The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-11-26

=.
learn again from this subject THAT
people sometimes are surprised to find
out that what they have been strug-
Cling with in the darkness is really an
angel of blessing. = Jacob found in
the morning that this strange person
age was not an enemy but a God-dis-
patched messenger to promise pros
perity for him and his children. And
so, many man, at the close of his
trial, has found out that he has been
trying to- throw down his own bless
ing. If you are Christian man, Twill
go back in your history and find that
the grandest things that have ever
happened to you have been your
trials. Nothing short Of scourging,
Imprisonment and shipWreck could
have made Paul what he was. When
David was fleeing through the wilder
ness, pursued by his own son, he was
being prepared to become the sweet
singer Of Israel. The pit and the dun
geon We're the best schools at which
Joseph ever graduated. The hurri-
canes that upset the tent and killed
jobs children prepared the man Of ].
" to be the subject of the magnif-
cent poem that has astounded the
ages There is no way to get the
wheat out of the straw but to thresh
1t. There is no way to purify the gold
but to burn it. Look at the people
who have always had it their own
way. They are proud, discontinued,
useless and unhappy. If you want to
find cheerful folks, go among those
who have been purified by the fire.
After Rossini had rendered civilian
Tell'' the 50Oth time, a company of
musicians came under his window in 4
Paris and serenaded him. They put
upon his brow a golden crown Of iau-
rel leaves! But, amid all the applause
and enthusiasm Rossini turned to
friend and said: II would give all
this brilliant scene for a few DAYS Of
youth and love" Contrast the melan-
choly feeling of Rossini, who had
everything that this world could give
MIN, with the joyful experience of
isaac Watts, whose sorrows were
great, when he says:
The hill of Zion yields
A thousand sacred sweets.
Before we reach the heavenly fields
Or walk the golden streets.
linen let our songs abound,
And every tear be dry;
were marching through Immahueps
ground
10 fairer worlds on HIGH.
1t is prosperity that kills, and trouble
that saves. While the Israelites were
on the march, amid great priyations
and hardships, they behaved we'll
After awhile they prayed for meat:
ana the sky darkened with great
MOCK OF qualls; and these uuails fell
I'D great multitudes all about them:
and the Israelites ate and ate. and
stuffed themselves until they died.
IN, my friends, it is not hardship. or
| tr1al, or starvation, that ruins the soul,
put abundant supply. It is not the
| vulture OF trouble that eats up the
| Christians life; it is the quails! the
qualls! You will yet find out that
your midnight wrestle. by the brook
JaoDok is with an angel of God, come
down to bless and to save.
Learn again that while or wrestling
with trouble might be triumphant. we
must expect that it will leave it's mark
upon US. Jacob prevailed, but the an
gel touched him and his thigh bone
sprang from its socket, and the good
man went limping on his wavs Wa
must carry through this world tha
mark OF combat. What plowed these
premature wrinkles in your face ;?
What whitened your hair before it was
time for frost? What silenced forever
SO much of the hilarity Of your house
mold! All! it is because the angel of
trouble hath touched you that you 20
jumping on your way. You need not
De surprised that those who have pass
co through the fire do not feel as CAV
as once they did. Do not be out of pa
hence with those who come not out of
thelr despondency. They may triumph
over tlelr loss, and yet their gait shall
tell you that they have been trouble
touched. Are we Stoics, that we can.
unmoyed, see our cradle rif1ed of the
Drlght eyes and tho sweet lips? Can
| we stand unmoved and see our gardens
or earthly delight uprooted? Will .Je-
| sus, who wept himself, be angry with
us live pour our tears into the graves
that open to swallow down what we
loved best? Was Lazarus more dear
to him than our beloved dead to us?
| NO. We have right to weep. Our
tears must come. You should not drive
them ~back to scaldf the heart, They
fall into Gods bottle. Afflicted ones
have died because they could not
weep. Thank God for the sweet. the
mysterious. relief that comes to us in
tears! Under this gentle rain the flow
ers of youth put forth their bloom.
God pity that dry, withered, parched,
all-consunling grief that wrings it's
hands, and grinds it's teeth, and bites
it's nails into the quick, but cannot
weep! We may have found the COM
fort Of the cross, and yet after show
that in the dark night, and BY the
Brook Jabbok, we were trouble
| touched.
Again, we take the idea of the text.
and announce the approach of the day
dawn No one was ever more glad to
see the morning than was Jacob after
that night of struggle. 1t is appropri-
ate for philanthropy and Christians
to cry out with this angel Of the text.
THE day breaketh.'' The worlds pros
poets are brig htening. Superstition has
had it's strongest props knocked out.
The tyrants of earth are falling fiat in.
the dust. The Church of Christ is ris-
ing up in it's strength to 60 forth.