Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-08-08
RESIGNATION.

l.
o my Father, thy will be done.-Matthew.
XVI, AZ.
The man of faith lives with more sat
isfaction to himself and with greater
benefit to his kind than the man of
doubt.
We do not refer to the man whose
brain contains mere MIDDLE of be-
liefs. who has prejudices and super
stitions instead of convictions, but to
him who feels sure that there is an
eternal right and an eternal wrong,
that the right is worthy of his support
at all hazards, and the wrong will
bring him to physical and spiritual
bankruptcy in tie long run.
We do not need long creed. but we
do need a few verities as basis for &C
ton. The Thirty.nine Articles may
seem very prolix, and the Institutes OF
Calvin may not commend themselves
to our best judgment. but our rejec
ton of them does not constitute us
heretics in the sight of God, although
men may excommunicate us.
If we believe that the universe j.
ruled by love as well as power; that
the outcome of virtue is happiness and
the result of evil is misery; if we see a
Providence in the events of life and
feel that we can communicate with
that Providence by means of what is
called prayer; if we have faith in an
other life where the freed soul will
have larger opportunities than it's Ell
virOnment has permitted here; if we
absorb the spirit of brotherly love and
helpfulness which was incarnated in
the Christ we need have no fears as to
our fate in the future.
Mans creed is apt to be a long one
Gods creed is very short. Short as il
is, however, you will have no timo to
spare If you shape your years accord
ing to its requirements.
Your life, eyerybody's life, has its
pathetic side, and you must have
the sympathy of God if you are to do
good work.
There are times when you are appal
led by the situation in which You find
yourself. There is. no light anywhere,
but darkness everywhere. A score of
friends stand by you and give you
what comfort can be contained in
words, but they have lives of their own
to live. and they cannot help you as
you must be helped if you are to re
cover from the disaster.
Human friendship is precious, but
mingles its signs and tears with yours.
but still there is an empty place in
your heart which neither friendship
nor love can fill.
We have all had that experience, a
heaviness which no arm can tighten, a
dread which no words can dissipate, a
WEAKNESS which no one within reach
can brighten with hope.
Is there no comfort anywhere, no
consolation, no unseen influence that
will steal into the soul with transfigur
ing power?
The agnostic shakes his head in an
emergency like that. and does not
speak, because he has nothing to say.
He can furnish you with additional
despair, but with no thought which
will afford you resignation.
What kind of a world is this" you
ask yourself, gin which what one
Graves most is beyond ones length ~
Is there no remedy anywhere for your
disease of mind? Are you left alone
to struggle as you can to find your way
out of the grief by the slow process of
fOrgetfulness
We think not Else it were mis-
fortune to be born, and the chief bless
ing is to get rid of it all in childhood, |
before you learn that life is nothing
better than tragedy.
Your father has fallen asleep, per- |
chance, and when you call him he will |
not answer. The eyes will never open |
again, the lips are like lips of marble |
There is frightful stiffness in the
house, broken only by the muff1ed |
beating of your own heart and your
unrepressed means. Is that the end?
Has the story been all told? Is the
vol Of 81
clasped with an iron clasp? Have you
said farewell forever, and has the dear
one taken a sudden departure into the
region of black nothingness?
Then what is life worth? What is
the use of loving if the most sacred |
ties are snapped when Death taps at
the door? He is better off than YOU
who never loved at all, for he will suf
fer less, and the less love we bestow on
any one the larger are our chances of
happiness. Let us henceforth care for
self alone and pay no heed to others
Or, it may be that a child, the light |
of your home, your joy and pride, lies
in your arms with raging, consuming,
relentless fever. Its little eyes look in
to yours imploringly; its little arms are
tightly clasped about your neck. Hope
dies out of your heart, and the newt
oOlOi ilho Iuc s1dUOW Vi d SolGlIlS sun, !
throws it's gloom over the scene. The
babe is slipping away from you, and
carrying with it the best part of your
own life, for in all the earth there is
nothing SO beautiful, so sublime or SO
impressive as Il mothers love-
What say you? What has any one
to say? The man of doubt is at your
side, a tender hearted man, full of hu
man sympathy, and willing to do what
he can to assuage your grief, but what
can he honestly say to give you COM
fort? Has he any balm for your
wounds, any solace for your Distress
Then he were better absent than pres
ent.
But Christ comes, or some kind friend
who bears His message, and tells you
of the House not built with hands, of
the grave as the bronze gate through
which we enter heaven, of time of
meeting beyond this time of parting,
of that Being who does what is best
even when He causes the tears to flow.
only asking you to wait patiently in
faith that some day you will see that
Iar was right.