turn out. The road was
narrow, and il was sheer down on both
sides. She handed the reins over 10 me
and said: II think you had better take
charge of the horse" SO we are all
children; and on this road of life we
like to drive. Ii gives one such an ap-
pearance Of superiority and power. 1t
looks big. But after awhile we meet
some obstacle, and we have TO turn out,
and the road is narrow, and it is sheer
down on both sides; and then we are
willing that God should take the reins
and drive. All! my friends, we get up
set SO often because We do not hand over
the reins soon enough.
Can you not tell, when you hear a man
pray, whether he has ever had n
trouble? l can. The cadence, the
~phraseology, indicate it Why do women
pray better than men? Because they
have had more trouble. Before a man
has had any trouble, his prayers are
poetic, and he begins away up among
the sun, moo and stars, and gives tho
Lord q great deal OF astronomical in
formation that must be highly crafty
ing. He then comes oil down gradually
over beautiful table lands to forever and
ever, amen" But after a man has had
trouble, prayer is with him . taking
hold Of the arm of God and crying out
for help. I have heard earnest prayers
I ON two or three occasions that / remem-
Der.
Once, on the Cincinnati express train,
J going at forty miles the hour, and the
train jumped the track. and we were
near . chasm eighty feet deep; and the
men who. . few minutes before, had
been swearing aud biaspheming God,
began 30 pull and jerk At the bell rope,
! and got up on the back Of the seat and
. cried out, 20 God, save usr' There was
another time. about $50 miles put at sea,
on = f0undoriBg stoAner. after the astlifo
boat had been split finer than kindling
wood. They prayed then. Why is it
you 30 often hear people, in recit-
Ing the last experience Of some friend.
say: he made the most beautiful
prayer I ever heardI" What makes 1t
beautiful? It Is the earnestness Of il
Oh. I tell you . man Is in earnest when
his stripped and naked soul wades out
ON the soundless, shoreless, bottomless
ocean Of eternity.
IL Is trouble, my friends, that makes
Us feel OF dependence upon God. We
do not know our own weakness or Gods