The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1893-09-15


gone out of life. There is but very lit
tie of it left in the world. The temples
of Rouen have been changed into
smithies; the classic mansion at Ash
land has been cut up into walking
sticks; the muses. have retreated before
the migrants ak and the trapper's
gun, and Vermonter might go over
the Allegheny and the Rocky Mount
aims and see neither an O-ead nor a
Sylph. The groves where the gods
used to dwell have been cut up for fire.
wood, and the man who is looking for
great spheres and great scenes for
action will not find them. And yet
there are Alps to scale and there are
Tablespoons to swim, and they are in
common life. 1t is absurd for you to
say that you would serve God if you
had great sphere. If you do not serve
him on small scale, you would not on
large scale. If you cannot stand the
bite of nudge, how could you endure
the breath of a basilisk?
Our national government does not
think it belittling to put a tax on pins,
and tax on buckles, and a tax on
shoes The individual taxes do not
amount to much, but in the aggregate
to millions and millions of dollars. And
i would you, o Christian man, put
high tariff on every annoyance and
vexation that comes through your soul
This might not amount to much. in
single cases, but in the aggregate it
would be great revenue of spiritual
strength and satisfaction. A bee can
suck honey even out of a nettle, and If
you have the grace of God in your
heart, you can get sweetness out OF
that which would otherwise irritate
and annoy. A returned missionary told
me that a company of Adventures,
rowing up the GanGes, were stung to
death by flies that infest that region at
certain seasons. {. l have seen the earth
strewed with the carcasses of men slain
by insect annoyances. The only way
to get prepared for the great troubles
of life is to conquer these small troubles.
Suppose soldier should say: This
is only skirmish, and there is only
few enemies-I won't load my gun;
wait until l can get into some great
general engagement" That man is a
coward, and would be a coward in any
sphere. If a man does not serve his
country in sl1irmish, 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 arti lery, come rolling
down over the soul
This brings me to another point. We
ought to bring the religion of Jesus
Christ into all of our trials. If we
have bereavement, if we lose our for
tune, if some great trouble blast like
the tempest, then we go to God for
comfort; but yesterday in the little an
noyances of your store, or office or
shop, or factory, or banking house, did
you 60 to God for comfort? You did
not
My friends, you need to take the re-
ligion of the Lord Jesus Christ into
the most ordinary trials of your life.
You have your misfortunes, you have
your anxieties, you have your vexa-
tons. ''Oh!" you say, they don't
shape my character. Since l lost my
child, since have lost my property, l
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,
shat would shatter the statue; /
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 fas-
cinated. Well, find God dealing with
some man He is shaping him for time,
and shaping him for eternity. l say,
30, 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
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 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 ship. One lucifer
match may destroy temple A queen
got her death by smelling a poisoned
rose The scratch of a siXpeuny 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 new world.
And there is a great connection be-
tween trifes and immensities, between
nothings Id everythings. Do you not
suppose that God cares for your insig-
niicant 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" says a
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