The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-12-28

ct him do lust as he pleases, and you give
him a great many things which you do not
give us. He is your favorite." The mother
smiles; she knows it is so. So he ought to be-
for if there is any one In the world that needs
sympathy more than another it is an invalid
child. weary on the first mile Of life Jour-
ney-carrying an cohing head, weak side,
an irritated lung. So the mother ought to
make him q favorita God, our Mother, has
favorites. Whom the Lord loveth He
chasteneth' Is, Que whom Ee especial
ly loves He chastensth.
God loves US all, but there is one weak
and sick and sore AMI wounded and suffer-
lne and faiuts That Is the one who lies
nearest and more perpstually on the great
loving heart Of God. Why, it never coughs
but our Mother-Goi-hears it. 1t never
stirs weary limb in the bed but our Mother
-God-knows Of it. There is no such a
watcher as God. The best nurse may be
overborne by fatigue and fall asleep in the
chair: but God, our Mother, after being up
a wear of nights with a suffering child, never
slumbers or sleeps. q,
.Oh.n saws one. 81 cannot understand all
that about lictionn A reaner Of silver
once explained it to Christian lady: II put
the silver in the fire, and keep refining 1T
and trying it till can see my lace IN II, ana
| then take it out" Just so 1t IS that God
keeps His dear children in the furnace till
the divine image may be seen In SheT;
then they ara taken out OF the ire: w en-,
saws some one, ''if that is the way that GOD
treats His ravorites, do not want to be
favorite."
There is barren field on an autumn day
Just wanting to be let alone. There IS
bang at the bar and a rattle OF whtmstrees
and clevises. The field says what Is tne
farmer going to do with me nowr The
farmer puts the plow in the ground, shouts
to the horses the oolter goes tearing tarougn
the sod, and the furrow reaches from fence
to fence. Next day there Is bang at the
bars and rattle OF whifhsSrees again. The
field says, 'I wonder what the farmer Is go
ing to do now?' The farmer bitches the
horses to the harrow, and it goes bounding
and tearing across the field.
Next day there is a rattle at the bars
again, and the field says "What Is the far
mer going to do nows He walks heavily
across the field, scattering seed as he walks.
After awhile a cloud comes. The field says.
"Whst, more troublew It begins to rain.
After awhile the wind changes to the north
east and it begins to snow. Says the field:
sIs it not enou Oh that have been torn and
trampled upon and drowneis Must now
be- snowei un ierY' After awhile spring
comes out Of the gates OF the 80 nth, and
warmth and gladness come with 1t. A green
scarf bandages the cash OF the wheat Held,
and the July morning drops crow OF gold
on the head OF the grain.
"Oh,n says the field NOW know the use
of the plow, Of the harrow, Of the heavy
foot. of the shower and of the snowstorm.
It is we'll enough to be trodden aud
trampled and drowned and showed under II
in the end can yield such glorious har-
vest" '.He that goeth forth and weepeth,
bearing precious seed, shall doubtless CONS
again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaVes
When + see God especially busy In trou.
bling and trying Christian, I know that out
OF that Christians character there Is to
come some especial good. A quarryman
goes down into the excavation, and with
ssnas Rss ssrSs so sds Do
that forY' He puts powder in; he lights q
fuse. There Is a laundering crash. The
rock says "Why, the whole mountain Is
going to pieces" The crowbar Is plunged;
the rock is dragged out After awhile it Is
taken into the. artists studio. 1t says,
"Well, now have got good, warm, COM
Portable place at last"
But the sculptor takes the chissl AMI NAL
let, and he digs for the eyes, and he cuts for
the mouth, and he borss for the ear, and he
TuOS IL Will SduQpSpeT, uutst VIC koSh Soyo
"When will this torture be snded?" A sheet
is thrown over it. It stands in darkness.
After awhile it Is taken out The covering
is removed. It stands in the sunlight, In the
presence of ten thousand applauding people,
as they greet the statute OF the poet or the
prince, or the conqueror.
"Ah," saws the stone, .now understand
1t. l am great deal bstter of now stand
ing as statue Of conqueror than would
have been down in the quarry" 30 God
finds man down in the quarry Of Ignorance
and sin. How to get him ups He must be
bored and blasted and chiseled and secured
and stand sometimes in the darkness.
But after awhile the mantle Of afdiction
will fall of, aud his soul will be greeted by
the one hundred and torty-four thousand
and the thousands Of thousands as more than
conaueror. Oh. my friends God, our
Mother, Is Just as kind in our Affections as
in our prosperities. God never touches us
but for our good. II 8 field clean and cul-
tured IS 'bettsr of than barren field, and Il
a stone that has become statue Is better or
than the marble in the quarry, then that
soul that God chastens may be His favorite.
Oh, the rocking OF the soul Is not the
rocking of an earthquake, but the rocking OF
comforteth, so will comfort you" I have
been told that the pearl in an oyster Is
merely the result Of q wound or sickness
inflicted upon it, and do not know but that
the brightest gems Of heaven will be found
to have been the wounds of earth kindled
into the iewsled brightness OF eternal
glory.
Iramark that Col has mothsr's capaci-
ty for attending to little hurts. The father
is shocked at the broken bone Of the child or
at the sickness that sets ths era lie on fra
with fever, but it takes the mother to sym.
pathize with all the little ailments and little
bruises of the child. If the child have
splinter in its hand it wants the mother to
take it out and not the father. The father
says, "Oh, that is nothing" but the mother
knows it is something, and that little hurt
sometimes is very great. So with Col. our
Mother; all our annoyances are important
enough to look at and sympathize with.
Nothing with God is something. There
are no ciphers in Gods arithmetic. And IL
we were only good enough Of sight we could
see as much through a microscope as
through telescope. Those things that
may be palpable and ihinitesimal to us may
be pronounced and infinite to God. A
Mathematical point Is defined as having no
parts, no magnitude. 1t is so small you cau-
not imagine it, and yet mathematical
point may be a starting point for great
eternity. Gods surveyors carry very long
chain. A scale must be very delicate that
can weigh grain, but Gods scale Is 80 deli
cate that he can weigh with it that which
is so small that a grain is million times
heavier.
When John Kitto, poor boy on back
street of Plymouth, cut his foot witn q
piece of glass, God bound it up so success
fully that he became the great Christian
geographer and q commentator known
among all nations. SO every wound OF the
soul, however insignificant, God is willing
to bind up. As at the first cry of the child
the mother rushes to kiss the wound, 80
God, our Mother, takes the smallest wound
Of the heart and presses it to the lips Of