The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1895-11-28

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cross daily"
think every one OF my readers will
feel that the emphatic word here is tn,
word daily" 1t is easy enough for ;
man who has absorbed the best in ou
religion to love Christ; it is not hare
for him, in some moment of thrillin,
affection for that great life, to resoly,
on some sudden momentary act Of self
sacrifice. But to do such deeds day af
ter day-that is where the tremendou,
difficulty of the Christian life begins.
No woman, for instance, doubts Sc
riously the beauty of self-surrender In
days of courtship or the first days Of
married life. 1t is the persistence ol
the old faults in him she loves, the
hopes that are not granted, the new
weaknesses her husband develops, the
daily pressure of small cares and ankle
ties which threaten to wear away the
love that once seemed capable of any
sacrifice.
find again that the dull, lonely per-
severance sacrifice involves Is the reas-
on why men, who feel themselves call.
ed to some new enterprise, are at first
80 anxious not to accept it. Their
frantic struggles to escape their duty,
the complaints of their own unworthi-
ness, their many excellent reasons for
not undertaking the task; how ludi-
crous and yet how human 1t is! No
one, indeed, but the man himself knows
how hard it it is to say, "Thy will be
done," when Gods will Is new to him.
Moses urgent cry to God to release him
from his duty OF freeing his fellow
country-men from their bondage to
Egypt-"Beholo they will not believe
me! - 0, my Lord am not ell
oquent"-is the typical cry OF men In
all ages called to a work involving con-
slant sacrifice of self. 1t cost the great
est spiritual influence of the middle
ages, Francis Assist, months, nay !!
years of doubt and suffering before he
could decide on quitting his reckless
life and taking poverty for his lifelong
BRIDE
We remember as we meet such lives
in books or experience. that prayer of
which was so true to our
nature: 80 God make me holy, but
not yet" How difficult is the mean
commonplace reality of small ingIo-
rious details 1T is hard" the poet
cries, "to be Christian" And who
should know its hardness so we'll as he,
the dreamer of visions, the lover OF
beauty, the builder OF romantic ideals.
T These ideaIists of life-some of you Will
how James Russell Lowell
speaks of them
''Hear them but speak, and you will
The shadows of the portico
Over your tranquil spirit steal
Hear them unfold their plots, their
plans,
And larger destlnies seem mans.
$50 great in speech, but ah in act,
So overrun with vermin troubles;
The coarse, sharp-cornered, ugly fact
Of life collapses all their bubbles.'
No! It is not sacrifice to dream the
dreams of purity, goodness and love.
The aspiration, the prayer, the fervld
feeling are but the brilliant messengers
we send before us into the presence OF
the king of our lives. That which is
going to carry us, MANNED, defeated or
ten on the way, but triumphant at last,
into his presence, has scarcely yet be-
gun. This is daily perseverance to
the end" in the road we recognize as
Gods way, when the glow is past and
all the fervor is cold ash in our hearts
dare not, therefore, write to you in
loud, swelling words, about the duty OF
I cannot embroider so
difficult fact with any rhetoric. Some
times, indeed, mans heart is full OF
confidence and JOY as he looks up into
the face of God. Then no phrases are
too splendid to paint his delight in life.
But the daily seif-denial, the constant
gift of ourselves to God, the purifica-
tion of the heart, no man can talk
easily and lightly of that. 1t is harder
than physical energy, harder than in
tellectual work, harder to face than
death itself.
Let us consider, then: soberly and
quietly, what self-denial really means
in the life we have all of us to live.
What is it to take up our cross daily
and follow God? 1t Is to know what
our weak points are, to fasten our at
tert,on upon them, to do what we car
70 overcome them There is, for In
stance, the haunting habit of Incidence.
Few of US are so unfortunate as not to
be compelled to work for our livelihood
the world asks, indeed, labor from most
of us as condition Of being allowed to
live. But there is all the difference be-
tween tasks done with an eye on the