Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1893-06-15

! trial, perhaps, is q violent temper, ana
/ you have to drive it like six unbroken
horses amid the gunpowder explosions
of a great holiday, and ever and anon
it runs awav with YOU Your trial is
the asthma. You say: ooh, If it were
rheumatism, or neuralgia, or erysipe-
las, but it is this asthma, and it is
such an exhausting thing to breathe.
Your trouble is husband, short, sharp,
snappy, and cross about the house,
and raising small riot because a
button is off. How could you know
the button is off? Your trial is a
wife ever in contest with the servants,
and she is sloven. Though she was
very careful about her appearance in
your presence once, now she is careless
because she said her fortune is made.
Your trial is hard school lesson you
cannot learn, and you have bitten
your finger nails until they are sight
to behold. Everybody has some vexa-
ton or annoyance, or trial, and he or
she thinks it is the one least adapted.
Anything but this" all say. ANY
thing but this"
Oh, my hearer, are you not ashamed
to be complaining all this time against
God? Who manages the affairs of this
world, anyhow? Is it an infinite Mo-
doc? or Sitting Bull savage? or an
omnipotent Mana Sahib? No; it is the
most. merciful and glorious and wise
Being in all the universe. You cannot
teach Omnipotence anything. You
have fretted and worried almost
enough. Do you not think so? Some
of you are making yourselves ridicu-
lous in the sight of the angels. Here
is naval architect, and he draws out
the plan of ship of many thousand
tons. Many workmen are engaged on
it for a long while The ship is done;
and some day, with the flags up and
the air gorgeous with bunting, that
vessel is launched for Southampton.
At that time, lad six years of age
comes running down the dock with u
toy-boat which he has made with his
own jackknife; and he says: Here,
my boat is better than yours. just
look at this jib boom and these weather
cross jack braces" and he drops his
little boat beside the great ship, and
there is roar of laughter on the
docks All, my friends, that great
ship is your life as God planned it
vast, million-tonned, OCEAN destined,
eternity bound. That little boat is
your life as you are trying to hew it
out, and fashion it, and launch it, All,
do not try to be a rival of the great
Jehovah. God is always rlght, and in
nine cases out of ten you are wrong.
He sends just the hardships, just the
bankruptcies, just the cross that is best
for you to have. He knows what kind
of grain you are, and he sends the
right kind of thrcshing machine. 1t
will tie a rod, or staff, or iron wheel,
just according as you are fitches, or
cummin, or corn.
Again: My subject teaches us that
God keeps trial on us until we let go.
The farmer shouts whoa" to his
horses as soon as the grain has dropped
from the stalk. The farmer comes
with his fork and losses up the straw,
and he sees that the straw has let go
the grain, and the grain is thoroughly
threshed. So God. Shifting rod and
turning wheel, both cease as soon as
we let go. We hold on to this world
with its pleasures, and riches, and
emoluments, and our knuckles are SO
firmly set that it seems as if we could
hold on forever. God comes along
with some threshing trouble and beats
us loose. We started under the delusion
that this was great world. We
learned out of our geography that ii
was 81 many thousand miles in diane
ter and so many thousand miles in
circumference. and we said: so my,
what a world" Troubles came in
after-life, and this trouble sliced of
one part of the world, and that trouble
sliced off another part of the world,
and it has got to be a smaller world,
and, in some of your estimations very
insignificant world; and it is depreciat.
ing all the time as spiritual property.
Ten per cent Off, so per cent off, and
there are those here who would not
give 10 cents for this world-for the
entire world-as n soul-possession.
We thought that friendship was q
grand thing. In school we usel tc
write compositions about friendship
aad perhaps we made our graduating
speech on commencement day or
friendship. oh, it was a charmed
thing; but does it mean as much to yor
as it used to? You have gone on in
life, and one friend has betrayed you
and another friend has misinterpretet
you, and another friend has neglected
you, and friendship comes now some
. times to mean to you another axe t
grind.
So with money. We thought il {
, man had a competency he was safe fol
all the future; bu; we have learned
that a mortgage may be defeated by
, an unknown previous incumbrance
that signing your name on the back o.
note may be your business death
warrant; that a new tariff may change
{ the current of trade; that man may
be rich to-day and poor tomorrow
al Id H. Ill e.. .
trying to loosen our grip; but still we
hold on. God smites us with staff
but we hold on. And he strikes u
with rod; but we hold on. And he
sends over us the iron wheel of mis-
fortune; but we hold on.
There are men who keep their grir
on this world until the last moment
, who suggest to me the condition ant
, conduct of the poor Indian in the boat
in the Niagara rapids, coming on to
| ward the fall. Seeing that he coult
not escape, a moment or two before hC
{ got to the verge of the plunge, h,
lifted a wine bottle and drank it off
, and then tossed the battle into the air
/ s. there are men who clutch the world
and they go down through the rapid,
of temptation and sin, and they hold
on to the very last moment of life
: drinking to their eternal damnation a,
r they go over and go down.
5 Oh, let go! Let go! The best for
| tunes are in heaven. There are no alb
E sconding cashiers from that bank, M
= failing in promises to pay. Set you,
affections on things above, not OF
things on the earth. Let go! DEPEND
4 upon it that God will keep upon yor
E the staff or the rod or the iron vince
| until you do let go.
! Another thing my text teaches us is
r that Christian sorrow is going to bav,
l a sure terminus. Ny text says
t Bread corn is bruised, because h,
i wi not be ever through threshing it,
1 Blessed be God for that! Pound away
4 0 fail. Turn on, o wheel. Your worl
4 will soon be done. "He will not b,
4 ever threshing it." Now the Christian
has almost as much use in the organ
: for the stop tremulant as he has fo
D the trumpet But after awhile he will
put the last dirge into the portfolio
l forever. So much of us as is whea