Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1894-10-12

will come after awhile. 10 not lel your
shirts break down midlife. What If
vour 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. II you cannot afford
to smoke, you can afford to whistle
But merely animal spirits are not suffi-
Gent, The power Of the gospel-that Is
what you want 70 wrench despair out Of
the soul and put you forward into the
front Of the hosts incased in impenetra,
BILE armor.
Beauty and It's Perils.
Again, our subject illustrates what
religion may be under the temptation Of
personal attractivenoss. The inspired
record says Of the heroine Of my text,
"She was fair and beautiful. " Her very
name signided "a myrtle. " Yet the adj
miration and praise and hattery Of the
world did not blight her humility. The
simplicity Of her manners and behavior
equaled her extraordinary attractions. 1t
is the same divine goodness which puts
the tinge on the roses check, and the
whitencss into the lily, and the CLEAN
on the wave, and that puts color in the
cheek and sparkle in the eye, and maj
esty III the forehead, and symmetry into
the form, and graccfulness into the gait,
but many through the very charm OF
their personal appearance have been de-
stroyed. What simperings and affecta-
tons and impcrtinences have often been
the result Of that which God has sent as
a blessing! Japonicas, anemones and
heliotropes never swagCer at the beauty
which God planted in their very leaf,
sepal, axil and stamen. There are many
flowers that bow down so modestly you
cannot see the color in their check until
you lift up their head, putting your
hand under their round chin. Indeed
any kind Of personal attractions, wheth-
er they be those Of the body, tho mind
or the heart, may become temptations
to pride and arbitrariness and foolish
assumption. The neurological story OF
a man who. seeing himself mirrored in
a stream, became so enamored of his aD-
pearanco that be died Of tho effects IL
illustrates the fatalities under which
thousands Of both sexes have fallen by
the view Of their own superiority. Ex-
traordinary capacities cause extraordi-
nary temptations. Men who have good
moral health down in the valley on tho
top Of the mountain are seized of con-
Monimia, tho wife Of Mithridates,
was strangled with her own diadem
While the most Of US will not have the
same kind Of temptation which Hadas-
sab must have felt from her attractive
ness Of personal appearance, there may
be some to whom ii will be an advan-
tage to hold up the character of the
beautiful captive who sacrificed not her
humility and oarnestness Of disposition
to the worlds admiration and flattery.
The chief secret Of the beauty of the
violet is that, away down in the grass,
from ono weeks end 70 another, it never
mistrusts that it is q violet.
Bad Home Influences.
Again, our subject exhibits what re-
ligion may be under bad domestic inhu-
ences Hadassah was snatched from tho
godly home into which she had been
adopted and introduced into the abom-
Unable associations of which wicked
Ahasuerus was the center What q
whirl of blasphemy and drunkenness
and licentiousnessl No altar, no prayer,
no Sabbath, no Godl If this captive
girl can be a Christian there, then it is
possible to be a Christian anywhere.
There are many Of the best people of
the world who are obliged TO contend
with the most adverse domestic infu-
ences, children who have grown up into
the love Of God under the frown Of par.
ents, and under the encouragement Of
bad example Some sister of the family
having professed the faith of Jesus is
the subject of unbounded satire inflicted
by brothers and sisters. Yea, Hadassah
was not the only Christian who had a
queer husband 1t is no easy matter to
correct Christian principles
when there is a companion disposed to
scott at them and to ascribe every i'm
perfection of character to hypocrisy.
What hard thing for one member Of
the family to rightly keep the Sabbath
when others are disposed to make it a
day Of revelry, or to inculcate propriety
of speech in the minds Of children when
there are others to Offset the instruc-
tions by loose and profane utterances, or
to be regularly in attendance upon
church when there is more household
work demanded for the Lords day than
fer any secular day Do l speak to any
laboring under these blighting disadvan-
tagcs? Ny subject is full Of encourage.