The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1895-12-12
THE HARpsH1ps OF LIFE.

new der3lQ Fl.
For he doth not affiict willingly, nor
grieve the children of neutrality-suspicious.,
ill.,, 80.
One of the strangest facts of human
is that spiritual progress
depends largely on discipline. 1t has
puzzled the scholars OF all ages, and
no solution as vet offered is wholly
satisfactory. Every thoughtful man
in every cline has sought an answer
to this question, Why is it that
saintliness must needs be born of
hardship and can be had in no other
way?
We all know that the most danger
Gus fortune for the young is what is
called good fortune. An undis-
ciplined boy is not likely to become
a respected man. There is nothing
so nearly fatal as to allow a child to
have his own way in all things. The
rod may not be used, but it must be
in sight, and enforced obedience is the
popularity of early training. Indeed,
the very verb to train means d stern
check to wanton impulse, and the |
great responsibility OF parents is to :
suppress certain tendencies and to |
encourage others The wisdom of
father and mother is the providence /
of tie child, and if the child tails to |
understand it, and grows rebellious
rather than submissive, or doubts
| the love which is sometimes stern
and inexorable, he is in precisely the
state of mind in which his elders fire.
qneutly find themselves with regard
| to God. The parallel is almost per-
| feet, for when the youth grows to
manhood and eDjovs a broader out
| look, aud has children of his own, he
sees the reason for the discipline
/ which in earlier days was irksome
| and inexplicable, and when both
father and mother are gone regrets
his iugratitude and would gladly
recall the aged from their heavenly
home in order to tell them SO. This
is universal experience, and man
must have peculiar nature If such
regrets have never paid him a visit
and tinged his memory of the past
with unspeakable sorrow.
The man is but larger boy, and
the providence of parents is replaced
by that of the Almighty. AS the
boy was not broad enough to under
stand the severity OF the earthly
father, so the man is too narrow or
too selfish or too wilful to see the
significance of the Heavenly Father 8
commands. He longs intensely to
, have his life governed by his own
f wisdom, and cannot conceive that
! his wisdom should be ignorance. He
, | rebels against the statement that
. any one can better know what is
! | best for him than he does himself.
! Resignation is therefore the last
, | virtue which he cares to cultivate
His faith runs along smoothly until
! God contradicts him, and then it is
] swallowed up in the vortex of doubt
, He makes his own brain the measure
+ of Gods knowledge, and God be
. comes more or less of a myth to hin
n whenever the divine will and hi.
human will are in opposition. Thu
A atheists doubts may have thell
A origin in his logical faculty, but thu
Il Christians doubt has it's origin IL
q self-conceit The atheist can see nt
: God at all; the Christian sees a Coz
% and then insists that this God shall
- not follow His own judgment, Blu
~ shall act as the prayers OF Hi
70 C. eature may indicate.
. If YOU will think of the matte
70 very carefully you will discover tina
10 the purging fire of affection and tn
2 highest nobility of character have
D. very close relation to each Other
ar One may even go so far as to sa
in that the man who has never know
O. profound sorrow has never know
Fl profound happiness. | confess tina
ne it is a mystery to me, but still tn
III best men and women l have eve
re known are not those who have sale
no on peaceful seas, but those who hav
no breasted many storm. There
n something in prolonged cali
a which demoralizes the stronges
IN nature, and something in tempes
he which draws the grandest element
ot of the soul to the surface. You mu.
te weep if you would make the a
he quaintance of your best self. 70
Iv can never definitely locate heave
no until you have closed some dear one
Nv eyes and stood by an open grav
he Angels voices are better heard in tt
he dark than in the garish day. /
he long as you feel strong God appea
nv to re at an Unreasonable distanc
.se but when you know that you a
r. helpless, and SO cry for succor, Il
he rustic of unseen garments fills the
do and mellow Influences straight fro
Inf the Throne steal into your heart.
nv 1t may possibly be true, therefor
to that what you call the worst thinl
we OF life shall turn out to be the bes
ia The crude iron ore buried in the b
,ar has no comm srcial value, but VIII
lila it has been forced through consul
,lv ing fire men are glad to buy it.
ire like manner the unframed and U
nd disciplined soul is Of incomparab
in less worth than the soul that throus
ID bitter grief has learned to obey t
lid mysterious Christ as the marin
mt obeys the mysterious compass.
One thing is certain-that If tt
ON life is all, religion is an intrinsic
he and delusion; but if another |
on overlaps this one, and if the oh
lar purpose of this one is to prepare
of the life to come. and if you belle
TX this with all your mind and all 20
TO heart, then religion is your priI
YER necessity. AS food nourishes t
10 body, so religion nourishes the so
nd and as physical growth is the resi-
tlv of taxing labor, and cannot be b
we without it, SO spiritual growth
impossible without burdens a
ver disappointments and tears.
ms With no heaven to look forward
va human life is prolonged cruel
, of Buf1eting the storm with no home
81 the distance is untold hardship; b
SEES when every weary footstep brin
TO you nearer to rest and peace
=, heart can sing q song which drOv