Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-10
THE BALM OF GILEAD
Poured Upon Some Blasted Political
Hopes and Ambitions in
A SERMON BY REV. E. L. DONEHOO,
Some Bible Lessons Drawn From the Late
Cyclone of Surprises.
REV. s.. ". MCORKLE In HIS NEW FIELD

"Disappointments in Life" was the sub
.iect of Rev. E. R. Donehoo's sermon at the
Eighth Presbyteria2 Church, yesterday
morning. The text chosen was from Prov
erbs Nv. %: Without council, purposes
are disappointed" The sermon was sort
of balm of Gilead to those whose hopes had
been blasted in the late election. The fol-
lowing were made a good introduction TO
the su biect:
However we trust to mortal things
Zach hath its pair OF folded wings:
Though long their terrors rest unspread,
Their fatal plumes are never shed;
AT last, at last, they stretch In night,
And blot the day and blast the night.
After moralizing TO some extent on the
vanities of life, Rev. Mr.. Donehoo said:
''Disappointments in life is practical
theme as suggested to me at this time by the
feelings to which multltudes nave gwen e1-
preston, and other multitudes have secretly
felt. the surprising results of the political
conflict which ended on the evening of Novem-
Der T.
THE WORK OF ONE DAY.
On that DAY the great party which has DOM
mated the fate of this nation for well nigh 80
years went forth to the strife with confidence
begotten of past successes, which gave no
augury of the fate which was In store for its
disciples. Without single mlsgiving, when
the days work was ended, they retired to rest.
confident that the morrow would only OrlnS q
repetition of past triumphs-
That man who pretends that he was not sur
prised at the issue OF this conflict, no matter
what may have been his private preferences in
the matter must either have been endowed
with a prophetic ken such as would have
shamed the seven Wise Men of Greece, or else
rank of DiAinont's most hnpelesslv visionary
lunatics.
apnalled before what they regard as a calami-
their OaTalyzpd to pNDlain
the course of this sudden and momentous pollt-
zeal upheayal. is only surpassed by the imper-
turable complacency Of lot of small-beer pol
iticians who appropriate to themselves all the
credit of having brought about the result.
Mr. Donehoo said it was not his purpose
10 point out the cause of the overthrow of
one party and triumph of another. Con-
tinulng, be said:
STRUCK AS BY A CYCLONE.
All know is that the purposes of many were
sadly disappointed by this astounding political
cyclone. and that it striklngly illustrated what
Scotands bard said a long time ago:
The best-laid schemes O. mice and men
Gang aft a-glec.
And leave US naught but grief and pain,
For promised 10Y.
This much also do l know, that disappoint-
ments, however distasteful they may seem to
US, are not without their salutary lessons,
which. if rightly improved. will eventually re-
suit N far greater good to us than If we had
never met them. Some of the greatest geniuses
IN the worlds history have risen to fame and
fortune on the steppingstones of disappoint-
ment.
Referring at another time in his discourse
to the late election, Rev. Mr.. Donehoo said:
We forget that our loss ofttimes is some
bodys gain. While it is true that $40 900 citizens
IN this Commonwealth we're sadly disappoint-
&c over the issue of the late election, and are
deeply grieved that their leader has met with
defeat, it should not be forgotten that 5000
other c1uiZpnS laDOy he that they
have succeeded in their desires.
Whenever 1t comes TO this, that man feels
that nobody but himself is to have his own way,
Ii generally happens that something intervenes
TO bring him around to a sudden realization of
the fact that this world is not run for his spec
lal benefit. The moment that Napoleon came
to think that he was master of his own destiny,
and that everything must give way to his
schemes and ambitions, that moment ST. Helena
which. despite his temporary triumphs and
Iliusiye dreams. he slowly drifted.
THE TIME FOR REBUkE
The moment you grow so selfish as to feel
that it is a calamity if everything does not
move TO your personal advantage. that moment
YOU are getting into shape to receive signal re-
buke from Him who overrules the greater
events in our several lives for the working out
of His inscrutable plans and the chastisement
OF our selfish schemlngs.
It is a fact, which the individual experiences
# nultitudes will abundantly confirm, that
che disappointments which befal us in life
often prove to be blessings in disguise, disci-
pIiuing US for future usefulness. renewing us
for more earnest efforts and paving the way
for future triumphs, before which the things
which we vainly strove for in the past seem
utterly trivial and valueless.
Make study of your disappointments as
they befan you; accept them with intelligent
resignation, not with stoical indifference or as
the result of a blind faie, but as sent upon you
for your training for better things yet in store
for YOU. And, Gods word for it, ali these
things Twill work out for far exceed
ing and eternal weight of glory in His own good
time and pleasure. Ask counsel of God, why
all these things have been visited upon YOU,
accept the lessons, which He thus sends to you,
and then shall it eventually fall out that
you will have abundant reason for exclaiming:
BLESSED be this disappointment which over
turned all our plans and brought our purposes
in life to confusion!