The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1893-09-06

have lost my property, have been .
very different man from what was"
My brother, it is the little annoyances
OF your life that are souriug your dis
position, clipping your moral character,
and making you less and less of man.
You go into an artists studio. You
see him making piece Of sculpture.
You say, why don't you strike
harder?" With his mallet and his
chisel he goes click, click, click! and
you can hardly see from stroke to
stroke that there is any impression
made upon the stone, and yet the work
is going on. You say, why don't you
strike harder?" "0hp' he replies; ''that
would shatter the statue; must make
1t In this way, stroke by stroke" And
he continues on by week and month
until after awhile every man that en-
ters the studio is fascinated. Well, I
find God dealing with some man. He
is shaping him for time, and shaping
him for eternity. / say, 20 Lord!
why not with one tremendous blow OF
calamity shape that man for the next
worldp" God says: 'That's not the
way l deal with this man; 1t is stroke
after stroke, annoyance after annoy
ance, irritation after irritation; and
after awhile he will be done, and q
glad spectacle for angels and men,"
Not by one great stroke, but by ten
Thousand little strokes Of misfortune
are men fitted for Heaven. You know
that large fortunes can soon be scat
tered by being paid out in small sums
OF money, and the largest estate of
Christian character is sometimes en-
tirely lost by these depletions.
We must bring the religion Of Jesus
Christ to help us In these little annoy
ances. Do not say that anything is too
insignificant to affect your character.
Rats may sink a ship. One lucifer
match may destroy temple. A queen
got her death by smelling Of poisoned
rose. The scratch of a sixpenny nail
may give you the lockjaw. Columbus
by asking for a piece Of bread and a
drink Of water at franciscan convent
came to the discovery Of a new world.
And there is a great connection be-
tween trifles and immensities, between
nothings and everythings. Do you not
suppose that God cares fory your insignia.
cant sorrows? Why, my friends, there is
nothing insignificant in your life. How
dare you take the responsibility Of say
ing there is2 Do you not know that
the whole universe is not ashamed Ia
take care Of one violet2 l say, what
are you doing down in the grass
poor little violet? Nobody knows
you are here. Are you not afraid
nights? You will die with thirst; no
body cares for you; you will suffer, you
will perish" NO. says a star, "Pll
watch over it tonight" NO" says
the cloud, "rll give it drink" NO
says the sun, "I'll warm it in my
bosom" And then the wind rises, anC
comes bending down the grain, ant
sounding its psalm through the forest
and say, WHITTIER away, o wind! or
such swift wing?" and II answers, %
am going to cool the check OF tina
violet" And then | see pulleys a
work in the sky, and the clouds ar
drawing water, and say, What arr
you doing there o clouds?" They say
"We are drawing water for that violet.
And then | look down into the grass
and say, "Can 1t be that God take
care OF poor thing like you?" Ant
the answer comes up, "Yes, yes; Goo
clothes the grass of the field, and HI
has never forgotten me, poor violet. '
o, my friends, II the heavens benz
down to such insignificant mystery a
that, tell you God is willing to benz
down to your case, since He is just al
careful about the construction OF
spiders eye as He is in the conforma
tion Of flaming galaxies.
Plato had fable which have nov
nearly forgotten, but it ran something
like this: He said spirits Of the othei
world came back TO this world to find 1
body and find a sphere Of work. One
spirit came and took the body of {
king, and did his work. Another spirit
came and took the body Of a poet, anC
did his work. After awhile Ulysses
came, and he said: "Why, all the fine
bodies are taken, and all the granC
work is taken. There is nothing lef
for me-" And some one replied: "Ah
the best one has been left for you.
ULYSSES said: "What's that?" And the
reply was: ''The body Of q common
man, doing n common work, and for Z
common reward" good fable fol
the world, and just as good fable fol
the church.
But | remark again: We ought t
bring the religion Of Jesus Christ int
our ordinary blessings. Every autumn
the president of the United States ant
the governors make proclamation, ant
we are called together in our churches
to give thanks to God for his goodness
But every day ought to be thanks
giving day. We take most Of the bles
sings OF life as a matter Of course. w
have had ten thousand blessings thii
morning, for which we have no
thanked God. Before the night comes
we will have thousand more blessing
you will never think of mentioning be
fore God.
We must see blind man led along
by his dog before we learn what {
grand thing 1t is to have ones eye
sight We must see man with st
Vitus' dance before we learn what I
grand thing it is TO have the use Of oul
physical energies. We must see som,
soldier crippled, limping along on hi
crutch, or his empty coat sleeve pinned
up, before we learn what a grand thinl
It is to have the use Of all our physica
faculties. In other words, we are 81
stupid that nothing but the misfor