The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1895-11-10

49, ahS lildl VIII COIlle aIteT Tlc, let
4 him deny himself and take up his cross
z daily:
think every one of my readers will
feel that the emphatic word here is the
word daily" 1t Is easy enough for
man who has absorbed the best in our
religion to love Christ; 1t is not hard
for him. in some moment of thrilling
: affection for that great life, TO resolve
& on some sudden lnomentary act of self
4 sacrifice. But TO do such deeds day af-
4 ter day-thnt is where the tremendous
s. difficulty OF the Christian life begins.
no woman, for instance, doubts seri-
4 ously the beauty of self-surrcnder in
the days of courtship or the first days
3 CT married life. 1t is the persistence OF
3 the old faults in him she loves. the
+ hopes that are not granted, the new
Weaknesses her husband develops, tic
4 daily pressure of small cares and anX-
S{ieties which threaten 10 wear away
. the love that once seemed capable of
y any sacrifice.
.3Es5I find again that the dull, lonely per-
severance sacrifice involves is the rca-
& son why men, who feel themselves
4 called TO some new enterprise, are at
q first so anxious not to accept it, Their
frantic struggles to escape their duty,
Y the complaints of their own unworthi-
4 ness their many excellent reasons for
z not undertaking the task: how ludicrous
Z ana vet how human 1T is! No one. in.
L deed. but the man himself knows how
hard 1t Is to say, Thy will be done"
at7N iiSi' Nibo : " III Is llcW 10 nlln. MOSES
urgent cry to God to release him from
his duty of freeing his fellow country
men from their bondage to Egypt.
Beholdl they will not believe me! o .
s -. my Lord! am not elouucnt"--ls the
& typical cry OF men In al ages called to q
& Work Involving constant sacrifice OF self
y 1t CYST the greatest spiritual influence
or the middle ages. Francis Assist
months, nay! years OF doubt and suffer-
Ing before he could decide on quitting
Il his reckless life and taking poverty for
his lifelong bride.
We remember as We meet such lives
IN books or experience, that prayer OF
Augustine, which was so true to our
{ nature: 20 God, make me holy, but not
yet. How easy is the prayer for self
Sncrihce! How ditlicut@ Is the mean
commonplace reality OF small inglorious
details! 1T is hard" the poet cries
ito be Christian" And who should
know Its hardness so well MS he. the
dreamer OF visions, the lover of beauty.
the builder of romantic ideals. These
yidealists OF lifc-some OF you will re.
member how James Russell Iowcn
speaks ON them
Hear them but speak, and you Will feel
The shadows OF the rortco
Over Your tranquil spirit steal
dear them unfold their plots, their plans
Anu larger dcstinies seem mans
So great In speech. but ali! In act
So overrun with vermin troubles;
The coarse. sharp-cornered, ugly fact
or life collapses all their bubbles"
No! 1t is not sacrifice to dream
creams of purity, goodness and love.
& The aspiration the prayer, the fervid
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
often on the way. but triumphant nj
last, into his presence, has scarcely vel
begun. This is daily perseverance, to
the end" in the road We recognizes ~.
Gods way, when the glow is past and
all the fervor is cold ash in our hearts
dare not, therefore, write to YOU in
lold, swelling words, about the duty Of
self-sacriiice; | cannot cmbroider so
uHncllt a fact with any rhetoric Some
times. indeed, mans heart is fun 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 self-denial the constant
gift of ourselves to God the purilicn-
ticn of the heart; no man can tan;
easily and lightly of that. 1t is harte,
than physical energy, harder than intel.
iself
Let us consider, then, sobcrly ana
quietly, what self-dcnial really means
In the life we have all of us to live
nat IS IT TO take up our cross daily
and follow God? 1t is TO know what
our weak points are, to fasten our at
tentlon upon them, to do what we can
TO overcome them. There is for in
stance, the haunting habit of indolcnco
rev OF us are so unfortunate as not 10
pc compelled to work for our livelihood:
the world asks. indeed, labor from most
OF US as condition of being allowed to
1--WE. But there is all the difference be-
tween tasks done with an eye on the
CLOCK, and tasks done with all our be-
Ing In them. 1t is only the last how
4 ever that please ourselves wholly, and
SO nave chance, perhaps, of partly
pleasing others l know how dark il is
tor some of us thus to press our nature
INTO the labors of the day Sometimes
our place does not suit us, sometimes
IS the zest has gone out Of us, sometimes
the material itself seems hopelessly OBJ
Sllnate How often does his desk his
a machine. his counter, loom up before a
mans eve like dark ana heavy cross
NOW, there is whore the chance for in
$f dCience comes in. there is where the
great telnpter stands by our side. Rut
there, also. Is where Gods lonely cali
( Tor perseverance strikes upon the soul
* ana the chance for self-dcnial halls us
Ike n TREND from some passing shin on
the ocean of life. I say God calls us
then. Do you think He only calls us?
Nay. He helps us; He himself. incarnate
in cur being, helps us.
s5E 3 j. remember the story Of the Dutci,
81 mathematician, who for many months
s mad tried long and weo rlly to solve his
a problem. Then. one night in n dream,
81 the solution flashed like an inspiration
= INTO his mind. So it is often with orr
y selves. The Stea9faSt inexora bIa re