The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1894-10-17

them as reason Tor yCuc no. being as
thorCu3hiY religious as you would like
to be. But these excuses ere GOT snffi-
cent? GoP5 grace will triumph if you
seek It. He kc0ws what obstacles you
have fought again9t, aud the more triai
the more h2!p Af,er a! there are no
orphans in the world, for the grea! God
is the Father Of US sll,
Again our subject is an illustration Of
what religion may be under the pressure
OF poverty. Tde captivity aud crushed
condition of thls orphan gil and Of the
kind man WHO acop.cd her suggest
condition OF poverty. Yet fton the very
first acquaintance We had with Hadassah
We find her the same happy and con-
tented Christian. II was Only by coD-
pulsion she W8s aE.erward taken into
sphere Ct hoa0r aud sfi lence. Ia the
humble bone Of Mordecai, her adopted
father, she vas light that illnmlled
every priVAti9n. Il SOMA p7riod il al
most every mans lite there comes a
season OF straitened crcunstsrcss, when
the seyerest calculation aud most scrap
ing economy are necessary in order to
subsistence and responsibility.
At the commencement Of business, at
the entrance upon profession, when
friends are few and the world is AFRAID
OF you bsc2use there is possibility OF
failure, many of the noblest hearts have
struggled against poverty and are DOW
struggling. T1 su:h l bear message
OF good cheer. You say it Is hard
thing for you to BE- Christian. This
constant az xiety, this uures.iog calcula-
ton, wear out tbs buoYancy OF your
spirit, and, although you have told p,r-
haps 70 one about it, cannot I tell that
this IS the verg trouble which keeps, you
ought to bs? You haveno time 10 think
about laying up treasures in heaven
when i Is matter of great doubt whe-
ther you will bs enabled to pay your
next quarters rent. You cannot think
Of STRIVING after robe otrighteousness
until you can get means enough to buy
an overcoat to keep out the cold. You
want the bread Of Ifs, but you think you
must get along without that until you
can buy another barrel OF -four for your
wife aud children. Sometimes you sit
down discouraged and almost wish you
were dead.
Christians in satin slippers, with their
feet On damask ottoman, may scout at
such class Of temptations, but those
who themselves Rave besn in the strug.
gle and grip Of hard misfortune can ap.
preciate the power Of these evils to dis
suade the soul away religious duties.
We adnit the strength Of the tenpta.
ton, but then we point to Hadassah,
her poverty equaied by her p;ety. Cour-
age, down there IN the battle! Hurl
away your disappointment. Men OF
balfyouc heart haYe through Christ beeD
more than copquerors. In the ma ne of
God, come out of tha'! The religion of
Christ is just what you want out there
among the empty -four barrels aud be-
side the clod hearths.
You have never told any one Of what
q hard time you have had, but God
knows il as we'll as you know it. Your
easy times will come after awhils. Do
not let your spirits break down midlife.
What if your coat is thu! Run fast
enough to keep warm. What if you
have no luxuues on your table? High
expectations will make your blood tlngte
better than the best Madeira. IF you
cannot afford to smoke, you can afford
to whistle. But merely animal spirits
are not sufficient; the power of the gos.
pel-that is what you want to wrench
despair out OF the soul and put you for
ward into the font Of the hosts incssed
N lmpenetrable armor.
Again, our subject illustrates what
religion may be uoder the temptation of
personal attractiveness. The inspired
record says of the heroine of my text,
"She YVES fair and beautiful" Her very
name signifed "a myrtle" Yet the ed.
miratio0 and praise and fastery Of the
world did not blight her humility. The
simplicity of her manners and behavior
equaled her extraordinary attractions.
It is the same divine goodness which
puts the tiuge on the roses cheek, and
the Whiteness into the lily, and the gleam
on the wave, and that puts color in the
cheek, and sparkle in the eye, and ma.
jsstY in the forehead, and symmetry
into the form, and gracsfnlness Into the
gait. But many through the very caarm
OF their personal appearance have been
destroyed. What sinperings and sffects.
tions and impertinences have often been
the result of that which God sent as a
blessing! Japon;cas, auemones and
heliotropss never swagger at the beauty
which God planted il their very leaf,
sepal, axil and s:anen. There are
many flowers that bow down so modest.
~ you cannot see the color in their
cheek until you lift up their head, put
ting your haEd under their round chin.
Iadeed any kind Of personal attractions,
whether they be those Of the body, thu
mind or The heart, may become tempta.
tons to pride and arbitrsr;nass asd fsol.
ish assumption.
The NEUROLOGICAL story Of q man who,
s9aing himselfin & stream, became so
euamored of his appearance that he died
of the effects illustrates the fatalities u1-
der which thousands Of both sexes have
fallen by the view Of their own sulerlori- |
ty. Extraordinary capacities cause ex-
traordinsry temptations. Men who have
good moral health down in the valley,
on the top of the mountaio are seized of |
Monlmia, tie wife Of |
was strangled With her own
dladem. While the most OF US will not |
haYe tho same kind OF temptation which
Hadassad must have felt from her attrac |
tiVeness of personal appearance, there |
may be some 10 whom it will be an ad- !
vantage to hold up the character of the |
beautiful captive who sacrificed not hsr |
and earnestness of dispoiton to |
the worlds admiration and 1atter. The |
chief secret Of the beauty of tbs violet |
ls that away down in the grass from one
weeks end to aaot5er it ne7er mistrusts
that it is violet.
Again, our subject exhibits what reli-
gion may be under bad domestic infu-
ences. Hadassah was snatched from the |
g0dly home into which she had been |
edOnta6 and inir0Gnnad IN tho ohou,pa