Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1894-05-04

Some one said to a very poor woman,
Chow is it that in such distress you
keep cheerful" She said: II do it by
what call cross prayers. When I had
my rent to pay and nothing to pay it
with, and bread to buy and nothing to
buy it with, I used to sit down and cry.
But now do not get discouraged If
90 along the street when l come to a
corner Of the street l say, The Lord
help me-. then go on until come to
another crossing of the street, and again
1 say, The Lord help mep And so 1
utter a prayer at every crossing, and
since have got into the habit of say
ing these cross prayers I have been
able to keep up my courage"
Purified by Fire.
Learn again from this subject that
people sometimes are surprised to find
out that what they have been strug-
Cling with in the darkness is really an
"angel of blessing" Jacob found in the
morning that this strange parsonage was
not an enemy, but a God dispatched
messenger to promise prosperity for him
and for his children. And SO many
man, at the close Of his trial, has found
out that he has been trying to throw
down his own blessing. If you are a
Christian man, will go back in your
history and find that the grandest things
that have ever happened to You have
been your trials. Nothing short of
scourging, Imprisonment and ship
wreck could have made Paul what he
was
When David was fleeing through the
wilderness pursued by his own son, he
was being prepared to become the sweet
singer of Israel. The pit and the dun
geon were the best schools at which
Joseph ever graduated The hurricane
that upset the tent and killed Jobs chill
dren prepared the man of Uz to write
the magnificent poem that has astound-
ed the ages. There is no way to get the
wheat out of the straw but to thrash it.
There is no way to purify the gold but
to burn it. Look at the people who have
always had it their own way. They are
proud. discontinued, useless and unhap-
DIV. If you want to find cheerful folks, 60
among those who have been purified by
the fire. After Eossini had rendered
William Tell" the five hundredth time
a company of musicians came under his
window in Paris and serenaded him.
They put upon his brow a golden crown
of laurel leaves. But amid all the APP
plause and enthusiasm Rossini turned to
a friend and said, Il would give all this
brilliant scene for a few days Of youth
and love" Contrast the melancholy feel
ing Of Rossini, who had everything this
world could give him, to the joyful ex-
perience of Isaac Watts, whose misfor-
tunes were innumerable, when he says;
The hill Of Zion yields
A thousand sacred sweets
Before we reach the heavenly fields
Or walk the golden streets.
Then let our songs abound
And every tear be dry
We are marching through Immanuefs
ground
To fairer worlds on high.
Marks of the Combat.
1t is prosperity that kills and trouble
that saves. While the Israelites were
on the march, amid great priyations
and hardships, they behaved well. After
awhile they prayed for meat, and the
sky darkened with great flock Of
quails, and these quails fell in large
multitudes all about them, and the Is
raelites ate and ate and stuffed them
selves until they died. Oh, my friends,
it is not hardship or trial or starvation
that Injuries the soul, but abundant sup
ply. 1t is not the vulturo Of trouble
that eats up the Christians life; it is
the quails, it is the quailsl You will
vet find out that your midnight wrestle
by the brook Jabbok is with an angel
of God, come down to bless and save.
Learn again that while our wrestling
with trouble may be triumphant we
must expect that it will leave its mark
upon us Jacob prevailed but the angel
touched him, and his thigh bone sprang
from its socket, and the good man went
limping on his way. We must carry
through this world the mark Of the
combat. What plowed those premature
wrinkles in your face? What whitened
your hair before it was time for frost?
What silenced forever so much Of the
hilarity of your household? All, it is be-
cause the angel of trouble hath touched
you that you go limping on your way.
You need not be surprised that those
who have passed through the fire do
not feel as gay as once they did.
Do not be out of patience with those
who come not out of their dependency
They may triumph over their loss, and
yet their gait shall tell you that they
have been trouble touched. Are we
stoics that we can, unmoyed, see our
cradle rifled of the bright eyes and the
sweet lips? Can we stand unmOved and
see our gardens Of earthly delight up
rooted? Will Jesus, who wept himself,
be angry with us if we pour our tears
into the graves that open to swallow
down what we love best? Was Lazarus
more dear to him than our beloved dead
to us? No. We have a right to weep
Our tears must come You shall not
drive them back to scald the heart They
fall into Gods bottle. Afflicted ones
have died because they could not weep.
Thank God for the sweet, the mystic
rious relief that comes to US in tears
Under this gentle rain the flowers OF
corn put forth their bloom. God pity
that dry, withered, parched, all consum-
ing grief that wrings its hands and
grinds its teeth and bites its nails unto
the quick, but cannot weepl We may
have found the comfort of the cross, and
yet ever after show that in the dark
night and by the brook Jabbok we were
trouble touched.
Tho Day Breaketh.
Again, we may take the idea OF the
text and announce the approach Of the