The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1895-08-01
BROKE HEARTS.
A Short Lay Sermon Full of Solid
Comfort.
I New York Herald. !

/ somewhere an .severlasting arm" upon
which they can certainly rely in time
I Of trouble.
| The most discouraging fact in life is
/ that when we call loudest for friends
they are not often within hearing dis
/ lance If we are not in want Of them
| they are more numerous than we can
| count, but when we are sinking be-
meath the waters and stretch out i'm
| ploring 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 trodden the wine press of a
| like experience can say the word we
| need to nave said or do the kindly
deed we need to have done. This is
a mysterious element in Gods Province
| which it is hard to understand You
may not have company in your Geth-
semane, unless it be the Companionship
OF angels and of Him who sends
them
Broken hearts? Are there any? Per
haps not many if the words are used in
a literal sense. We may we'll thank
heaven that it is SO. There is a certain
bouyancy, a certain lifting power in
human nature which makes utter hope
lessness impossible except in rare in
stances. A kind of optimism creeps
into the soul just as a child creeps into
its weeping mothers arms, and as the
| child forces smile from the mother,
SO this dim prophecy that "eventime it
shall be light" sends its ray of hope
| into the darkness that environs us.
We find it very difficult to wholly des
pair, for heart beats have a sort OF
good cheer in them when the shadows
are deepest. But it is strangely true
that there is a very serious significance
in the words "broken hearts," Life
is sprinkled with disappointments from
youth to age. The dreams Of earlier
| times have not come true, and hardly
| one Of us is either what or where he
expected to be. The wedding march
has changed into an echo, and its glad
vibrations scarcely reach our ears.
The riches We longed 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
| been called to heaven. Changes have
come like pitiless tornadoes and torn
up by the roots many Of our most
cherished desires. Sickness, struggle,
bereavement, poverty, like malignant
fairies, have waved their wands over US
and we scarcely recognize ourselves.
These are stern facts, and they can
not be gainsaid. Look back through
the corridor OF time and see yourself
as you were at twenty. What expert
ence have you passed through They
have left their mark on your face, in
your gait and in your conversati on.
You have been ploughed, and the fur
rows tell how deep the plough
stuck.
What hall we say, then? That there
IS no God3 Nay, rather that there must
| be a God, or matters would not turn
out as they have done. Is life so full
OF bitterness that it is not worth living?
| Nay, rather, life is painful means to a
joyful end. A hard lesson has been
set US, and it must be learned. There
was never yet sorrow which was not
a stepping stone to higher things, and
there never yet tell tear which did
not bring heaven nearer. 1t is the
evident intention of God that they
shall serve these purposes, and the
mission ofreligion is to keep us con-
stantly mindful of the fact.
The sorrowing ones of earth are spe-
clally near to the Father, and struggling
souls are objects of His special solici-
tude. 1t is hard for us to see His face
at such times, for our tears are like
clouds that hide the sun; but, as the
sun IS surely behind the clouds, so is
| His face behind our tears. While it is
a solemn an and awful truth that per-
feet sympathy and efficient helpiulness
can not be found elsewhere, it is a
glorious certainty that both can be
| found in Him.
| What consolation to know that the
Almighty is not far off; that He is
neither stranger to our miseries nor
indifferent while we fight the good
fight. Even when it seems as though
he had deserted and left us to our fate,
the ruStllng of His angels wings may
be heard, and the prayer of beseeching
faith brings calm unto the soul as
though He had whispered, "Peace Be
still -
Broken hearts Travellers weary
and worn9 Sailors clinging desperately
to wreck Soldiers wounded almost
unto death Homes made desolate
by the lnvaslons of death Signs
borne on every breeze and disappointed
hopes scattered IS thick Gas leaves in
Nallambrosa -
Yes this is all true 1t is the burden
we bear-the burden we must bear.
But be of good cheer. Heaven the
end of the journey, isnot far off. The
mlnarets are gllsteuing in the sunshine,
and once there, all will be peace. II
we have the courage to say "Thy will
be done" in this life, we shall look
back IN the next life and see, to our
surprise, that all was for the best; that
God was with us as we ,oiled along
the upward steep, His messengers lift
ed us over the rough places. We mus,
bear our lot bravely in faith that He is
nigh unto them that are of a broken
heart, and by and by there will be