The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1895-08-21
GREAT, swelling that had threatened his

asked If she might drive. l said,
Certainly" handed over the reins
to her, and had to admire the glee
with which she drove. But after
awhile we met team and we had to
turn out. The road was narrow, and
it was sheer down on both sides. She
handed the reins over to me and said,
Il think you had better take charge of
the horse" So we are all children;
and on this road of life we like to drive.
1t gives one such an appearance Of su-
periority and power. 1t looks big. But
after awhile we meet some obstacle,
and we have to turn out, and the road
is narrow, and it is sheer down on both
sides; and then we are willing that
God should take the reins and drive.
All! my friends, we get upset SO often
because we do not hand over the reins
soon enough.
After man has had trouble, prayer
is with him taking hold of the arm of
God and crying out for help. have
heard earnest prayers on two or three
occasions that l remember. Once, on
the Cincinnati express train, going at
forty miles an hour, the train jumped
the track and we were near a chasm
eighty feet deep; and the men who, a
few minutes before, had been swearing
and disappearing God, began to pull
and jerk at the bell rope, and got up
on the back of the seats and cried out:
"Oh God, save u.s." There was another
time, about eight hundred miles out at
sea, on laundering steamer, after the
last lifeboat had been split finer than
kindling wood They prayed then.
Why is it you SO often hear people, in
reciting the last experience of some
friend, say: "lIe made the most beau
tiful prayer l ever heard!" What
makes it beautiful? 1t is the earnest
ness Of it. Oh! | tell you, a man is in
earnest when his stripped and naked
soul wades out in the soundless, shore
less, bottomless ocean of eternity.
1t is trouble, my friends, that makes
us feel our dependence upon God. We
do not know our own weakness or Gods
strength until the last plank breaks
1t is contemplate in us when there is
nothing else to take hold of that we
catch hold of God only. Why, you do
not know who the Lord isl He is not
an autocrat seated far up in palace,
from which He energies once a year
preceded by heralds swinging swords
to clear the way. No. But father
willing, at our call, to stand by us in
every crisis and predicament of life. l
tell you what some of you business men
make me think of. Aiyoung man goes
off from home to earn his fortune. He
! goes with his mothers consent and
benediction. She has large wealth, but
he wants to make his own fortune. He
goes far away, falls sick, gets out of
money. He sends for the hotel keeper
where he is staying, asking for lenience,
and the answerhe gets is: IF you don't
pay up Saturday night you'll be re-
moved to the hospital"
The young man sends to comrade
in the same building. No help. He
writes to banker who was friend
of his deceased father No relief. He
writes to an old schoolmate, but gets no
help. Saturday night comes and he is
moved to the hospital
Getting there, he is frcnzied with
grief, and he borrows sheet of paper
and postage stamp, and he sits down,
and he writes home, saying: Dear
mother, am sick unto death. Come. "
1t is ten minutes of 10 o'clock when she
gets the letter. At 10 o. clock the train
starts. She is five minutes from the
depot. She gets there in time to have
five minutes to spare. She wonders
why train that can go thirty miles an
hour cannot go sixty miles an hour.
She rushes into the hospital. She says;
"My son, what does all this mean?
Why didn't You send for nae? You
sent to everybody but me. You knew
could and would help you. Is this
the reward | get for my kindness tc
you always?' She bundles him up,
takes him home, and gets him well
very soon. Now, some Of you treat
God just us that young man treated his
mother. When you get into financial
perpleXity, you call on your creditors
you call on your lawyer for legal coun
sci, you call upon everybody, and when
you cannot get any help, then you &C
to God. You say: 80 Lord, come tc
Thee. Help me now out OF my per
plexity." And the Lord comes, though
it is the eleventh hour. He says
why did you not send for me beforei
As one whom his mother comforteth, Sc
will comfort you" 1t is to throw us
back upon God that we have this min
istry of tears.
Again, it is the use of trouble tC
capacitate us for the office of sym
pathy. The priests, under the old dis
pensation, were set apart by having
water sprinl1led upon their hands, feet
and head; and by the sprinkling o.
tears people are now set apart to the
Office of sympathy. When we are il
prosperity we like to have a great
many young people around us, and We
laugh when they laugh, and we roml
when they romp, and we sing wher
they sing, but when we have trouble
we like plenty of old folks around
Why? They know how to talk. Take
an aged mother, seventy years of age
and she is almost omnipotent in com
fort Why? She has been through il
all. At o'clock in the morning she
goes over to comfort young mother
who has just lost her babe. Grand
mother knows all about that trouble
Fifty years ago she felt it. At 10 o'clocl
of that day she goes over to comfort {
widowed soul She knows all about
that. She has been walking in thai