Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1894-04-06

will do for mans heart. l care not
how cheerful a man may naturally be
before conversion, conversion brings
him up to higher standard of cheer
fulness. l do not say he will laugh
any louder; do not say but he may
stand back from some forms of hill
arity in which he once INDUCED; but
there comes into his soul an immense
satisfaction. A young man not a
Christian depends upon worldly sue
cesses to keep his spirits up Now he
S prospered, now he has large
salary now he has beautiful ward
robe, now he has pleasant friends, now
he has more money than he knows
how to spend; everything goes bright
and we'll with HIM. But trouble comes
there are many young men in the
house this morning who can testify
out of their own experience that some
times to young men trouble does come
his friends are gone, his salary
is gone, his health is gone; he
goes down, down. He becomes
sour, cross, queer misanthropic,
blames the world, blames society,
blames the church, blames everything,
rushes perhaps to the Intoxicating cup
to drown his trouble, but instead of
drowning his trouble, he browns his
body and browns his soul.
But here is Christian young man.
Trouble comes to him. Does he give
up? No! He throws himself back on
the resources of heaven. He says:
God is my Father Out of all these
disasters / shall pluck advantage for
my soul All the promises are mine,
Christ is mine, Christian companion
ship is mine, heaven is mine. What
though my apparel be worn out? Christ
gives me n robe of righteousness.
What though my money be gomez l
have a title deed to the whole uni
verse in the promise, All are yours
What though my worldly friends fall
awayP Ministering angels are my
bodyguard. What though my fare be
poor, and my bread be scant? l sit at
the kings banquet"
Oh, what poor, shallow stream is
worldly enjoyment compared with the
deep, broad, overlooking river of Gods
peace. rolling midway in the Christian
hearth! Sometimes you have gone out
on the ironbound beach of the sea
when there has been storm on the
ocean. and you have seen the waves
| dash into white foam at your feet.
They did not do you any harm. While
there you thought of the chapter
written by the Psalmist, and perhaps
you recited it to yourself while the
storm was making commentary upon
the passage: "God is our refuge and
strength, a very present help in time
of trouble. Therefore will not fear,
though the earth be removed, and
though the mountains be carried into
the midst of the sea, though the
waters thereof roar and be trou bled,
though the mountains shake with the
swelling thereof" oh, how independ-
ent the religion of Christ makes man
of worldly success and worldly cir
cumstances! Nelson, the night before
his last battle, said: Tomorrow l
shall win either a peerage or a grave
in Westminster Abbey" And it does
not make much difference to the
Christian whether he rises or falls in
worldly matters; he has everlasting
renown anyway Other plumage may
be torn in the blast but that soul
adorned With Christian grace is fairer
than the dove, its wings covered with
silver, and its feathers with gold.
You and have found out that peo-
pie who pretend to be happy are not
always happy. Look at that young
man caricaturing the Christian re-
ligion, scoffing at everything good,
going into registering drunkenness,
dashing the champagne bottle to the
floor, rolling the glasses from the bar
room counter, laughing, shouting,
stamping the floor. Is he happy? 1
will go to his midnight pillow. will
see him turn the gas off. will ask
myself if the pillow on which he sleeps
is as soft as the pillow on which that
pure young man sleeps. All! no. When
he opens his eyes in the morning, will
the world be as bright to him as to
that young man who retired at night
saying his prayers, invoking Gods
blessing upon his own soul and the
souls of his comrades, and father and
mother and brothers and sisters far
away? No, mol His laugh will ring
out from the saloon so that you hear
it as you pass by, but it is hollow
laughter; in it is the swapping of heart
strings and the rattle of prison gates.
Happy that young man happy?
Let him fill high the bowl; he can
not drown an upbraiding conscience.
Let the balls roll through the bowling
alley; the deep rumble and the sharp
crack can not overpower the voices Of
condemnation. Let him whirl in the
dance of sin and temptation and
death. All the brilliancy of the scene
can not make him forget the last look
of his mother when he left home,
! when she said to him: Now, my son,
you will do right; am sure you will
do right; you will, won't your" That
young man happy? Why across every
night there fit shadows of eternal
darkness; there are adders coiled up
/ in every cun. thara arc vulturaa of