The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1898-10-07

troublous times of the Revolution he was
! imprisoned for while, and, fir ding a
mutilated copy of the Pandects Of JUS
tinian in his prison, he took occasion to
master it. How much better than to
| have mOped and merely waited for the
| time Of his release! Don't you know
that all life is waiting-waiting ia
youth for the responsibilities of manhood
to come, waiting in manhood for the
time when the branches are withered
and bare, waiting in old age to hear the
call of the ferrYmRn and the sound OF
| the muttled oar, waiting on earth amid
HEAVENS HEALTH AND PEACE TO BE
UsHERED IN.
But though these disciples thus well
employed the time of waiting that night
at their fishing they had no luck. l say
/ again that that seems strange, strange
| for these men. Their failure was not
because they did not ply their handicraft
with skill; it was not because the lake
was not swarming with fish; it was not
because they did not know the places
where the fish abounded; it was not be-.
cause through all that weary, tantalizing
night they did not keep faithfully at
work, hoping against hope that with
NJ
some turn of the tide would come. Then,
too, this want of luck had not always
been their experience. Other nights
they had caught much, go much that their
meta had broken for the great haul and
the next morning they had spent in
mending their nets. Other nights the
fish had come about their boats in shoals,
but that night-that night was excep-
tional and different.
How much, anyway, is all this expert
! ence Of the disciples q panorama of hu-
man life! Sometimes things run on SO
we'll that it hardly seems as If a time
could come when they would go wrong.
At times the water is SO smooth and
placid that there is no suggestion OF the
roughening wind and the waves going
mountains high. In health life is 30 en-
jOyable, the pulse is so quick, the step
so animated, the VigOr so strong, that
the bed Of sickness and the cry of pain
seem wholly banished from this world
The baby's laugh is 80 gIeeful, it COOS 80
sweetly, that we will not think that the
baby voice is often stilled by remorseless
Death. The blossoms are sweet, the air
is warm, the meadows are green; then
come the biting wind, the chilling blast,
the nippirg frost. We get enthusiastic
over our pIans, hard walls seem yielding
on every side to make way for our VIC
torious march; then stalks before us
the demon OF encouragement and
SAYS, "You can't go on. l told you 30,
that you would get so far and then fail.
See, here are difficulties on every side ;"
and the euperature of our enthusiasm
begins to go down and our ardor to cool
eff The people of God are coming out
of Egypt. At Pihahiroth they are told
TO stand still and see the salvation of
God, but afterwards come the fiinty rock
from which water must be struck and
the sandy waste on which the mama
must fall. In every life there are rainy
days, hours of gloom and the valley of
shadow. That night when the trained
fishermen caught nothing has it's repeti-
tion everywhere.
We read the Psalms of David to day
more than any other part of the Bible,
unless it be the Gospels, because they
Mir or our life; in them we fine express
ed the same emotions that we feel, Day.
i'll rises to the same heights and energies
from the same depths that we do, life
has with him and with US mixed tragedy
and comedy, mingled laughter and tears.
This "that night" of encouragement ap-
pears how often in the Psalms! 'sLord,
how are they increased that trouble me !
Many are they that rise up against me,
many there be which say of my soul,
4hCIE 10 uU uCAp 1OA Hill Ala 0UNS 1OW
long wilt thou forget me, o Lord-for-
ever? bow long wilt thou hide thy face
from me? How long shall take coun-
sci in my soul, having sorrow in my
heart daily?" have met this demon of
encouragement again and again. He
has no prepossessipg looks, / assure you.
He is gaunt and ungainly and slow. He
has drawing voice. He has whining
tongue. His approach is like that Of an
iceberg; he gives you the shivers. He
was never known to wear a bright look
or to say kind word.
/ HIS INTEREST IS TO PUT WET BLANKETS
ON ENTHUSIASM,
to scowl down hopeful projects, to say
II told you go" when calculations are
not met. o thou wretched elf, how j
hate thee! But ANNOUNCEMENTS come
cry night. The question for you and
me to consider now is, How can we get
through tbs Sc periods9
Discours g ements come in the spiritu-
al life. You all know how it is. There
are times when you are never so regular
/ In attending church, in reading the BIZ
BILE, in meeting God in prayer. The
faith that has stopped the mouth Of
lions, turned to flight the armies OF the
alien, said to the mountain, Be thou re-
moved hence and be thou cast into the
sea, and it has obeyed youths faith
you once had, others have now; but
| from you it Ia gone. The wrestling of
prayer that has made your inner closet q
Bethet, that has brought angels of de-
liverance down from the skies, that has
given to you the wings OF the morning
and brought you close to Gods throne
this kind OF prayer you have known in
former experiences of your Christian
| life; but you are conscious that you
have forfeited this power and that yon