The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1893-09-09

'O JONb ~ viz hlttI, DuD ii |
high tariff on every annoyance and
vexation that comes through your soul.
This might not mount to much, in
single cases., but in the aggregate it
would be u great revenue of spiritual
strength and satisfaction.
Suppose a soldier should say: This
Is only n skirmish, and there is only "a
few enemies-I won't load my gun;
wait until l can get into some great
general engagement" That mar is Il
coward, and would be a coward in any
sphere. If Il man does not serve his
country in u skirmish, he will not in a
Waterloo. And if you are not faithful
going out against the single-handed
misfortunes of this life, you would not
be faithful when great disasters, with
their laundering artillery, come rolling
down over the soul.
My friends, you need to AXE the re-
ligion of the Lord Jesus Christ into
the most ordinary trials of your life.
You hav your misfortuncs, you have
your anXieties, you have your veXa-
tons. 'Oh!' you say, they don't
shape my character. Since | lost my
child, since | have lost my property, |
have been a very different man from
what | was" My brother, it is the lit
tie annoyances of your life that are
souring your disposition, clipping your
moral character, and making you less
and less of a man.
You go into an artists studio. You
see him making a 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" "Oh!" he replies,
that would shatter the statue; l
stroke" And he continues on by week
and month until after awhile every
man that enters the studio is fas
cinated. Well, / find God dealing with
some man. He is shaping him for time,
and shaping him for eternity. l say,
80, Lord! why not with one tremen-
dous blow of calamity shape that man
for the next world?" God says: That's
not the way / deal with this man; it is
stroke after stroke, annoyance after
annoyance, irritation after irritation;
and after awhile he will be done, and
a glad spectacle for angels and men"
Not by one great stroke, but by ten
thousand little trokes Of misfortune
are men fitted for Heaven. You kno
hat 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 small 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 n ship. One lucifer
match may destroy a temple. A queen
got her death by smelling a poisoned
rose. The scratch of a %sixpenny nail
may give you the lockjaw. Columbus,
by asking for u piece of bread and n
drink of water at a franciscan convent,
came to the discovery of a new world.
And there is a great connection be-
tween trifies and immensities, between
nothings and everythings. Do you not
uppose that God cares for your insig-
nificant sorrows? Why, my friends,
there is nothing insignificant in your
life. How dare you take the RESPONSE
bility of saying that there is? Do you
not know that the whole universe is
not ashamed to take care of one violet?
Isay: "What are you doing down there
in the grass, poor little violet? No
body knows you are here. Are you
not afraid nights? You will die with
thirst; nobody cares for you; you will
suffer, you will perish" NO" saysa
star, 'Tll watch over it tonight"
NO" says the cloud, 'rll give it
drink" mo" says the sun, "Ill warm
it in my bosom" And then the wind
rises and comes bending down the grain
and sounding it's psalm through the
forest, and 1 say: "Whither away, o
windl on such swift wing?" and 1t an
swers: 81 am going to cool the cheek
of that violet" And then l see pulleys
at work in the sky, and the clouds are
drawing water, and l say: What are
you doing there, o clouds?" They say:
I'VE are drawing water for that vio-
let" And then | look down into the
grass, and l say: Can it be that
God takes care of a poor thing like
you?" and the answer comes up: Eyes,
yes; God clothes the grass of the field,
and he has never forgotten me, a Door
violet" Oh, my friends! if the heavens
bend down to such insignificant min
lstry as that, 1 tell you God is willing
to bend down to your case, since he is
just as careful about the construction
of a spiders eye as he is In the confor-
nation of flaming galaxies
D1af1 had n 90 h1a ruhtnh + horn noun
nearly forgotten, but IL raj something
like this; He said spirits of the other
world camo back to this world to find
a body and find a sphere of work. One
spirit came and took the body of a
king, and did his work. Another spirit
came and took the body of a poet and
did his work. After awhile Ulysses
came, and he said: "Why, all the fine
bodies are taken, and all the grand
work is taken. There is nothing left
for me-" And some n replied: "Ah!
the best one has been left for you"
Ulysses said: whats that?' And the
reply was: 1.-The body of a common
man, doing a common work, and for O
common reward" A good fable for
the world, and just as good 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
we are called together in our churches
to give thanks to God for his goodness.
But every day ought to be a thanks
giving day, We take most of the
blessings of life as a matter of curse.
We have had 10, 900 blessings this mora
ing. Before the night comes we will
have a thousand more blessings you
will never think OF mentioning before
God.
We must see a blind maj led along
by his dog before we learn what a
grand thing it is to have ones eye
sight. We must see a man with st.
Vitus' dance before we learn what q
grand thing it is to have the use of u
physical energies. We must see some
soldier crippled, limping along on his
erutch, or his empty coat sleeve pinned
up, before we learn what q grand thing
1t is to have the use Of all our physical
faculties. In other words, we are so
stupid hat nothing but the misfort-
uRes of others can wake us mp to an
appreciation of our common blessings.
We get on board a train and start for
Boston, and come to Norwalk bridge,
and the draw is off, and crash! goes
the train. Fifty lives dashed out. We
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