The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1889-11-13
THE USES OF TROUBLE.
Sermon by Rev. T. Dewitt Tai
I mage, D. D.
Trouble Is Designed to Keep the World
From Being Too Attractive-How
Human Beings are Fitted for
Heaven by Their Suf-
ferings on Earth.

The text Of DR.. Talmage's recent SER
mon at the Brooklyn Academy of Music
was: 'sGod shall wipe all tears from
their eyeS"-Rev. vii, II. The eloquent
divine spoke as follows:
Riding across Western prairie. wild
flowers up to the hub of the carriage
wheel, and while long distance from
any shelter. there came sudden shower,
and while the rain was falling in tor
rents, the sun was shining as bright
as ever saw it shine; and l thought
what a beautiful spectacle this is!
So the tears of the Bible are not
midnight storm, but rain on panSled
uoU S sweet and golden sun
light You remember that bottle which
David labeled as containing tears, and
Mary's tears, and Pauls tears, and
Christ's tears. and the harvest of Joy
that's to spring from the sowing of tears.
God mixes them. God rounds them. God
shows them where to fall. God eNhales
them. A census is taken OF them, and
there is a record as to the moment when
they are born, and as to the place Of their
grave Tears of bad men are not kept
Alexander, in his sorrow, had the hair
clipped from his horses and mules. and
made great ado about his grief; but In
all the vases of heaven there is not one
of AleXander's tears. / speak OF the
tears Of the good. Alas! me! they are
falling all the time. In summer. YOU
sometimes hear the growing thunder,
and YOU see there is storm miles away;
but you know from the drift OF the clouds
that it will not come anywhere near you.
So, though it may be all bright around
about US. there is a shower of trouble
somewhere all the time. Tears! Tears.
What IS the use of them anyhow?
Why not substitute laughter? Why not
make this world where all the people
are well AID eternal strangers to pain
and aches? What is the pse of an east
ern storm when we might have per-
petual nor'wester. Why, when family
is put together, not have them all stay,
or if they must be transplanted to make
other homes, then have them all alive?
the family record telling story OF mar
riages and births, but of no deaths.
Why not have,the harvests chase each
other without fatiguing toll? Why the
hard pillow, the hard crust, the hard
struggle? It is easy enough to explain
smile, or success, or a congratula-
ton: but, come now, and bring all your
dictionaries and all your PHILOSOPHERS
and all your religions, and help me ex-
plain tear. a chemist will tell you
that it is made up of salt and lime and
other component parts; but he misses
the chief ingredients-the acid OF
soured Ice, the viperine sting of a bitter
memory. the fragments Of a broken
heart. will tell you what tear is; it
is agony in solution.
Hear me, then, while l discourse to
YOU of the uses Of trouble.
First-It is the design OF trouble to
keep this world from being too attrac-
tive. Something must be done to make
US willing to Guit this existence. II 1t
were not for trouble this world would
be gooU enough heaven for me. You
and I would be willing to take a lease of
life for hundred million years if there
were no trouble. The earth cushioned
and upholstered and pi1lared and chan
deliered with such expense, no story OF
other worlds could enchant US. We
would say: "Let we'll enough alone. II
you want to die and have your body dis
integrated in the dust, and your soul go
out on a celestial adventure, then you
can go: but this world is good enough
for me-" You might as well goto man
who has Just entered the Louvre at
Paris, and tell him to hasten off to the
picture galleries of Venice or Florence.
ssWhy," he would say. s'what is the use
of nv going there? There are Rem
brandts and Rubenses and Raphaels here
that haven't looked.at yet.
No man wants to 60 out of this worlc,
or out of any house, until he has bet
ter house. To cure this wish to stay
here God must somehow create dis
gust for our surroundings. How shall
He do it? He can not afford to deface
His horizon, or to tear off a fiery panel
from the sunset, or to substract an an
ther from the water lily. or to Danish
the pungent aroma from the mignonette.
or to drag the robes of the morning in
mire. You can not expect Christopher
Wren to mar his own ST. Paul's cathe-
dral, or Michael Angelo to dash out his
own Last Judgment" or a Handel to
discard his Israel in Egypt" and you
can not expect God to spoil the archl-
lecture and music of his own world.
How then arc we to be made willing to
leave? Here is where trouble comes in.
After a man has a good deal Of trouble
he says: ''Well, I am ready to go. If
there is house somewhere whose roof
doesn't leak, would like to live there.
If there is an atmosphere somewhere
that does not distress the lungs would
like to breathe it. If there Is a society
where there is no tittle-tattle, would
like to live there. II there IS home
circle somewhere where | can 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 he changed
Genesis for Revelation? All! he used to
be anxious chiefly to know how this
world was made, and all aboutits geolog-
ical construction. Now he is chiefly
anxious to know how the next world was
made, and how it looks, and who live
there. and how they dress. He reads
Revelation ten times now where he
reads Genesis once. The old story, ''1n
the beginning God created the heavens
and the EARTH" does not thrill him half
asmuch as the other story, II saw new
heaven and a new earth" The old
mans hand trembles as he turns over
this apocalyptic leaf, and ne has to take
on. his handkerchief to wipe his spec
tacles. That book of Revelation is a
prospectus now of the country into which
he is to soon immigrate: the country IN
which he has lots already laid out, and
avenues opened, and trees planted, and
mansions built.
The thought OF the blessed place
uo,ues uveI nightly, o.tu uu....4~
that if this house were one 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 I could get in myself. And yet
there are people here to whom this
world is brighter than heaven. Wen,
dear souls, ! do not blame you. 1t is
natural. But after while you will be
ready to go. 1t was not :,ntil job had
been worn ont with bereavements and
carbuncles and 4 pest Of a wife that he
wanted to sec God. 1t was not until the
prodigal got tired of living snong the
Sol &r 10 h f,t