Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1891-08-21

meet them.
FORCE HAPPINESS TO COME.
How poorly prepared for religious duty
is man who sits down under the gloom
of expected misfortuEel II he pray, he
says 81 do not think shall be answered ;"
If he give, he says, 81 expect they will
steal the money" Helen Chalmers told
me that her father, Thomas Chalmers, in
the darkest hour of the history of the Free
Church OF Scotland, and when the woes Of
the land seemed to weigh upon his heart
said TO the children, Come, let US 20 out
and play ball or Ay kite" and the only diff
| iculty in the play was that the children
could not keep up with their father. The
McCheynes and the Summerfelds of the
/ church who did the most good, cultivated
sunlight Away with the hOrrorsl they
listill poison. they dig graves, and if they
could climb SO high, they would drown the
reioicings Of heaven with sobs and wailing.
/ You will have nothing but misfortune in
the future If you sedulously watch for it.
How shall a man catch the right kind of
/ hsh if he arranges his line and hook and bait
/ 10 catch lizards and water serpentsf Hunt
/ for bats and hawks and bats and hawks
gou will find Hunt for robin redbreasts
and you will find robin redbreasts. One
night an eagle and an owl got into fierce
battle: the eagle unused to the night was
40 match for an owl, which is most at
home in the darkness, and the king Of the
air fell helpless; but the morning rose, and
with it rose the eagle: and the owls aud
The night hawks aud the bats came a sec
ond time to the combat; now, the eagle, in
the sunlight, with a stroke Of his talons
and great cry, cleared the air, and his
enemies, with torn feathers and splashed
with blood tumbled into the thickets Ye
are the children of light. In the night of
dependency you will have no chance
against your enemies that flock up from
beneath, but, trusting in God and stand
ing in the supshine of the promises, you
shall renew your youth like the eagle"
THERE ARE BLESSINGS A-PLENTT.
Again, the habit of borrowing trouble
is wrong because it has a tendency to
make US overlook present blessing To
slake mans thirst, the rock is cleft, and
cool waters leap into his trimming cup
To feed his hunger the fields bow down
with bending wheat. and the cattle come
down with full udders from the clover pas
lures to give him milk, and the orchards
yellow and ripen, casting their juicy fruits
into his lap. Alasl that amid such eXuber-
ance of blessing man should growl as
though be were a soldier on half rations,
or d sailor on short allowance; that man
should stand neck deep in harvests look
ing forward to famine. that one should
feel the strong pulses q health marching
with regular tread thrd6gh all the avenues
Of life and yet treinbls at the expected as
sault of sickness; that man should sit in
his pleasant home, fearful that ruthless
want will some day rattle the broken win
dow sash with tempest, and sweep the
Goals from the hearth, and pour hunger
into the bread tray; that man fed by
him who owns all the harvests should ex-
pect to starye; that one whom God loves
and surrounds with benediction, and at
tends with angelic escort, and movers over
with more than notherly fondness, should
be looking for heritage OF tearsl
Has God been hard with thee that thou
shouldst be forebodingi Has he stinted
thy board? Has he covered thee with rags9
Has he spread traps for thy feet, and CALLED
thy cup, and rasped thy soul, and wrecked |
thee with storm, and thSindered upon thee /
with a life fall of calamity? If your father |
or brother come into your bank where gold |
and silver ere lying about you do not |
watch them, for you know they are honest; !
but If an enLire stranger come by the safe |
you keep your eye on him, for you do not |
know his designs. So some men treat God; /
not as a father, but stranger, and act /
guspiciously toward him, as though they |
were afraid he would steal something
THANK GOD FOR WHAT YOU HAVE.
II is high time you began to thank God |
for your present blessing Thank him for |
your childrea, happy, buoyant and bound
ing Praise him for your home, with its
.ountain of song and laughter. Adore him
for morning light and evening shadow.
Praise him for fresh, cool water bubbling
from the rock leaping in the cascade, soar
ing in the mist, falling in the shower, dash
ing against tie rock and clapping its hands
in the tempest. Love him for the grass
that cushions the earth, and the clouds
that curtain the sky, and the foliage that
waves in the forest Thank him for Bi
bic to read, and a cross TO gaze upon. and a
Saviour to deliver.
Many Christians think it bad sign TO
be iubilant, and their work Of self exam
ination is a hewing down Of their brighter
experiences. Like a boy with a new jack
knife, hacking everything he comes across,
so their self examination is a religious cut
ting to pieces Of the greenest things they
can lay their hands on. They imagine
they are doing Gods service when they are
going about borrowing trouble, and Dor
rowing it at thirty per cent, which is al
ways a sure precursor of bankruptcy.
Again. the habit Of borrowing trouble