The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1895-08-23

Again, it is the use of trouble Z,
make us feel our dependence upol
God. Men think that they can do any
thing until God shows them they cal
do nothing at all. We lay our greai
plans, and we like to execute them. I
looks big. God comes and takes u
down. As Prometheus was assaulted
by his enemy, when the lance strucl
him it opened great swelling tina
had threatened his death. and he go
well. So it is the arrow of trouble
that lets out great swellings of pride
We never feel our dependence upor
God until we get trouble.
/ was riding with my little child
along the road, and she asked if She
might drive. l said: Certainly"
handed over the reigns 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. II
gives one such an appearance of supe-
riority 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. l nave
heard earnest prayers on two or three
occasions that l remember. Once. on
the Cincinnati express train, going al
forty miles the hour, the train jumped
the track, and we were near 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 backs of the seats and cried
out: ION, God, save u.s. There was
another time, about eight hundred
miles out at sea, on a laundering
steamer, after the last life boat had
been split finer than kindliug wood.
They prayed then. Why is it you often
hear people. in reciting the last eX-
perience of some friend say, she made
the most beautiful prayer | ever
heard?" What makes it beautiful? 1t
is the earnestness of it. Oh. tell you,
a man is in earnest when his stripped
and naked soul wades out in the sound
less, shoreless, 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 is, He
is not an autocrat seated far up in a
palace, from which He energies once a
year, preceded by heralds swinging
swords to clear the way. No. But a
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 A
young man goes off from home 70 earn
his fortune. He goes with his mother 5
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 hotelkeeper where he IS stay
ing, asking for lenience, and the an
swer he gets is: IF you don't pay up
Saturday night you'll be removed to
the hospital"
The young man sends to a comrade
in the same building. No help. He
writes to a 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 frenzied with
grief; and he borrows a 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 IG 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 20
have five minutes to spare. She won
ders why train that can go thirty
miles an hour cannot go sixty miles
an hour She rushes into the hos
pital. She says: my son, what does
all this mean? Why didn't you
send for me? You sent to everybody
but me. You knew l could and would
lol, ,,o,, L 4b;c +ba ratra ~ I ,rat fO,.
my kindness to you always" She bun
dies him up, takes him home and gets
him well very soon. Now some of you
treat God just as that young man treat
ed his mother. When You get into a
financial perplexity you call on the
banker, you call on the broker, you
call on your creditors, you call on your
lawyer for legal counsel; you call upon
everybody, and when you cannot get
any help then you go to God You say:
20, Lord, come to Thee. Help me
now out of my perplexity." And the
Lord comes, though it is the eleventh
hour. He saws: why did you not
send for Me before? As one whom his
mother comforteth, so will l comfort
YOU" 1t is to throw us back upon God
that we have this ministry of tears
Again. it is the use of trouble to
capacitate us for the Office of sym
pathy. The priests, under the old dis
pensation, were set apart by having
water sprinkled upon their hands, feet
and head: and by the sprinkling of
tears people are now set apart to the
Office of sympathy. When we are in
prosperity we like to have a great
many young people around us. and we
laugh when they laugh, and we romp
when they romp, and we sing when