Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-07-10

Ny your silence, by which he cOnctudeS: Ii
were really SO badly off, be would have
sald something about it. We are all, espe-
claily those OF nervous temperament, sus-
ceptlble to kind words and dscouragiDg
words. Form conspiracy against us, and
let ten men meet us at certain points on our
way over TO business, and let each one say:
"How sick you look" though we should
start out we'll, after meeting the first and
hearing his depressing salute, we would be.
gin to examine our symptoms. After meet
ing the second gloomy accosting, I'VE would
conclude we did not feel quite as well as
usual. After meeting the third, our sensa.
tions would be dreadful, and after meeting
the fourth, unless we suspected a conspiracy,
we would go home and go to bed, and the
other six pessmists would be useless sur
plus of discouragement. My dear sir, my
dear madam, what do you mean by going
about this world with disbeartenments? Is
not the supply of gloom and trouble and
misfortune enough to meet the demand
without your running factory of pins and
spikes? Why should you plant black and
blue in the world when God SO seldom
plants them? Plenty of scarlet colors,
plenty of yellow, plenty of green, plenty of
pink, but very seldom plant black or blue.
l never saw a black flower, and there is
only here and thare a blue bell or a violet;
but the blue is for the most part reserved
for the sky, and we have to look up to see
that, and when we look up no color can do
us harm. Why not plant along the paths
of Others the brightnesses instead of the
glooms2 Do not prophesy misfortune. If
you must be prophet at all, be an Ezekiel
and not Jeremiah. In ancient times pro-
phets who foretold evil were doing right; for
they were divipely directed; but the proph-
cts ofevil in our time are generally false pro-
phets. Some Of our weather wise people are
prophesyIng we shall have summer of un-
paralleled scorch. 1t will not be that at
all. think we are going to have sum-
mer of great harvest aud universal health,
at any rate I know as much about it as
they do. Last fall all the weather prophets
agreed in saying we should have q winter
of extraordinary severity, blizzard on the
heels of blizzard. 1t was the mildest win
ter / ever remembered to have passed
Indeed, the autumn and the spring almost
showed winter out of the procession. Real
troubles have no heralds running ahead of
their somber chariots, and no one has any
authority in our time to announce their
coming. Load yourself up with helpful
words and deeds. The hymn once sung in
our churches is unfit to be sung, for it says:
We should suspect some danger near
Where we possess delight.
In other words, manage to keep misera-
BILE all the time. The old song sung at the
pianos quarter of a century ago was right:
'sKind Words Can Never DE-" Such kind
words have their nests in kind hearts, and
when they are Matched out and take wing
they circle round in flights that never cease,
and sportsman's gun cannot ruffie their
wings, and when they cease flight in these
lower skies of earth they sweep around the
higher attitudes of heaven. At Baltimore a
few days ago talked into phonograph.
The cylinder containing the words was sent
on to Washington, and the next day that
cylinder, from another photographic in
strument, when turned. gave back to me
the very words had uttered the day be-
fore, and with the same intonations. Scold
into photograph, and twill seold back.
Pour mild words into phonograph, and it
will return the gentleness. Society and the
world, and the Church, are Photographs.
Give them acerhity and rough treatment.
and aoerbity and rough treatment you will
get back. Give them practical friendliness,
and they will give back practical friendli-
ness. A father asked his little daughter:
s'Mary, why is it that everybody loves youe"
She answered: 81 don't know, unless it is
because l love everybody" ''A man that
hath friends must show himself friendly
We want something like that spirit of saeri
fee for others which was seen in the Eng
lish channel, where in the storm boat
containing three men was upset, and all
three were in the water struggling for their
A IN their rplinf q
rope was thrown to one Of them, and he re
fused to take it, saying: "First fling it to
Tom; he is just ready to godown. / can
last some time longer. A man like that, be
he sailor or landsmau, be he in upper ranks
of society or lower ranks, will always have
plenty of friends. What is true manward
is true Godward. We must be the friends
of God five want him to be our friend. We
cannot treat Christ badly all our lives and
expect him to treat US lovingly. | was
reading of a sea fight, in which Lord Mel
son captured French officer, and when the
French officer offered Lord Nelson his
hand, Nelson replied: "First give me your
sword, and then give me your hand"
Surrender of our resistance to God must
precede Gods proffsr of pardon to US. Re-
pentance before forgiveness. You must
give I'D your rebellious sword before you
can get grasp of the divine hand.
O,what glorious state of things to have
the friendship of God Why, we could af-
ford to baye all the world against US and
all other worlds against us if we had God
for us. He could in minute blot out this
universe, and in another minute make bet
ter universe. have no idea that God tried
hard when he created all things. The most
brilliant thing known to us is light, and for
the creation Of that He only used a word OF
command. AS out of flint frontiersman
strikes a spark, so out Of one word God
struck the MONDAY sun. For the making
of the present universe I do not read that
God lifted so much as finger. The Bible
frequently speaks of Gods hand. and Gods
arm, and Gods shoulder, and Gods foot
then suppose he should put hand and arm
and shoulder and foot to utmost tension,
what could he not make? That God, of
such demonstrated and undemonstrated
strength, you may have for your present
and everlasting friend. Not stately and
reticent friend, hard to get at. but as ap-
proachable as country mansion on sum-
mer day when all the doors and windows
are wide open. Christ said, 81 am the
door," And he is wide door, high door,
palace door, an always open door. My
four-year-old child got hurt and did not cry
until hours after, when her mother came
home, and then she burst into weeping, and
some of the domestics not understanding
human nature, said to ner ''Why did you
not cry before ?' She answered "There
was no one to cry to-" Now, l tell you that
while human sympathy may be absent, di-
vine sympathy is always accessible. Give
God your love, and get His love; your serv-
ice and secure his help !; your repentance
and have his pardon. God friend Why
that means all your wounds medicated, all
your sorrows soothed, and if some sudden
catastrophe should hurl you out of earth it
would only hurl youinto heaven. If God is
your friend you cannot go out of the world
too quickly or suddenly, SO far az your own
happiness is concerned. There were two
Christians last Tuesday who entered heav-
en- the one was standing at window in
perfect health watching shower and the
lightning slew him; but the lightning did
not flash down the sky as quickly as his
spirit flashed upward. The Christian man
who died on the same day next door had
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