Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1891-08-22

children, Come, let us 90 out and play ball
or fly kite, - aud the only difficulty in the
play was that the children could not keep up
with their father The McCheynes and the
Summerfeids of the church who did toe
most good, cultivated sunlight Away with
the borrorsl they distll poison; they dig
graves, and if they could climb so high, they
would drown the reloicings of heaven with
Bobs and wailing.
You will have nothing but misfortune in
the future if you sedulousIy watch for it
How shall man catch the right kind Of fish
II he arranges his line and hook and bait to
catch lizards and water serpents2 Hunt for
bats aud hawks and bats and hawks you 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 no match for an
owl which is NEST 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 and the night hawks and the bats
came a second time to the combat; now, the
eagle, in the sunlight, with stroke of his
talons and great cry, cleared the air, and
his enemie5s with torn feathers and splnshed
with blood, tumbled into the thickets Ye are
the children Of light In the night of de-
spondency you will havs no chance against
your enemies that flock up from beneath,
but, trusting in Goi and stan in in the sun-
shine OF the promises, you shall ''renew your
youth like the eagle
Again, the habit of borrowing trouble is
wrong because it has tendency to make US
overlook present blessing. To slake mans
thirst, the rock is cleft and cool waters leap
into his brimmiug cup To feed his hunger
the fields bow down with bending wheat,
and the cattle come down with full II lders
from the clover pastures to give him milk,
and the orchards yellow and ripsu, casting
their juicy fruits into his lap. Alas that
amid such exuberance of blessing man
should growl as though he were a soldier on
half rations or a sailor on short allowance;
that man should stand neck deep in mar
vests looking forward to famine: that one
should feel the strong pulses of health march
ing with regular tread through all the ave
nues of life and yet tremble at the expected
assault of sickness; that man should sit in
his pleasant home, fearful that ruthless want
will some day rattle the broken window sash
with tempest, and sweep the Goals from
the hearth, and pour hunger into
the bread tray; that a man fell by
Him who Owns all the harvests should ex-
pect to starve: that one whom Col loves
and surrounds with benedction, and attends
with angelic escort, and hoyers over with
more than motherly fondness, should be
looking for heritage of tearsi
Has God been hard with thee that thou
shouldst be forebodingf Has He stinted thy
boards Has He covered thee with ragsa Has
cup, and rasped thy soul. and wrecked thes
with storm, and Numbered upon thee with
life full of calamity? Ii your father or
brother come into your bank where gold and
silver are lying about you do not watch
them, for you know they are honest; but if
an entire stranger come by the safe you
keep your eye on him, for ysu do not know
bis designs. So some men treat God; not as
Father, but stranger, and act suspic-
lousy toward Him, as though they were
afraid He would steal something.
1t is high time you began 10 thank God
for your present blessing. Thank Him for
your children. happy, buoyant and bound
ing. Praise Him for your home, with its
fountain of song and laughter. Adore Him
for morning light and evening shadow.
Praise Him for fresh, cool water bubblins
from the rock, leaping in the cascade, soar
ing in the mist, falling in the shower, dash
ing against the rock and capping 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 Bible to
read, and cross to gaze upon, anda Saviour
to deliver.
Many Christians think it bad sign to be
lubilant, aud their work OF self-examination
is hewiug down of their brighter expert
ences. Like boy with new jackknife,
hacking everything he comes across, so their
determination is religious cutting to
pieces of the greenest things they can lay
their hands on. They imagine they are do.
ing Gods service when they are going about
borrowing trouble. and borrowing it at
thirty per cent, which is always a sure pre-
cursor of bankruptcy.
Again, the habit of borrowing trouble is
wrong because the present is sufficiently
taxed with trial. God sees that we all need
a certain amount of trouble, and so He APP
portions it for all the days and years of our
life. Alas for the policy of gathering it all
up for one day or yesrl Cruel thing to put
upon the back Of one camel all the cargo in
tended for the entire caravan. l never look
at my memorandum book to see what en-
gagements and duties are far ahead Let
every week bear its own burdens.
The shadows of to-day are thick enough,
why implore the presence of other shadows?
The cup is already disbasteful why halloo TO
disasters far distant to come and wiring out
more gall into bitterness Are we suca
champions that, having won the belt in
former encounters we can go forth to chal-
lenge all the future2
Here are business men just able TO manage
affairs as they now are. They can paw their
rent and meet their notes, and manage
affairs as they now are but what il there
should come a psnic2 Go to morrow and
write on your daybooS, on your ledger, on
your money safe, Sufficient unto the day
is the evil thereof" Do nos worry about
notes that are far from due. Do not pile n
on your counting desk the financial anxieties
of the next twenty years. The God who has
taken care Of your worldly occupation,
guarding your store from the touch of the
incendiary ami the key OF the burglar, will
be as faithful in 1891 as in 1881. COTS hand
is mightier than the Vaccinations of stock
gamblers, or the plots of political dema-
gogues, or the red right arm of revolution,
and the darkness will hy and the storm fa1
dead at His feet
So there are persons in feeble health, AMI
they are Worried about the future. They
make out very well now, but thsv are both
ering themselves about future pleurisies aud
rheumatismE and neuralgiaS aud fevers.
Their eyesight il feeble, aul they ara wor-
riea lest they entirely lose it, Their hearing
is indistinct, an theg are alarmed lest they
become entirely deaf. They felt chilly to-
day, and are expecting an attack of typhoid
They have been troubled for weeks with
some perpiexing malay, an | dread become
ing lifelong invalids Take care of your
health now and trust God for the future.
be not guilty of the blasphemy of asking
Him to take care of you while you sleep with
your windows tight down, OF eat chicken
salaI at Ii O'Clock at night OF sit down on a
cake of ice to cool off. Be prudent and then
De confident. Some of the sickest people
have been the most useful. It was so with
Payson, who died deaths daily, and Robert
Hall, who used to stop in the midst of his
sermon and lie down on the pulpit sofa TO
rest, and then go on again. Theodore Free
nnghuysen hal a great horror OF dying till
the time came, and then went peacefully.
lake care of tue present an let the future
look out tor itself. Sufficient unto the day
Is the evil thereof"
Again, the habit of borrowing misfortune
is wrong because it units us for it when it
actually does come. We cannot always have
smooth sailing Life's path will sometimes
tumble among declivities AMI mount a stesp
and be thorn pierced. Judas will kiss our
cheek and then sell us for thirty pieces of
silver. Human scorn will try to cruelty us
between two thieves. We will hear the iron
gate of the sepulcher creak and grind as it
shuts in our kindred. But we cannot get
ready for these things by forebodings They
who fight imaginary woes will come out OF
breath, into conflict with the armed disas-
tiers of the future Their ammunition will
have been wasted long before they come
under the guns OF real misfortune. Bows in
attempting to jump wall sometimes 60 50
far back in order to get impetus that when