Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1894-10-13

OF parents, ii they arc still alive. But
how much greater tho bereavement
when it comes in early life, before the
character is self reliant, and when nat
urally the heart is unsophisticated and
easily temptedl
And yet behold what a nobility Of
disposition Hadassah exhibited Though
father and mother were gone, grace had
triumphed over all disadvantages Her
willingness to self sacrifice, her control
over the king. her humility, her faith
full worship of God, show her to have
been one of the best of the worlds
Christians
An Unhappy Childhood.
There are those who did not enjoy
remarkable early privileges. Perhaps.
like tho beautiful captive of the text,
you were an orphan. You had huge sor-
rows in your little heart. You some
times wept in the night when you knew
not what was the matter. You felt sad
sometimes even ON the playground.
Your father or mother did not stand in
the door to welcome you when you
came home from long journey. You
still feel the effect of early disadvan-
tages, and you have sometimes offered
tneih as a reason Ior your not peihg as
thoroughly reiglous as you would ike
to be. But these excuses are not suffi-
Gent. Gods grace will triumph if you
seek II. ne KNOWS what obstacles you
nave lought against ana the more trial
the more HELM. After all. there arc no
orphans IN the world, Tor The great God
Is tne father OF US an.
Again. our supJece Is an iiiustration
Oh VIVA. reiigion may DC under inc pres
sure OIL poverty. Inc captisity and
crushed conaitlon OF TINS orphan girl
anu q INC Klna man VINO adopted her
suggest a coiuitioa Oh poverty iee Irom
INC very hfss acquaintance we mad with
11auassah we ma ner the same happy
ana contented CHRISTIAN. Ii was only
py compassion she was afterward taken
INTO sphere OF honor and a1huence. In
tho humble nome OF Mordecal, her
adopted Iather, she was hght that IL
lumlned every prIyatlon. In some period
III almost every man, S life there comes
season Oh s1raltened circumstances,
when the seyerest calculation and most
scraplng economy are necessary III order
70 subsistence ana respectablllty. At
the commencement OF business, at the
entrance upon PROFESSION, when
FRIENDS are Few and the world Is afraid
OF you because thero IS possibility OF
iaiiufe, many OF the hopiest hearts nave
struggled against poverty and are now
struggling.
The Wear OF Anxiety.
70 such l bear o message of good
cheer. You say it is hard thing for
you to be Christian. This constant
anxiety, this unresting calculation, wear
out the buoyancy OF your spirit, and al
though you have told perhaps no one
about 1t cannot tell that this is the
very trouble which keeps you from be-
ing what you ought to be? You have no
time to think about laying up treasures
IN heaven when 1t is matter of great
doubt whether you VIII be enabled to
pay your next quarters rent. You can
not think OF striving after a robe of
Righteousness until you can get means
enough to buy an overcoat to keep out
the cold. You want the bread of life,
but you think you must get along with
out that until you can buy another bar
rel OF flour for your wife and children.
Sometimes you sit down discouraged
and almost wish you were dead.
Christians in satin slippers, with their
feet on damask ottoman, may scout at
such class of temptations, but those
who themselves have been in the strug
gle and grip OF hard misfortune can ap-
preciate the power of these evils to dis
suade the soul away from religious
duties. We admit the strength of the
temptation, but then we point to Ha-
dassah, her poverty cqualed by her
piety Courage down there in the bat
tie! Hurl away your disappointment!
Men of half your heart have, through
Christ, been moro than corquerors. In
the name of God, come out of that!
The religion of Christ is just what you
want out there among the empty -four
barrels and beside the cold hearths. You
have never told any one of what hard
time you have had, but God knows it
as we'll as you know it. Your easy times
will come after awhile. Do not let your
spirits break down midlife. What if
your coat is thin? Run fast enough to
keep warm. What if you have no lux
uries on your table? High expectations
will make your blood tingle better than
the best Madeira. If you cannot afford
to smoke you can afford to whistle.
But merely animal spirits are not suffi-
cient. The power of the gospel-that is
what you want to wrench despair out of
the soul and put you forward into the
front of the hosts incased in impenetra-
bic armor.
Beauty and Its Perils.
Again, our subject illustrates what
religion may he under the temptation of
personal attractiveness. The inspired
record says OF tic heroine of my text,
She was fair and beautiful. Her very
name slgnitied a myrtle. " Yet the adj
miration and praise and fiattery of the
world did not blight her humility. The
is the sa,ne diyi,,o uood,,oss MI, 49,