Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1894-06-08


ing woman in the fourth story and knows
how few pence she gets for making a gar
ment, and louder than all the din and roar
OF rthe city comes the voice Of a sympathetic
God. "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and
He shall sustain thee"
Then there are great many who have
weight of persecution and abuse upon them.
Sometimes society gets a grudge against
man. All his motives are misinterpreted,
and all his good deeds are deprecated.
With more virtue than some of the hOnOred
and applauded, he runs only against raillery
and sharp criticism. When a man begins to
go down, he has not only the force of natural
gravitation, but hundred hands to help
him in the precipitation. Hen are perse-
cuted for their virtues and their successes.
Germanicus said he had Just as many bitter
antagonists as he had adornments. The
character sometimes is 80 lastrous that the
weak eyes of envy and jealousy cannot bear
to look at ii.
1t was their integrity that put Joseph In
the pit, and Daniel in the den, and Sha trach
in the fire. and sent John the Evangelist to
desolate Patmos, and Calvin to the castle OF
persecution, and John Huss to the stake,
and Korah after Moses. AMI Saul after Da-
vid, and Herod after Christ. Be sure, If you
have anything TO do for church or state, and
you attempt it with all your soul, the light
ming will strike you.
The world always has had a cross be-
tween two thieves for the one who comes to
save it. High and holy enterprise has al
ways been follower by abuse. The most
sublime tragedy of self-sacrifce has come to
burlesque. The graceful gait Of virtue is
always followed by scoff and grimace and
travesty. The sweetest strain of poetry
ever written has como TO ridiculous parody,
and as long as there are virtue and righteous
ness in the world there will be something
for iniquity to grin at. All along the line
of the ages and in all lands the cry has been:
'Not this man, but Barabbas. Now, Bar
abbas was robber."
And what makes the prosecutions Of life
worse is that they come from people whom
you have helped, from those to whom you
loaned money or have started in business or
whom you rescued in some great crisis. [
think = has been the history of al our lives
the most acrimonious assault has come
from those whom we have benefited, whom
we have helped, and that makes it all the
harder to bear. A man is in danger of be-
coming cynical.
A clergyman of the Univarsaist church
went into a neighborhood for the establish
ment of a church OF his denomination, and
he was anxious to find some one Of that de-
nomination. and he was pointed to a cert ain
house and went there. He said to the man
of the house 81 understand you are q Uni
versaI1st. want you to help re in the en-
terprise." "Well." said the man, "I an a
UniversaIist, but have a peculiar kind of
Uniyersalism. what is that?" asked the
minister. "Wel," replied the other, 81
have been out IN me world, and I have been
cheated and slandered and outraged and
abused until believe in universal damna-
tionI'
The great danger is that men will become
cynical and given to believe. as David was
tempted to say, that all men are liars. Oh.
my friends, do not let that be the effect
upon your souls If you cannot endure
little persecution, how do you think our
fathers endured persecution? Motley, in his
"Dutch Republic" tells US of Egmont, the
martyr, who, condemned to be beheaded,
unfastened his collar on the way to the scat
fold, and when they asked him why he did
that he said: $50 they will not be detained
in their work. [ want to be ready" On,
how little we have to endure compared with
those who have gone before US
Now, if you have come across i'll treat
ment, let me tell you you are In excellent
company-Christ and Luther and Galiei and
Columbus and John Jay and Josiah Quincy
and thousands Of men and women, the best
spirits of earth and heaven.
Bulge not one inch, though all hell wreak
upon you its vengeance, and you be made
target for devils to shoot at Do you not
think Christ knew all about persecution?
Was He not Kissed at? Was He not struck
on the cheek? Was He not pursued all the
days Of His life? Did they not expectorate
upon Him? Or, to put it in Bible
language. ''They spit upon Him" And can
not He understand what persecution is?
"Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He
shall sustain thee"
Then there are others who carry great bur-
dens of physical ailments. When sudden
sickness has come, and fierce choIeras and
malignant fevers tatG3 the castles of life by
storm, we appeal to God, but in these chronic
ailments which wear out the strength day
after day, and week after week, and year
after year, how little resOrting to God for
solace! Then people depend upon theit
tonics, and their plasters, and their cordials
rather than upon heavenly stimulants.
Oh, how few people there are completely
we'll! Some Of you, by dint Of perseverance
and care have kept living to this time, but
how you have had to war against physical
ailments Antediluvians, without medical
college and inf1rmary and apothecary shop,
multiplied their years by hundreds, but he
who has gone through the gauntlet Of disease
in our time and has come to seventy years of
age is hero worthy of palm.
The world seems to be a great hospital,
and you run against rheumatism5 and con-
sumptions and scrofulas and neuralgias and
scores of old diseases baptized by new no.
menclature. Oh how heavy a burden sick
ness is 1t takes the color out Of the sky, and
the sparkle out of the wave, and the sweet
ness out of the fruit, and luster out of the
night. When the limbs ache, when the res
piration is painful, when the mouth is hot,
tions, how hard it is to be patient and cheer
full and assiduous!
"Cast thy burden upon the Lord" Does
your head ache? His wore the thorn. Do
your feet hurt? His were crushed of the
spikes. Is your side painful? His was struck
by the spear. DO you feel like giving way
under the burden? His weakness gave way
under a cross. While you are in every pos
sible way to try to restore your physical
vigo-, you are to remember that more sooth-
ing than any anodyne, more vitalizing than
any stimulant and more strengthening than
any tonic is the prescription OF the text,
"Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He
will sustain thee"
We hear great deal of talk now about
faith cure, and some people say it cannot
be done and it is a failure. do not know
but that the chief advance of the church is
to be in that direction. Marvellous things
come to me day by day which make me think
that if the age of miracles is past 1t is be-
cause the faith of miracles is past.
prominent merchant of New York said
to a member of my family, "My mother
wants her case mentioned to Mr.. Talmage."
This was the case. He said: 'AIy mother
had a dreadful abscess, from which she had
suffered untold agonies, and all surgery had
been exhausted upon her, and worse and
worse she grew until we called in a few
Christian friends and proceeded to pray
about it. We commended her case to Gcd,
and the abscess began Immediately to De
cured. She is entirely we'll now and without
knife and without any surgery" So that
case has come to me, and there are a score
OF other cases coming to our ears from all
parts of the earth. Oh, ye who are sick, go
to Christ Oh, ye who are worn out with
agonies of body, "Cast thy burden upon the
Lord, and He shall sustain theer'
Another burden some have to carry is the
burden of bereavement. All, these are the
troubles that wear US out! If we lose our
property. by additional industr7 perhaps
we may bring back the estranged fortune.
If we lose our good name, perhaps by re-
formation of morals we may achieve again
reputation for integrity, but who will bring
back the dear departed?
Alas, me, for these empty cradles and these