Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-11-08
Tod. KING A1pnopso said that if he had

God. King Alphonso said that if he had
been present at the creation he could
have made a better world than this.
What q pity he was not present! L 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 comes and takes us down. AS
Prometheus was assaulted by his enemy,
when the lance struck him it opened a
great swelling that had threatened his
death, and he got we'll. SO it is the ar
row of trouble that lets out great swell
ings of pride. We never feel our de-
pendence upon God until we get trouble.
I was riding with my little child along
the road, and she asked if she might
drive. said. Certainly"
[ handed over the reins to her, and
had to admire the glee with which she
drove. But after q while we met team
and we had to turn out. The road was
sides. She handed the reins over to me,
and said: Il think you had better take
charge of the horse" So we are all
children; and on this road of life we
like to drive 1t gives one such an APP
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;land then We are will
ing that God should take the reins and
drive. All! my friends, we get upset SO
often because we do not hand over the
reins soon enough.
Can you not tell when you hear man
pray, whether he has ever had any
trouble? I can. The cadence, the
phraseology indicate it. Why do
women pray better than men? Because
they have had more trouble. Before q
man has any trouble, his prayers are
poetic, and he begins away up among the
sun, moon and stars, and gives the Lord
a great deal of astronomical Information
that must be highly gratifying. He then
comes on down gradually over beautiful
tablelands to forever and ever, amen.
But after man has had trouble, prayer
God and crying out for help. l have
occasions that remember.
Once, on the Cincinnati express train,
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 and disappearing God,
began to pull and jerk at the bell rope,
and get up on the backs of the seats and
cried out. 20 God, save u.s." There was
another time, about eight hundred miles
out at sea, on a laundering steamer,
after the last lifeboat had been split
finer than kindling wood. They prayed
then. Why is ityou so often hear peo-
pie, in reciting the last experience of
some friend, say: He made the most
beautiful prayer ever heard?" What
makes it beautiful? 1t is the earnest
ness of it. Oh, tell you man is in
earnest when his stripped and naked
soul wades out in the soundless, shore
less, bottomless ocean of eternity.
1t is trouble, my friends. that makes
us feel our dependence upon God. We
do not know our own weakness or
Gods strength until the last plank
breaks. 1t is contemplate in us when
there is nothing else to take hold of.
that we catch hold of God only. A man
is unfortunate in business. He has to
raise a great deal of money, and raise it
quickly. He borrows on word and note
all he can borrow. After while he puts
a mortgage on his house. After a while
he puts second mortgage on his house.
Then he puts lien on his furniture.
Then he makes over his life insurance.
Then he assigns all his property. Then
he goes to his father in law and asks
for help!
Well, having failed everywhere, COM
pletely failed, he gets down on his
knees and says: 20 Lord, I have tried
everybody and everything, now help me
out Of this financial trouble" He makes
God the last resort instead of the first
,lo
10 cents on dollar who could have paid
hundred cents on dollar if they had
gone to God in time. Why, you do not
know who the Lord is. He is not an
autocrat seated far up in palace, from
which ne energies once year, preceded
by heralds swinging swords to clear the
way. No. But father willing. at our
call, to stand by us i'll every crisis and
predicament of life.
tell you what some of you business
men make me think of. A young man
goes off from home to earn his fortune.
lie goes with his mothers consent and
benediction. She has large wealth; but
he wants to make his own fortune. He
goes far away, falls sick, gets out Of
money. He sends for the hotel keeper
where he is staying, asking for lenience,
and the answer he gets is: If you don't
pay W oat uluuS } Ou Will Ue ieulONeu 10
the hospital" The young man sends to
comrade i'll the same building. No
help. He writes to banker who was q
friend of his deceased father. No relief.
He writes to an old schoolmate, but
gets no help. Saturday night comes,
and he is moved to the hospital.
Getting there, he is frenzied with
grief; and he borrows sheet of paper
anda postage stamp, and he sits down,
and writes home, saying: Dear mother.
am sick unto death. Come" 1t is 10
minutes of 10 o'clock when she gets the
letter. At 10 o'clock the train starts.
She is five minutes from the depot.
She gets there in timeto have five min
utes to spare. She wonders why train
that goes thirty miles an hour cannot go
sixty miles an hour She rushes into
the hospital. She says: My son,
what does ali this mean? Why didn't
you send for me? You sent to every
body but me. You know that I could
and would help you. Is this the reward
| get for my kindness to you always?"
She bundles him up, takes him home,
and gets him wellvery soon.
Now. some of you tleat God just as
that young man treated his mother.
When you get into financial perplexity,
you call on the broker, you call on your