The Newtown bee., 1898-11-04

three days was that he might carry on the most searching nt1ospectlOn possible and to prepare him to receive the respon- sibility of great work. ''The history of trouble is sometimes the history of 8 sOuI". Abraham could not have been taught that lesson of trust in God at all hazards but for the mountain scene. John could not have scared to such heights of thrilling and ever sustained
 grandeur upon any other island than bar
 ren PaUmos. God prepared him through
 PatmOs to receive it. 1t Is indeed in
 the sadder moments of our lives that our
 ear is most sharp and alert to hear the
 many voices of God ever about us. 'TIs
 then the scales fall off from our eyes.
 Then our horizon falls back and we get broader view of things-the field be-. comes the world. We will venture to
 say, Jesus taught these disciples more
 on that journey of three hours than it
 would have been possible to teach them
 in 8 whole lifetime of mirth. "The h.
 ferno', "Paradise Lost", "Pilgrim's s
 Progress", "In Memoriam', were such
 masterpieces possibl but for the throes
 of troubled hearts? May God help us
 not to despise but to treasure, if not to
 seek, such hours and fully learn the les- con Ae has for us in them.
 SPIRITUAL ATTITUDE.
 They were in 8 state of honest doubt. They had heard He was alive. Those who went to confirm the story found an empty tomb, but Him they saw not. Here was the difficulty. If they had seen they had believed. Their disap- polnrmenG was so overwhelming that it needed more than these testimonies to
 re-establish their hope. There is much written about doubt, that might better oe called unbeliet, which is to be deplor- ad. But true doubt, whose synonym, by he way, is not unbelief but unfaith, a ! very different thing, is that which pioneers all pro gress in all realms. It is ' the interrogation point always before ue { cUaxing us on 10 an answer, and tanta- .zes us if we do not. It alWays precedes
 an established belief. Ali psychologists
 teach this. (Bain, James, Sully.) Jesus
 knew the state of their souls; twas not , that unbelief so terrible as to shorten even the arm of God. No. Twas that honest doubt which came after trying to 5 read the enigmas of the past.
 Once more we get glimpse Of their spiritual condition by their conversation,
 "they talked of all these things that had happened;" of Jesus they spoke, the ! blessed Master, not word of blame for Him do we hear-''he was mighty in deed and in word before God and all the peo- pIe". Jesus would not be far away from such mistaken men who were handling so tenderly the scenes of the pas6, just as one naturally treads softly in the room of
 death, so reverently mentioning His I name whether He was seen or unseen, He would be thereabout. You might ask wE 1t else could they have talked about What would some of us be talking about Is our conversation in heaven? What am about to say in answer shows that I don't think their sadness was pessimism.
 They might have talked of Peters deni. sl-and sneered and said, eh, afraid of a servant-maid! They might, if they
 cared to, if they were not n ore interest ed in Christ, have talked about Judas and ! blamed him fer it all and have said, s'i1 that Judas had not done as he did our Deliverer would have lived and redeemed
 us". Tis painful, but nevertheless true,
 we find so many things to talk about
 other than heavenly things. Nothing speaks 80 plainly of mans mental cul- ! ture-and may we aud spiritual culture we may-as his conversation. Men find can easily talk about what they are
 interested in. I like the ring of this con versation. Christ remain away long from such? Not 80. If we talk more oi Him He will surely appear to us and our
 hearts will just burn by the way.
 ! II. We notice that this incident
 BECAME PART OF THEIR OWN EXPERT. ENCE,
 as we Methodists call it. What gift is
 this memory of the mind or the reflective power of the human sanII Let us look
 at this for minute. The mind is trausi-
 tive, it always takes an object to operate
 upon. Now this may be something fur nished it f1om without, through the
 senses, or it may make itself or any part of itself it's own object; this by modern psychologists is called the subjective objective" operation of the mind: or in