The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1893-03-15

costs nothing Is worth nothing Goa
didn't intend this world for aR easy
parlor, through which we are TO DO
drawn In a rocking chair, but we are 70
work our passage, climb masts, fight
battles, scale noun tains and ford rivers.
God makes everything valuable difficult
to get at, for the same reason that he
put the gold down in the mine, and the
pearl clear down in the sea, to make
us dig and dive for them. We acknowi-
edge this principle in worldly things
0, that we were only wise enough 70
acknowledge 1t in religious thingsl
You have scores of illustrations under
your own observation where men have
had the hardest lot and been trodden
under foot and yet after awhile had IT
easy. Now their homes blossom and
bloom with pictures, and carpets that
made foreign looms laugh now embrace
their feet; the summer winds lift the
tapestry about the window gorgeous
enough for Turkish sultan; impatient
steeds paw and neigh at the door, their
carriages moving through the sea Oh
New York life very wave OF splendor
Who is it? Why, it is boy that came
to New York with dollar in his
pocket and all his estate slung over his
shoulder in a cotton handkerchief All
that silver on the dancing span is the
petrified sweat drops; that beautiiul
dress is the faded calico over which God
put His hand of perfection, turning 1t
to Turkish satin or Italian silk; those
diamonds are the tears which suffering
froze as they fell o, there is a river OF
difficulty between us and every earthly
achievement You know that You
/ admit that
You know this Is so with regard to
the acquisition Of knowledge. The an
clients used to say that Vulcan struck
Jupiter on the head, and the goddess OF
wisdom jumped out, illustrating the
truth that wisdom comes by hard
knocks. There was river OF difficulty
between Shakespeare, the boy holding
the horses at the door Of the London
theater and that Shakespeare, the
great dramatist, winning the applause
of all audiences by his tragedies There
was a river between Benjamin Frank
lin, with loaf Of bread under his arm,
walking tho streets Of Philadelphia,
and that same Benjamin Franklin, the
philosopher, just outside OF Boston, hy-
ing kite in q thunder storm. An idler
was cured Of his bad habit by looking
through his window, night after night,
at man who seemed sitting at
his desk turning off one sheet OF writ
ing after another, until almost the
dawn OF the morning. Then sitting
there writing until morning was indus
trious Walter Scott; the man who looked
at him through the window was Lock-
hart, his illustrious biographer after
ward. Lord Mansfield, pursued by the
, press and by the populace, because of a
certain line of duty, vent on to dis
J charge the duty; and while the mob
were around him demanding the taking
| Of his life, he shook his fist in the face
| Of the mob, and said, 'Sirs when ones
| last end comes, 1t caunbt come too soon,
= II ho falls in defensd OF law and the
liberty Of his country And so there
, is, my friends, tug, d tussle, trial, a
| push, an anxiety, through which every
, man must go before he comes to worldly
) success and worldly achievement. You
admit It Now be wise enough to apply
, | IL in religion. Eminent Christian char.
) acter is only gained ly the JordaniC
passage; no man just happened to gel
= good.
Why does that man know so much
Q about tho Scriptures? Ee was study
9 ing the Bible while you we're reading q
novel. He was on fire with the sub
), limities Of the Bible, while you were
: sound asleep BY tug, tussle, pushing
3 and running in the Christian life that
S man got so strong for God; in hun
!. dred Solferinos he learned how to fight
n in hundred shipwrecks he learned
how to swim. Tears over sin, tear
= over Zion's desolation, tears over thu
d impenitent tears over the graves made
!. are the Jordan which that man hat
+ passed. Sorrow pales the check, ant
c fades tho eye, and wrinkles the brow
y and withers the hands; there ar
k mourning garments in the wardrobe
o and there are deaths in every family
@ record, all around are the rules OF th,
d dead
t The Christian has passed the Red Sci
!, OF trouble, and yet he thinks there Is
c Jordan OF death between him AM
}, Heaven. IIc comes down to that Jordai
/. OF death, and thinks how many hav
d been lost there. When Molyneux wa
Is exploring the Jordan in Palestine, h
o had his boats all knocked TO pieces II
J. the rapids Of that river. And there ar
h great many men who have gone dow
n in the river Of death; tho Atlantic AM
l. Pacific have not swallowed so many. !
I; Is an awful thing 10 make shipwrcck
Ie on the rock OF ruin; masts falling, hur
70 ricanes flying, death coming, groan
u ings In the water, meanings In tn
y wind, thunder In the sky, while Go
n with the finger Of the lightning write
II all over the sky, II will tread them Il
z my wrath, and will trample them Il
q my fury"
N The Christian comes down to thi
'r raging torrent and he knows he mus
e pass out; and as he comes toward th
"a time, his breath gets shorter, and hi
ID last breath leaves him as he steps int
I'd the stream, and no soonerdocs he touc
a. the stream than II "a parted, and h
10 goes through dryshod, while oil th
Is waters wave their plumes, crying; II
n death, where Is thy Sting7 Q, grav'
g where Is thy victory9" God shall wir