The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1895-07-12
BROKEN HEARTS.

NtW bFk iitTiIu
The Lord is nigh unto them that are of
broken heart.-Psalms, XXxiv. 49,
Certainly no one needs the help Of
the Lord more than these, and it is
great privilege to know that there is
somewhere an "everlasting arm" upon
which they can certainly rely in time
Of trouble.
The most discouraging fact in life
is that when We Gail loudest for
friends they are not often within
hearing distance. ! we are not in
want of them they are more numerous
than we can count, but when we are
sinking beneath the waters and
stretch out implOring hands there is
no one near to render assistance.
The great sorrows Of life must be
borne alone, for no one who has not
himself tr0dden the wine press Of
like experience can say the word we
need to have said or do the kindly
deed we need to have done. This is il
mysterious element in Gods PrUvi-
dencc which it is hard to understand.
You may not have company in your
Gethsemanc, unless it be the cOmpan-
ionship of the angels and Of him who
sends them.
Broken hearts? Are there any?
Perhaps not many If the words are
used in literal sense. We may well
thank Heaven that it is SO. There is
IA certain buoyancy. a certain lifting
| power in human nature which makes
utter hopelessncss impossible sxcept
rare instances. A kind of optimism
creeps into the soul as child creeps
! into its weeping mothers arms, and
as the child forces smile from the
mother, so this dim prophesy that 'at
cventime it shall be light sends its
ray Of hope into the darkness that
cnyrons us. We find it very difficult
to wholly dispair, for heart beats have
a sort of good cheer in them when the
shadows are deepest.
But it is strangely true that there
is very serious significance in the
words "brokcn heart" Life is
sprinkled with disappointments from
youth to age. The dreams of earlier
times have not come true, and hardly
one of us is to-day either what or
where he expected to be. The we'd
ding march has changed into an echo,
and its glad vibrations scar cely
reach our ears. The riches we
longcd for have not come, and our
ships are still at sea. The plans we
made have somehow gone astray, and
the children for whom we would have
made any sacrifice have come like pit
iless tornadocs and torn up by the
roots many OF our most cherished de-
sires. Sickness, struggle, bereave-
ment, poverty, like malignant fairies,
have waved their waDds over US and
we scarcely recognize ourselves.
These are stern facts, and they can
not be gainsaid. Look back through
the corrider of time and see yourself
as you were at twenty. What expert
ences you have passed through! They
have left their mark on your face, Ia
your gait and in your conversation
! You have been ploughed, and the fur
rows tell how deep the plow struck.
What shall we say, then? That
there is no God? Nay, rather that
there must be God or matters would
, not turn out as have done. Is life sc
full of bitterness that it Is not worth
livingP Nay, rather, life Is a painful
means to a joyful end. "A hard lesson
{ has been set us, and II must bt
r learned There was never yet a sor
: row which was not stepping etont
/ TO higher things, and never yet fell
. tear which did not bring heaven near
cr. II Is the evident intention Of Got
Mat they shall serve thefe purposes