Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1893-09-08

heart You can get sweetness out OF that
which would otherwise irritate and annoy
A returned missionary told me- that con-
pany OF adventures, rowing up the Ganges,
were stung to death by flies that intest that
region At certain seasons. have seen the
earth strewn with the carsasses OF men slain
| by insect annOyances. The only way 10 get
prepared for the great troubles OF life Is 10
conquer these small troubles.
| Suppose a soldier should say. TINS Is only
q skirmish and there are only few enomies
i won't load my gun wait until get into
some great general engagement mat
man Is a coward AMI woulI be coward in
any sphere. II q man does not serve MS
country in s,drnlsh. he will not In
Waterloo. And II you are not fathiul gong
out against the ingle-handei misiortunes OF
ths life you would not be faithful wnen
great disasters with their laundering
artillery came rolling down over the soul.
This brings mo to another point We
ought TO bring the religion OF Jesus Christ
| into our trials II we have bereavement, II
/ we lose our fortune. II some great trouOie
blast like the tempest. then we go to God Tor
comfort, but yesterday in the little annoy
ances Of your store or Office, or shop or lac,
tory. or banking house, did you so to Coo
for comfort? You did not.
Nv friends. YOU need to take the religion
nary trials OF your life. You have your mis-
fortunes. you have your anxeties. you nave
YOUR yexltions Goa" you say, "they don
| shape nv character Since lost my child.
| since have lost my property, l have been
very different man from what l was My
| brother, it Is the little annoyances OF your
life that are souring your disposition, clip
| ping your moral character ana making you
less and less OF a man.
You 90 into an artists studio. You see
him making piece OF sculpture. You say,
"Why don't YOU strike harderY With his
mallet and his chissl he goes click, click
click and you can hardly see from stroke 10
stroke that there is any impression madeupon
the stone. and yet the work is going on. You
| say "Why don't you strike harderF "Oh
he replies. "that would shatter the statue. l
must make it in this way, stroke by stroke.
| And he continues on by week and month
until after awhile every man that enters the
studio is fascinated.
Well. find God dealing with some man.
He Is shaping him for time and shaping MN
for eternity. say. 80 Lord. why not with
one tremendous blow OF calamity shape that
man for the next world?' God says, That
not the way deal with this mar 1t Is stroke
after stroke, annoyance after annoyance, IT.
ritation after irritation, and after awhile ne
will be done and glad spectacle Tor Angels
! and men,
Not by one great stroke, but by ten thou
sand little strokes OF misfortune are men
fitted for heaven. You know that large lor-
| tunes can soon be scattered by being paid out
| in small sums otmoney and the largest estate
OF Christian character is sometimes entirety
| lost by these small depletions.
We must bring the religion OF Jesus
Christ to help US in these little annoy
ances. Do not say that anything Is 100
Insignificant to affect your character.
Rats may sink ship. One mciier
match may destroy a temple. queen
rot her death by smelling Of poisonel
rose Tho scratch OF a sixpenny nall
NAV give YOU the lockjaw. Columbus, by
/ asEing FOR piece OF bread AMI drink OF
water nj a Franciscan convent. came to the
discovery Ola new world. Aud there Is
great connection between triles and I'M
mensities, between nothing3 AMI every
things.
Do YOU not suppose that Col cares for
! vour insiynincant sOrrOwsY Why. my friends,
there is nothing Insignificant IN your lie.
How dare you take the responsibility Oh say
inc that there IS? Do you not know that
the whole universe IS not ashamed 10 take
care Of one Violet l say What are you
doing down there in tae grass, poor little
violet? Nobody knows YOU are here. Ars
Won not afrlii nights You will die with
/ thirst. Moody cares for you. You VIII
suffer Won Will perish" NO, says star,
/ "Tn watch ovar It tonight" No, says
the cloud. III give it drink. NO, says
the sun. I'm warm 1t in my bosom. An
then the wind rises and cones bending
down the grain AMI sounding us
nsalm through the forest, and say,
,.Whither away. 0 wini. on such swift
wincY" and it answers, Il am going to cool
the cheek OF that violet And then | see
pullevs at WORK in the SKY. and the clouds
are drawing water. and / say what are you
doing there, o coudsy" They say, I'VE are
drawing water for that violet. And then l
look down into the grass, and say, 'Oan II
be that God takes care OF poor thlh8 Ike
youY" and the answer cones up, res yes
/ Col clothes the grass OF the field. and He has
never forgotten me poor violet. On. my
friends. if the heavens bend down 10 such in.
significant ministry As that, tell You Go Is
/ willing to bend down to your cure. since h.
! Is Just as careful about the construction OF
SPIDER eye rs H is in tho conformation OF
flaming galaxies.
Plato had a fable wlici have now nearly
forgotten. bat it ran something like this H.
said spirits OF the other world cane back to
! this world 20 lnl q oily ami hni sphere OF
worS Ons spirit cane AMI took the DO iy OF
n kin; AMI did Ms w0rS. Another spirit came
an took the DO ~ OF a poet and did his work.
After awhile Ulysses came, and he said
why. all the fine DO lies ar taken AMI all
/ the grand work is taken. There is nothing
left for me- AMI some one replied. "Ah.
the best one has been left for you. Ulysses
slid. whats that AMI the reply was.
The DO Is OF n common mau. doing a con-
mon work and for a common reward.
cool fable for tho world AMI just as cool
fable for the church.
But. remark again. We ought to bring the
religion OF Jesus Christ into our ordinary
blessings. Every autumn the President Of
| the United States and the governors make
proclamation, and W. are called together in
our churches to give thanks to God for His
goodness. But every day on ht to bethanks-
giving day. We take most OF the blessings
OF life as a matter OF course. We have had
ten thousand blessings this morning for
which we have not thanked God. Before the
| night comes We will have a thousand more
blessings you will never think Of mentioning
before God.
We must see blind man led along 10y bis
dog before we learn what grand thing it IS
to have ones eyesight. We must see man
with st. Ntus's dance before we learn what
grand thing it is to have the use Of our physl-
cal energies. We must see some soldier
crippled J., limpng along on his crutch or his
empty coatsleeve pinned up. before we learn
what a grand thing it is to have the use OF
all our physical faculties. In other words,
we are so stupid that nothing but the misior-
tunes OF Others can wake US up to an appre-
citation OF our common blessings.
We get on boarl a train AMI start for Bos-
ton and come to Norwalk bridge, and the
draw is OF and crash goes the train.
Fifty lives dashed out. We escape. We
come home in great excitement and call our
friends around rs, and they congratulate US,
and we all knell down and thank Col Tor our
escape while so many persisted But to-
morrow morning you get on train OF cars
for Boston. You cross that bridge at Nor
walk you cross all the other bridges you
get to Boston in safety. Then you return
home. Not an accident, not an alarm. No
thanks
In other words. you seem TO be more CRATE
full when so people lose their lives ana you
get Off than you are grateful to God when
you all get of and you have no alarm nj all
Now. you ought to be thankful when you. es-
cape from accident, but more thankful wheh
they all escape. In the one case your graft
tude is somewhat selfish in the other II Is
more like what 1t ought to be.
Oh. these common mercies, these common
blessings, how little we appreciate them ana
H..