The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1889-03-08

/ they nave had! what tears they
have wepti What injustice they
have suffered! The mightiest in
fuence for publication and saliva
ton is trouble. No diamond fit for a
crown until it is cut. No wheat fit for
| bread till it is ground. There are only
| three things that can break off a chain-a
| hammer, "a file or fire-and trouble Is all
three of them. The greatest writers, ora
tors and reformers get much of their force
from trouble. What gave to Washington
Irving that exquisite tenderness and
pathos which will make his books favorites
while the English language continues to
be written and spoken! An early heart
break that he never once mentioned; and
when. thirty years after the death of Ma
tilda Hoffman, who was to have been his
bride, her father picked up piece of en-
broidery and said: "That is a piece of
poor Matilda's workmanship" Washing
ton Irving sank from hilarity into silence
and walked away. Out Of that lifetime
grief the great author dipped his pens
mightiest reinforcement. "Calvin's Insti-
tutes of Religion" than which a more
wonderful book was never written by hui
man hand, was begun by the author at
twenty five years of age, because of the
Faraday toiled for all time on a salary of
ESQ year and candles. As every brick of
the wall of Babylon is stamped with the
letter N, standing for Nebuchadnezzar, so
every part of the temple OF Christian
standing for trouble.
When in olden time q man was to be
honored with knighthodd he was struck
with the fiat 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 cimeter. To build his
magnificencs of character, Paul could not
have spared one lash, one prison, one ston-
ing, 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
the country this side of the Mississippi
river to independence, and the conflict
between England and France gave the
most of this country west of the Missis-
sippi river to the United States. France
owned it, but Napoleon, fearing that En-
gland would take it, practically made a
present to the United States-for he re-
ceived only 5000 0OO-of Louisiana, Mis-
u,
Minnesota. Colorado Dakota, Montana,
Wyoming and the Indian Territory. Out
of the fire of the American revolution came
this country east of the Mississippi, out
of the European war came that west of the
Mississippi river. The British empire rose
to its present over-towering grandeur
through gunpowder plot and Guy Fawkes'
conspiracy. and Northampton insurrec-
nd Wa1f pol asc 20 hoka al
Bacon's bribery. and Cromwell's dissolu-
ton 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
l., and London plague, and London fire and
London Instruction and Ryehouse plot,
and the vicissitudes of centuries. So the
earth itself. before it could become ap-
propriate aud beautiful residence for the
human family had, according to geology,
to be washed by universal deluge, and
scorched and made incandescent by uni
versal fires, and pounded by sledgeham-
mer of icebergs. and wrenched by earth
quakes that split continents, and shaken
by volcanoes that tossed mountains, and
passed through catastrophes of thousands
of years before paradise became possible
X
banners and the first garden pour out its
carnage of color between the Gihon and
the Hiddekel. Trouble good thing for
rocks. good thing for nations, as well as q |
good thing for individuals.
So when you push against me a sharp |
point why do the good suf- |
ferf open the dark saying on harp. and |
though l can neither play an organ, or |
hox Iox kn-
l have taken some lessons on the gospel |
harp, and il you would like to hear me l |
will play you these: "All things work to- |
gether for good to those who love God"
''Now no Christening for the present SEEM
eth to be joyous, but grievous; neverthe-
less afterward it yieldeth all possible
fruits of righteousness unto them which
are exercised thereby" weeping may
endure for night, but joy cometh in the
What a sweet thing is harp,
and l 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
and harp; or that weird Sebastian Erard
was much of his time bent over this
chorded and vibrating triangle, and was
not satisfied until he had given it a COM
pass Of six octaves from E to E. with all
the semitones, or that when King Saul
was demented the son of Jesse came be-
fore 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 shall be harpers
harping with their harps. So you viii;
not blame me for opening the dark saying
On the gospel harp.
Your harps, We trembling saints,
Down from the willows take.
Loud TO the praise OF love divine
Bid every string awake!"
Interrogation third: Why did a good
Sod let sin and trouble come into the
world when He might have kept them out.
My reply is, He had a good reason. lie
had reasons which He has never given us.
He had reasons which He could no more
make US understand in our finite state
han the father starting out on some great
md elaborate enterprise could make the
child in its armchair COM
orehend it One was to demonstrate
what grandeur of character may be
achieved on earth by conquering evil.
Had there been no evil to conquer and no
rouble to console then this universe
would never have known an Abraham or
/ Moses or a Joshua o. an Ezekiel or a
Paul or a Christ or a Washington or a
John Milton or a John Howard, and a
million victories which have been gained
~ the consecrated spirits of all ages
would never have been gained.
Had there been no battle there
would have been no victory. Nine-tenths
# the anthems of Heaven would never
lave been sung Heaven could never
ave been a thousandth part of the
heaven that it is. 1 will not say that l
I'M glad that sin and sorrow did enter. hut