The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1898-12-14
SEEMING AFFECTIONS.
On Us Are Influences for Coco.
Grandeur of Character Is
Achieved by conqueTing
Of Evil.

an optimistic view OF many things that
are usually accounted as inexplicable in
human experience and shows US that
even trouble and a?t1iction may not be
wholly without their brighter side;
text, Psalm Xix, !, L will open my
dark saying upon the harp.
The world is full Of the inexpllcabIe:
the unfathomable. the insurmountabIe
We cannot 90 three steps in any dlrec,
ton without coming up against q hard
wall of mystery, riddles, parodoxes,
profundities, lybyrinths, problems that
we cannot solve, hieroglyphics that we
cannot decipher, anagrams we cannot
spell out, sphinxes that will not speak.
For that reason David in my text pro-
posed to take up some Of these som0er
and dark things and try to set them TO
veet music. Il will open my cars
savings sn the harp. So | look on
upon society and fnd people in unhap,,
nv conjunction Of circumstances, and
they do not know what it means, and
they have right to ask: Why IS this?
Why is that? And | think | will be
doing work BY trying to explain some
of these strange things and make you
more content with your lot, and | shall
only be answering questions that have
often been asked me or that We have
all asked ourselves while try to set
these mysteries to music and open my
dark sayings on harp.
Interrogation the first: Why does
God take out Of this world those who
are useful and whom we cannot spare
and leave alive and in good health 50
many who are only nuisance to the
world? l thought I would begin with
the very toughest Of all the seeming IN,
scrutables. Many Of the most useful
men and women die at 80 or 40 years OF
age, while you often find useless peo-
pIe alive at 60 and % and 50. John
Dareless wrote to Bradford, who vas
about to be Put to death, saying, Why
doth God suffer me and such other cat
erpillars to live that can do nothing but
consume the aims Of the church and
take away so many worthy workmen IN
the Lords vineyard" Similar quss-
tions are otter asked. Here are two
men. The one is a noble character
and Christian man. He chooses Tor
a lifetime companion one who has been
tenderly reared, and she is worthy OF
him and be is worthy Of her. As ner-
chant or farmer or professional man or
mechanic or artist he tolls to educate
and rear his children He is succeed
ing, but he has not yet established Tor
his family full competency. He
seems indispensable to that household,
but one day, kefore he has paid OF the
mortgage on his house, he is coming
home through strong northeast wind:
and chill strikes through him, and four
days of pneumonia end his earthly ca
reer, and the wife and children so into
a struggle for shelter and food. His
next door neighbor is man who,
though strong and well, lets his vile
support him He is around at the gro
cery store or some general loa6ng place
in the evenings, while his wife seTs;;
His boys are initiating his example and
lounge and swagger and swear. All the
use that man is in that house is to rave
because the coffee is cold when he
comes to late breakfast or to say cut
ting things about his wife's looks. when
he furnishes nothing for her wardrobe.
The best thing that could happen to
that family would be that mans funer-
al bpt he declines to Gle. He lives on
and On and on. So We have all noticed
that many Of the useful are early cut
of, while the parasites have great vital
tenacity.
I take up this dark saying on my
harp and give three OF four thrums on
the string in the way Of surmising and
hopeful guess. Perhaps the useful
man was taken out Of the world because
he and his family were so constructed
that they could not have endured some
great prosperity that might have been
Just ahead, and they all together might
have gone down in the vortex Of world
illness which every year swallows up
10000 households. And so he went
while he was humble and consecrated,
and they were by the seventies Of life
kept close to Christ and fitted for use
fulness here and high seats in heaven,
and when they meet at last before the
throne they will acknowledge that,
though the furnace was hot, it purified
them and prepared then for an eternal
career Of glory and reward for which no
other kind Of life could have fitted
them. On the other hand, the useless
man lived on to 80 or 60 or 20 years
because all the ease he ever can have
he must have in this world, and you
ought not therefore begrudge him his
earthly longevity In all the ages there
has not a single loafer ever entered
heaven. There is no place there for
him to hang around. Not even in the
temples, for they are full of vigorous,
alert and rapturous worship. If the
good and useful 60 early, rejoice for
them that they have so soon got
through with human life, which at best
is struggle. And if the useless and
the bad stay rejoice that they may be
out in the worlds fresh air good many
years before their final incarceration.
Interrogation the second: Why do
good people have so much trouble, sick
ness, bankruptcy, persecution, the
three black vultures sometimes putting
their fierce beaks into one set of jan
gled nerves? l think now Of good
friend l once had. He was a conse-
Grated Christian man, an elder in the
church, and as polished Christian
gentleman as ever walked Broadway.
First his general health gave out, and
be hobbled around on cane, an old
man at 40. After awhile paralysis
struck him. Having by poor health
been compelled suddenly to quit busl-
ness, he lost what property he had.
Then his beautiful daughter died; then