Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-04-07
on in spite of the sinesrest prayers, until
STOP BREAKING THAT LAW,

on in spite of the sincerest prayers, until
men
STOP BREAKING THAT LAW.
Because God. who, as L said, thinks Of all
men and thinks ahead into the future and
knows what is universally and permanently
good Tor us, has prescribed that trouble and
olsobedlence-eveni innocent disobedience-
shall inevitably 70 together. I suppose
tnat sickness always means sin. 1t means
somebody's carelessness, improvidence,
wrong-doing; it means that somebody has
broken one of the laws of. God. 1t may be
somebody who lived 100 years ago. it may
be somebody who lives in the next street.
But it is always somebody. Physical trou-
Bile is the result of the breaking of physical
law.
This is true in the moral world. All dis
obedience of Gods moral law brings trou-
BILE. Wrong is practically distinguished
from right by its inevitable accompaniment
of trouble You cannot break any COM
mandment of God without trouble follow
ing. You cannot once offend against truth,
purity, honesty or brotherly love without
an absolutely certain retribution Of trouble
in exact proportion to the otense. we
bring nine-tenths of our trouble upon our
selves. We must not blame God for 1t.
Year by year, under the hard tuition OF
trouble, we learn the wisdom of Gods law.
Yet trouble falls upon the blameless.
Somebody is almost always to blame, but SO
closely are we knit together in the body OF
human fellowship that one mans wrong do
ing often Injuries others. We are taught
expressly in the Bible that trouble does not
ALWAYS mean tue sin of the troubled. Those
ten men on whom the tower at Sloan fell,
in our Lords day, did not suffer for any sin
of theirs, Christ said. Somebody had
sinned. Somebody had cemented the stones
ofthat tower with untempered mortar. But
the ten had no share in that sin.
WHEN TROUBLE COMES
it is well to look if we have broken any
law, but there is no need to imagine or to
manufacture any disobedience if we can't
find it People sometimes make grievous
mistakes in attributing trouble to their own
sins. This is especially true of the pro-
found sorrow of bereavement. What have
done? What have 1 left undone? cries
the afflicted soul And very often the an
swer is, Nothing"
Especially do not think that God parts
people on account of the intensity of this
opposition. Do not think that God ever
takes away little children, as a jealous re-
buke to the mothers tender love. Never!
Never did the Father in heaven do that.
He who made us with the power to love.
He who gave US those we loved, gave that
love to be enjoyed in living, gave those dear
ones to be loved. You cannot love your
friend, or your child, too much. God will
never punish anybody's genuine love. Be
sure of that. Whatever stern lesson trouble
has to teach, that is not one of them.
But trouble comes, and we have done no
sin. Why then does trouble come? We
weary and perplex ourselves trying to
answer. Here is the place for faith. Here
let us trust the wise and loving heart of the
Father in heaven. Trouble comes, and we
cannot defend ourselves. 1t passes and
leaves US sad, and blank of understanding.
But God knows all about it. Close behind
us is a divine Father. In His sight
all that seems tangled and hard here, is
plain. He is taking care of this world, and
of everybody in it. He is taking care of
us, and the wisest care, and the most loving
care. Have faith in Him for that. We are
in trouble. Somehow it is good for us. He
knows how. If we trust Him, He will
guide US. Over the uneven places we will
go safely, holding
HIS STRONG HAND.
Does it make so great demand on faith
to put such trust in God as that?
You know what the word "tribulation"
means; you know how it comes from the
name of the fail, which, in old times, parted
the chaff from the wheat. Is it so hard to
see the fitness of the word? Is it so hard to
see this faithful, grim servant of God at his
necessary work, actually getting this essen
tial separation effected in human lives?
Why, We can see the good of trouble, we can
see the blessed work of tribulation every
day.
Here is one, careless and foolish, super
fetal, touching only the surface of things,
busted with lower and material concerns,
very much taken up with what is merely
transitory; and if in the midst Of such a
life pain comes, grief, parting, and makes
the whole current of thought stronger and
deeper, turns the face upward, takes ones
best treasure into heaven and ones heart
along with it, makes the soul conscious of
the actual presence of the living and loving
God-how plain it is what trouble means
thenl What clear count upon that hard
saying: "Whom the Lord loveth, He
chasteneth." Here is love working through
trouble, inspiring, uplifting; making this
soul all over new. We see how trouble NAV
mean character. And if we cannot see that
in our own case, why, neither can this
troubled soul of whom we speak see it in his
case either, just at the moment. By-and.by
IL VIC hCCp ldlbls VIC Will ulscONeT
THE GOOD OF TROUBLE,
and every trouble thus translated i to bless
ing will give us the greater faith in God to
meet the next.
Finally, trouble teaches sympathy. In a
world without any sorrow in it, if, we, as
at present, constituted, were put into such a
fearless world-how much love and close
ness would go out with the departure of
grief. Sorrow brings people very near to-
gether.
And sorrow not only creates the need of
sympathy, but it makes the gracious minis
try of sympathy possible. One whom trou-
BILE has never reached has no real power of
sympathy. Only one who has been in the
depths of sorrow, can go down into the
depths of another's sorrow. We who have
stood in need of comfort, can comfort Others
as we have been comforted, sTrouble
puts new possibility and power into human
life. The troubled life interests other trou-
bled lives. You have word to say which
no untroubled life cap speak. Your suffering
will do good, because you are able to have
sympathy. Whatever then your trouble
meant, Whatever of testing, whatever of law,
whatever of faith, this it was meant for: to
teach you love. Here at least you should
be able to affirm: 1t is good for me that I