Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1892-12-09


temporary distressas OF husking time.
"Weeping may endure for a night, but JOY
cometh in the morning" Light, and but
for a moment" said the apostle as he
clapped his hands; light, and but for
moment" The chill Of the frosts followed
by the gladness that cometh in like a shock
Of corn cometh in in his season"
OF course the husking time made rough
work with the ear OF corn. The husking
| peg had TO be thrust in. and the hard thumb
of the husker had 10 come down on the
swathing OF the ear, and then there was a
pull and there was a ruthless tearing, and
then complete swapping off before the
corn was free, and if the husk could have
spoken it would have said "Why do you
lacerate me? Why do you wrench meE
All, my friends, that is the way God has ar
ranged that the ear and husk shall part,
and that is the way He has arranged that
the body and the soul shall separate. You
can afford to have your physical dlstresses
when you know that they are only forward
ing the souls liberation. Every rheumatic
pain is only a plunge Of the husking peg.
Every neuralgia twInge Is only tWist by
the husker.
There is gold in you that must come ont.
Some way the shackle must be broken.
Some way the ship must De launched for
heavenly voyage. You must let the Heaven
~ Husbandmen husk off the mortality from
the immortality. There ougat to be great
consolation In this for all who have chronic
ailments, since the Lord is gradually and
more mildly taking away from you that
which hinders your souls liberation doing
gradually for you what for many of US in
robust health perhaps He will do in one fell
blow at the last. At the close OF every ILL
ness, at the close Of every paroxysm you
ought to say: THANK God, that is al past
now; thank God, will never nave to suffer
that again; thank Col, am 50 much nearer
the hour Of liberation"
You will never suffer the same pain twice.
You may have new pain in an old place,
but never the same pain twice. The pain
does its work and then it dies. Just so many
plunges of the crowbar to free the quarry
stone for the building. Just so many strokes
of the chlsel to complete the statute. just
so many pangs to separate the soul from the
body. You who have chronic ailments and
disorders are only paying in installments
that which some OF US will have to pay In
one payment when we pay the debt OF
nature. Thank God, therefore, ye who have
chronic disorders, that you have SO much
less suffering at the last Thank God that
you will have so much less to feel in the way
of pain at the hands Of the Heavenly Hus-
bandman when ''the shock Of corn coneth
in in his season."
question which asked one Sabbath morn
ing, but did not answer, Why is it that SO
many really good people have so dreadfully
to suffer? You often find good man with
enough pains and aches and distresses, you
would think, to discipline a whole colony,
while you will find man who is perfectly
useless going about with easy digestion and
steady nerves and shining health and his
exit from the world is comparatively pain.
less How do you explain that? Well, |
noticed in the husking time that the husk-
ing peg was thrust into the cora. and then
there must be stout pull before the swath-
ing was taken off the ear and the full, round,
healthy, luxuriant corn was developed,
while, on the other hand, there was corn
that hardly seemed worth husking.
We threw that into place all by itself,
and we called it nubbins Some of it was
mildewed, and some of it was mice nibbled,
and some Of it was great promises and no
fuIflment. ALI cobs and no corn. Nubbins!
After the good corn had been driven up to
the barn we came around with the corn
basket and we picked up these nubbins
They were worth saving, but not worth
much. So all around us there are people
who amount to comparatively nothing
They develop into no kind of usefulness.
They are nibbled on one side by the world,
and nibb!ed on the other side by the devil,
and mildewe6 all over. Great promise and
no fulfilment. All cobs aud no corn Nub-
blnsl They are worth saving. l suppose
many OF them will get to heaven but they
are not worthy to be mentioned in thu same
day with those who went through great
circulation into the king iom of our God.
Who would not rather have the pains Of
this life, the mlsfOrtuneS OF this life-who
would not rather be torn and wounded and
lacarated and wrenched and husked and at
last go in amid the very best grain OF the
granery-than to be pronounced not worth
husking atall? Nubbins? In other words. I
want to say to you people 40 have distress
of body and distress in business aud distress
of all sorts, the Lord has not any grudge
against you. 1t is not dsrogatory; it is
complimentary. "Whom the Lord loveth
He chasteneth" and it is proof positive that
there is omething valuable in you, or the
Lord would not have husked you.
You remember also that in the time of
h11S mo- Y1oIcrh horh px
the great fireplace in the winter the fires
roaring around the glorified backlogs on an
old-fashioned hearth, of which the modern
stoves and registers are only the degenerate
descendants, the farmers used to gather and
spend the evening, and there would be much
sociality: but it was not anything like the
joy of the husking time for then all the
farmers came and they came in the very
best humor, and they came from beyond the
meadow and they came from beyond the
three miles around.
food spirits reigned supreme AMI there
were great handshakings, and there was
carnival, and there was the recital of the
brightest experience in all their lives and
there was a neighborhood reunion the men,
DRY of which makes all the nerves of nv
body tremble with emotion as the strings OF
a harp when the fingers of the player have
swept the chords. The husking time was the
time of neighborhood reunion and so
heaven will be just that. There they come
upl They slept in the old village church.
yard. There they come up! They reclined
amid the fountains and the sculpture and the
parterres of a city cemetery. There they
come up! They went down when the ship
foundered off Cape Hatteras. They come u
from all sides-from potter's field and olfr