The Progress., 1898-05-14
Rev. DR.. Talmage Points to the
Light Ahead.
Y ords of Cheer for the Des pondent-Mnk-
ing the Best of Financial Misfor-
tunes of Sickness and
Death.

out the rift in the cloud and the light
beyond To those whose lives are trou-
bIcd. The text is:
And now men see not the bright light which
l. in the clouds. Job xxXvii, 81
Wind east. Barometer falling. Storm
signals out. Ship rceing main top
sails Awnings taken in. Prophecies
of foul weather everywhere. The
clouds congregate around the sun. pro-
posing to abolish him. But after
awhile he assails the TANKS of the
clouds with flying artillery of light,
md here and there is a 81 gn of clearing
weather. Many do not observe it.
Many do not realize it. And now
men see not the bright light which is
in the clouds" In other words, there
are a hundred men looking for storm
where there is one man looking for
sunshine. My object will be to get you
and myself into the delightful habit of
making the best of everything.
You may have wondered at the sta
tistics that in India, in the year 1875,
there were over 10, 600 people slain by
wild beasts, and that in the year 1876
there We're in India over 10000 people
destroyed by wild animals. But there
is a monster in our own land which is
year by year destroying more than
that. 1t is the old bear Of melancholy
and with gospel weapons 1 propose to
chase i. back to its midnight caverns.
l mean to do two sums-a sum in sub
traction and IA sum in additions sub
traction from your days of depression
and an addition to your days of joy.
Ii God will help me | will compel you
TO see the light light that there is in
the clouds. and compel you to make
the best Of everything.
In the first place, you ought to make
the very best Of all your financial mis-
fortunes. During the panic few years
ago you all lost money. Some of you
lost it in most unaccountable ways
For the question: How many thou
sands of dollars shall put aside this
year," you substituted the question:
'.How shall l pay my butcher, and
baker, and clothier, and landlord?"
You had the sensation of rowing hard
ing down stream.
You did not say much about it be-
cause it was not polite to speak of
financial embarrassment; but your wife
knew. Less variety of wardrobe, more
economy at the table, self-denial in art
and tapestry. Compression; retr ench-
ment Who did not feel the necessity
of it? My friend, did you make the
best of this? Are you aware of how
narrow an escape you made? Suppose
you had reached the fortune toward
which you were rapidly going? What
:hen! You would have been as proud
as Lucifer.
How few men have succeeded largely
in q financial sense and yet retained
their simplicity and religious consecra-
ton! Not one man out of hundred
There are glorious exceptions, but the
general rule is that in proportion as
man gets well off for this world he
gets poorly off for the next. He loses
his sense of dependence on God. He
gets a dictate for prayer meetings
With plenty of bank stocks and plenty
of government securities, what does
that man know of the prayer: Give
me this day my daily bread?" How few
men largely successful in this world
are bringing souls to Christ, or show
ing self-denial for others, or are emf
nent to pictv? You IN count them