Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-03-30

'ofAA 's'e saN oA N1'
All hung trembling in the upholstery
But, my friends, you know very well thai
inc architecture will not put down home
sickness. Yet Nehemiah did not give up
Then when you see him going among
these desolated streets, and by these dis
mantled towers. and by the torn up grave
Of his father, you would suppose that he
would have been disheartened, and that
ne would have dismounted from his horse
and gone to his room and said: Woe is
me- My fathers grave is tor up. The
| temple is dishonOred. The walls are
broken down. | have no money with
which to rebuild. wish l had never
been born. l wish l were dead" Not
SO says Nehemiah. Although be had a
grief so intense that it excited the com
mentary of his king, yet that pennies,
expatriated Nehemiah rouses himself up
to rebuild the city. He gets his per
mission of absence. He gets his pass
ports. He hastens away TO Jerusalem.
By night on horseback he rides through
the ruins. He overcomes the most Zero.
cious opposition. He arouses the piely
and patriotism Of the people, and in less
than two months, namely, III tfty-two
days, Jerusalem was rebuilt. That's
what call busy and triumphant sadness.
My friends, the whole temptation is
with you, when you have trouble. to do
just the opposite 10 the behavior Of
Nebe miah, and that is TO give up. You
say, II have lost my child and can
never smile again" You say, Il have
fallen into sin, and | never a start
again for a new life If Satan can
make you form that resolution, and make
you keep it lac has ruined you. Trouble
is o sent to crush you, but o arouse
you, to animate you, to propel you. The
blacksmith does not thrust the iron into
the forge and then blow away with the
bellows, and then bring the hot iron out
on the anvil and beat with stroke after
stroke TO ruin the iroE, but to prepare IT
for a better use. Oh that the lord God
OF Nehemiah would rouse up all broken
hearted people 10 rebuild. Whipped
betrayed, shipwrecked, imprisoned Paul
went right on. The Italian martyr Al
gerius sits in his dungeon writing a
letter, and he dates it Prom the de-
lectable orchard of the Leonine prison
That is what | cali triumphant sadness.
| knew a mother who buried her baby on
Friday and on Sabbath appeared III the
house OF God and said: Give me q
class; give me a Sabbath school class. |
have DC child now left me, AND would
like to have a class of little children.
Give me real poor children. Give me a
class off the back street That, | say Is
beautiful. That is triumphant Sadness.
At 3 o'clock this afternoon. III a beautt.
full parlor in Philadelphia-a parlor
pictured and statuetied-lhere will be
from ten to twenty destitute children OF
the street. 1t has been SO every Sabbath
afternoon at 3 o'clock for many years.
These destitute children receive religious
instruction, concluding with cakes and
sandwiches. How do know
that had has been going on for many
years? | knew it in this way.
GREED CURED by CHRISTIAN WORK.
That was the first homein Philadelphia
where | was called to comfort a great
sorrow. They had d splendid boy and he
had been drowned a. Long Branch. The
father and mother almost idolized the
boy, and the sob and the shrek OF that
father and mother as they hung over the
coffin resound in my ears today. There
seemed TO be no use Of praying, for when
] knclt down 10 pray, the outcry in the
DON drowned out ali the pray. Bat the
Lord comfOrted that sorrow. They did
not forget their trouble. If you should
go on the sn0wicst winter afternoon iuto
Laurel Hill you would find . monument
with the word Walter" inscribed upon
it, and Il wreath o. fresh flowers around
Walters name. But the Christian mother
who aends those flowers there. having $40
child left, Sabbath afternoons mothers
ten or twenty Of the lost ones OF the
street. That is beautiful. That is what
| cali busy and triumphant sadness. Here
is "a man who has lost his property. He
does not 90 10 hard drinking. lie does
not destroy his own life. He comes and
says: Harness me for Caristian work.
Ny moneys gone. ! have no treasures
on earth. I want treasures in heaven |
have q voice and a heart 10 serve God"
You say that that man has failed. He
has not failed--he has %triumphed. Oh,
wish I could persuade all the people who
have any kind Of trouble never 10 give
up. wish they would look at the mid-
night rider Of the text, and that the four
hoofs Of that beast on which Nehemiah
rode might cut to pieces all your discour-
agements and hardships and trials. Give
up Who il going 10 give up. when on
llt bOsOl1 VI Npd ht Ihl navy II blS
troubles nushedI Give up! Never
think of giving up. Are you borne
down with poverty? A little child was
found holding her dead mothers hand
in the darkness of a tenement house,
and some one coming in, the
little girl looked up, while holding her
dead mothers hand. and said, "Oh, | do
wish God had made more light for moor
folks" My dear, God will beyour light,
God will be your shelter, God will be
your home. Are you borne down with
the bereavements Of life2 Is the house
lonely now the child is gone? DO not
give up. Think Of what the old sexton
said when the minister asked him why he
pu: 50 much care on the little graves in
the cemetery-so much more care than
on the larger graves, and the old sexton
said, Sir, you know that of such is the
kingdom of heaven and ! think the
Saviour is pleased when he sees so much
white clover growing around these little
graves" But when the minister pressed
the old sexton for a more satisfactory ar.
swer, the old sexton said. Sir, about
these larger graves, | don't know who
are the Lord saints and whoar e not; hui
you know, sir, il is clean different with
the BARNS" Oh, If you have had that
keen, tender, indcscribable sorrow tina,
| comes from the loss OF u child. do not
| give no. The old sexton was right. II