The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-06-20

a COURSE OF LIFE THAT WILL BRING
SOME UNEXPECTED REWARDS.
Short Sermon by Rev. Alexander Wis.,
wall, Pastor of the Congregational
Church, Upton, Mass.

And behold there was a swarm of bees
and honey in the carcass of the Hon-
Judges xiv, s.
Strolling in the fields one sunny day in
the spring, almost before the last patch or
snow had fully disappeared, a fine bunch OF
checkerberries was discovered, brilliant
and tempting but growing out of the cleft
of small rock partly buried in the ground
Rudy fruit out of the fiinty rock. Hon
ey out Of the body of a dead lion. In other
words pleasure, profit, reward, happiness,
out of circumstances seemingly the least
prolific of anything of the kind.
There are many places in life which
seem to be all lion and no honey. Many
times the lines of our lives seem to be writ
ten with the heavy down-stroke dark lines.
There are people about US whom we do
not like disagreeable duties lie in our path
way, or we are walled in by a thorny hedge
of unpleasant circumstances. There may be
fine of barbed wire fence all about us.
We dislike to be where we are, but 1t is
death to escape. There is nothing very
pleasant about such a condition OF things
Let us see If the shaggy name the tawny
hide the sharp, glistening fangs and the
terrifying roar of the king of beasts may
not somehow be transformed into the
sweet, flowing amber that delights the eye
and satisfies desire.
And. first of all, how often 1t happens
that we fall in with people whom at first
sight we do not like Their appearance, at
tire, address, something is out of harmony
with our idea Still may there not be honey
in the lions carcass? Beauty is but skin,
deep" 1.-THE worst of faces" said Lavater,
t.- 60, &c. Yr1I,tf f,h how
weight so far as personal appearance is
concerned THE warm heart beneath the
ragged vest" claims influence in the ques-
ton of attire. Blunt Richard, "the lion
hearted" gained many friends despite his
rough ways Bulwer Lytton has told us,
'It is the appearance which fills the scene,
and we pause not to ask of what realities
they are the proxies" The psalmist admits
that he was in haste when he said 'all
men are liars" Peter was influenced by ap-
pearances when in his vision he scorned
the food lowered in a sheet; four-footed
beasts and creeping things are not always
attractive at first, but may furnish a rich
repast in the end. If it be that physical
beauty is only skin deep, then beauty of
character is heart deep. AS it is only by
searching that the deep-laid veins of petro-
leum are found, which. laid open, fill the
Golfers of the finders, so there are human
hearts roughly covered, but full of all
blessings. Let us learn to look beneath the
lions skin for the honey we shall find.
But shall we not find also the concealed
attractions of unpleasant duties2 Here is
young girl who simply detests her music.
Until she masters a certain task her par
ents deny her a much desired excursion. A
few years later, when she has become the
~,
she would not yield the proud distinction
for hundred excursions. Honey, you see,
in the lions carcass.
Perhaps you have read aloud for an hour
to some aged blind person, when it
seemed that you could not possibly spare
the time from tennis or golf. But when
you had finished, would you have ex-
changed all the games in the world for
that sweet satisfied smile on the patient
face and the heartfelt THANK you,' from
those tremulous lips? Take two days in
soldiers life; the day in which he shirked
at dangers approach, and the day when
every duty was met in soldierly manner,
even though it took him to the thick of the
fight. Which of these days, in review,
yields the more honey?
Il have fought a good fight have fin
ished the course I have kept the faith;
henceforth there is laid up for me crown
of righteousness. That passage is radiant
with the joy of duty we'll performed. Who
doubts that Paul was prouder to say that
than if the wealth of Croesus twenty times
multiplied had lain at his feet in perish
able gold? Here gain is honey in the car
cass OF the lion. I fancy the ancients took
some comfort in the belief that all the vir-
tue of their vanquished foes became a part
of themselves. am sure it is true that we
are made stronger by the difficulties and
temptations we overcome. How better can
Gle spend a part of these sabbath rest days
than in reviewing the last weeks battle
fields. exulting in the victories gained pre-
pairing and fortifyirs ones self for the
week to come?
But we have not only disagreeable people
to meet unweleome duties to perform we
have unpleasant surroundings. Perhaps
your home is down in the hollow and you
would rather be on the hilltop. Well, make
that valley a valley of blessing. Another
would sell his $1,000 farm for $500 IL he
could only leave the windy hill for the viii
lage; but the day after he leaves the dam
may break and enguif the whole village
and him with it.
! wish we might all have the eontented
spirit OF the woman who wanted TO live
in the metropolis, but could NOT because
her husbands business called him 10 a
small country town. She thought there was