Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1893-02-17

nothing in worldly associations so grand
aud so beautiful and 50 exhi:arAnt as In
christian sclety.
know there is a great deal of talk about
the self denials OF the Christian [ have %
tell you tnat where tue Christian has one
self denial the man o. the world has thou
sand self denials. Tue Christian Is not COM
manded to surrender anything that Is worth
keeping. But what does a man denv MIN
self who denies himself the religion or
Christ He denies himself pardon OF stu;
he denies himself peace OF conscience; he de-
MES himself the JOY OF the Holy Ghost; ne
denies himself comfortable death pillow;
he denies himself the glories OF heaven Do
not talk to me about the salt denlals or the
Christian life! Where there Is ore IN the
Christian life there are thousand IN the
life OF the world. Her ways ara ways or
pleasantneSs
Again. find a great deal OF religious sum
shine in Christian and divine explanation.
To a great many people life is an inexpllca
BILE tangle. Things turn out differently from
what was supposed. There is a useless wo-
man in perfect health. There Is an indus
trious and consecrated woman a complete
invalid. Explain that. There is BAD man
with $50, O00 Of income. There IS goo1 man
with $500 of income. Why is that? There Is
foe of society who lives on, doing all the
the damage he can, to seventy-iva years OF
age, and here is Christian father, faithful
in every department Of life. st thlrtv-dve
helpless. Explain that. Oh, there is no
sentence that oftener drops from your lips
than this: 81 cannot understand it. lean
not understand it,"
Well, now, religion comes in just at tdat
point with its illumination and its expiana-
ton. There is a business man who has lost
his emf re fortune. The week before he lost
his fortune there were twenty carriages that
stopped at the door of his mansion. The
week after he lost his fortune all the car
riages you count on one finger. The week
before financial trouble began eople all took
off their hats to him as he passed down the
street. The week his financial prospects
were under discussion people just touched
their hats without anywise ben ling the rim.
The week that he was pronounced insovlent
people just jolted their heads as they passed,
not tipping their hats at ALL and the week
the sheriff sold him out all his friends were
looking in the store win lows as they went
down past him.
Now, while the world goes away from
man when he is in financial distress, the re-
Tgion of Christ comes to him and saws:
you are sick and your sickness is to be
moral purification; you are bereaved; GOd
wanted in some way to take your family TO
heaven, and He must begin somewhere, AMI
so Ee took the one that was most beautiful
and vas most ready to CO." I do not say
that religion explains everything in this life.
but do say it lays down certain principles
which are grandly consOlatory. You know
business men often telegraph in clphers.
The merchant in San Francisco telegraphs
to the merchant in New York certain infor-
nation in ciphers which other man In
that line of business can understand, but
the merchant in San francisco has the key
to the cipher, and the merchant IN New ork
has the kew to the cipher, and on that In
formation transmitted there are enterprises
involving hundreds Of thousands OF dollars.
Now the providences of life sometimes
seem to be senseless rigmarole, myst9r1-
Gus cipher but God has key to that cipher,
and the Christian key to that cipher, and,
though he may hardly be able to spell ouu the
meaning, he gets enough OF the meaning 10
understand that it is for the best. Now is
there not sunshine in that? Is there not
pleasure in that? Far beyond laughter, 1t
is nearer the fountain OF tears than oo!s6er-
Gus demonstration. Have you never cried
for ioY? There are tears which are eternal
rapture in distillation.
There are hundreds Of people in this house
who are walking day by day in the sublime
satisfaction that all is for the best, all things
working together for good for their soul.
How a man can get along through this life
without the explanation is to me mystery.
What! is that child gone forever? Are you
never to get it back? Is your property gone
forever? Is your soul to be bruised and TO
be tried forever Have you no explanation.
no Christian explanation, and yet not a
maniac? But when you have the religion OF
Jesus Christ in your soul, 1T explains every
thing so far as it is best for you to under
stand. You look off in life, and your soul
is full of thanksgiving to God tnat you are
SO much better off than you might be.
A man passed down the street without
any shoes and said: II have no shoes. Isn't
it hardship that have no shoes? Other peo-
pie have shoes; no shoes, no Shoes" until he
saw a man who had no feet. Then he
learned lesson. You ought to thank God
for what He does, instead OF grum0llng for
what He does not. God arrangeS all the
weather in this world-tne spiritual
weather, the moral weather as we'll a the
natural weather. ''What kind of weather
will it be to-dayY said some one to farmer.
The farmer replied, ut will be such weather
as like" "What do you mean by that"
asked the other. ''Well," said the farmer,
'.it will be such weather pleasas the Lord,
and what pleases the Lord pleases me-"
Oh. the sunshinel the sunshine OF Chris
tian expauationl Here is some one beudlug
over the grave of the dead. what Is gong
to be the consolation? The flowers you
strew upon the tomb? Oh, mol The ser
vices read at the grave? On, no. Inc
chief consolation on that grave Is wnat falls
from the throne OF God. Sunshine, glori-
Gus sunshine. Resurrection sunshine.
Again [ find great deal Of the sunshine
of this Bible and of our religion IN the
climacteric joys that are to come. A man
VINO gets up and goes out from con-
cert right after the opening voluntary
has been paved, and before the prima
donna sings, or before the orchestra
begins, has better IDEA OF that CONCERT
than that man has VINO supposeS that the
chief lows of religion are in this world. We
here have only the first note OF the eternal
orchestra. We snail in that world have tne
! iov of discovery. We will in five minutes
! catch I'D with the astronomers the geolo-