The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-05-28


possessions that will come TO you through
our Lord Jesus Christ. And when your
business partner betrays You. and yOui
friends turn against YOU, just take the IN
sultiug letter, put il down on the table
put your Bible beside the insulting letter
and then read Of the friendship of him
who "sticketh closer than "a broher."
a young accountant in New York city
got his accounts entangled. He knew he
was honest. and yet he could not make
his accounts come out right, and he t0iled
at them day and night until ne was nearly
trenzed II seemed by those books that
Y something had been miSapprOpriated. and
he knew before God he was honest. The
last day came. He knew if he could rot
that day make his accounts come out
right he would go into disgrace and 90
into Punishment from the business estab-
lishment He went over there very early,
before there was anybody in the place,
and he knelt down at the desk and said
/ on. Lord. thou knOwest ] have tried to
be honest, but cannot make these things
come out right? Help me tO-day-help
me this morning. The young man rose,
and hardly knowing why he did so. opened
/ a book that lay on the desk, and there
was a leaf containing line Of figures
which explained everything. In other
/ words, he cast his burden upon the Lord,
! and the Lord sustained him. Young
man, do you hear that
oh, yes, Cod has sympathy with any
! body that is in any kind of toll He knows
/ how heavy is the nod of bricks that the
| workman carries up the ladder on the
wall; he hears the pickaXe of the miner
down in the coal shaft; he knows how
strong the tempest strikes the sailor at
\ mas thead he sees the factory girl among
| the spindles, and knows how her arms
I ache; he sees the sewing woman in the
/ fourth story, and knows how few pence
! she gets for making a garment; and
! louder than all the din and roar of the
! 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 mis-
! interpreted and all his good Ceeds are de-
| preciated. With more virtue than some
of the honored and applauded, he runs
only against raillery and sharp criticism.
! When a man begins to 90 down, he has
not only the force of natural gravitation.
but hundred hands TO help him IN the
precipitation. Men are prosecuted for
their virtues and their successes. Ger
manicus said he had just as many bitter
antagonists as he had adornments The
character sometimes is so lustrous that
the weak eyes of envy and jealousy can
not Dear 10 look at IL.
II was their integrity that put Joseph
in the pit, and Daniel in the den, and
Shadrach in the fire, and sent John the
Evangelist to desOlate Patmos, and Cal
vim to the castle of persecution, and John
Huss to the stake, and kOrah after Moses.
and Saul after David. 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 lightning 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
always been followed by abuse The most
sublime tragedy of self-sacritice has
come to burlesque. The graceful gait of
virtue is always followed by SCOT and
griruace and travesty. The sweetest
strain Of poetry ever written has come to
ridiculous parody, and as long as there
are virtue and righteousness in the world,
there will be something for iniquity to
grin at. All along the line of the ages
and in all the lands, the cry has been:
Not this man, but Barabbas. Now, Bar
abbas was robber.'
And what makes the persecution 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 it has been the his
tory of all our lives-the most acrimo-
NOUS assault has come from those whom
we have helped and that makes it all the
harder to bear A man is in danger of
becoming cynical.
A clergyman of the Universalist church
went into a neighborhood for the estab-
llshment of a church of his denomination,
and he was anxious to find some one of
that denomination, and he was pointed to
certain house, and went there He said
to the man of the house: Il understand
you are Universalist; want you to help
me in the enterprise" Well said the
man, 81 am UniVersalist, but 1 have a
peculiar kind of Universalism." What
is that:' asked the minister 'Well, :"
replied the oJher, Il have been out in the
world, and | have been cheated and
slandered and outraged and abused until
l believe in universal damnation."
The great danger is that men will be-
come 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 great
persecution Motley, in his Dutch Repub-
lie, tells us of Egmont, the martyr, who,
condemned to be beheaded, unfastened
his collar on the way to the scaffold; and
when they asked him why he did that.
he SAID; so they Will not be delayed in
their work; ! want to be ready" Oh,
| how little we have to endure com
pared with those who have gone before
US!
Now, if you have come across ill-treat-
ment let me tell you you are in excellent
/ company and Luther and Calico
and Columbus and John Lay 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
I not eXpectorate upon him. Or, to put il
! in Bible language, They spit upon him. "
And cannot ne understand what perse
cution is} Cast thy burden upon the
! Lord and he shall sustain thee"
Then, there are others who carry great
. burdens of physical ailments. When sud
/ den sickness has come. and fierce chol
eras and malignant fevers take the castles
of life by storm, we appeal to God but
IN these chronic ailments which wear oat
the strength day after day, and week
rafter week, and year after year, how lit
/ tie resorting to God for solace! Then PEG.
pie depend upon their tonics and their
/ plasters and their cordials rather than