Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1898-08-18

"a sympathetic and compassionate God
through MI eternity you will bless him
that An this world there was sharp rock
on the one side and u sharp rock on tho
othor side.
Ways of the World.
Again, that man Is In tho crisis of the
text who has home troubles and outside
persecution at the same time The world
treats man well just rs long as 1t pays
to treat him we'll As long rs it can man
ufacturc success ont OF his bono and brain
and muscle it favors him. Tho world fat
tens the horse 1t wants TO drive But let
n man SEQ 1t his duty to cross the track OF
tho world, then every bush is full of horns
and tusks thrust at him. They will be-
little him. They will caricature him.
They will call his generosity self aggran-
dizcment and his piety sanctimoniousness.
The very worst persecution will sometimes
come upon him from those who profess to
be Christians.
John Miton-grcat ard good John Mil
ton--so far forgot himself as to pray in so
many words that his enemies might be
eternally thrown down into the darkest
and deepest gulf of hell, and be the under
most and most detected, and the lowest
down vassals Of perdition And Martin
Luther so far forgot himself as to say in
regard to his theological opponents, Put
them in whatever sauce you please roast
ell or fried or baked or stcwcd or boiled or
hashed they arc nothing but asscs!' All,
my friends, IL John Milton or Martin
Luther could come down to such scurril-
ity, what may you not expect from less
elevated oproncnts9 Now, sometimes tho
world takes after them, tho newspapers
take after them, public opinion takes after
them, and the unfortunate man is lied
about until all tho dictionary of Billings
gate is exhausted OH him. You often seq
IA man whom you know to be good and
pure and honest, set upon by the world
and mGulcd by whole communities, while
vicious men take on supcrcilious air in
condemnation Of him, as though Lord
.jcfreys should write an essay on gentlo-
ness or Henry VIII talk about purity or
King ilerod take to blessing little chill
dren
Persecution Is an Inspiration.
Now certain amount Of persecution
| rouses II man $ defiance, stirs his blood for
magnificent battle and makes him 80 times
more man than he would have been
without the persecution. so it was with
the great reforrner when he said, II will
not be put down; l will be heard" And
so 1t was with Willard, the preacher, in
| tho time Of Louis XI. When Louis * sent
| word 10 him that unless he stopped preach
ing In that style no would throw him into
The river, he replied, Tell the king that
will rench heaven sooner by water than he
| gill reach 1t by fast horses A certain
| amount Of persecution is u tonic and in
| spiration but too much of it. and too long
| continued becomes the rock BozcZ throw
| ing dark shadow over u mans life
| What is he TO do them Go homo, you say
| Good advice, that That is just the place
| for man to go when the world abuses
| him Go hor;e. Blessed DO God for our
quiet and sympathetic honest But there
is many rau who has tho reputation Of
having home when he has none Through
unthinkinsness or precipitation there are
many matches made that ought never to
have been made. An officiating priest
cannot alons unite a couple The Lord
Almighty must proclaim banns. There
are many homes In which there is no sym.
pathy and no happiness and no good cheer
| Tho clainor Of the battle may not have
boon heard outside, but God knows, not
outstanding all tic playing Of tho we'd
ding march. and all tho odor Of the
orange blossoms. and tho bcncdiction of
the officiating pastor, there has been nj
marriage. SO sometimes men have awak,
oncd TO find on one side of them tho rock
Of persecution and on the other side OF
them the rock OF domestic infelicity. Wha,
shall such n ONE dor Do as Jonathan did
climb. Get up the heights of Gods con
ISOLATION, from which you may look dowL
| In triumph upon outside persecution and
| bnp,n Nvl,iia nj IL,
Wesley was being silenced by the inagis
trates and having his name written on the
board fences Of London in doggerel, at
that very time his wife was making him
as miserable as she could-acting as though
she were possessed by the devil, as sup
pose she was, never doing him q kindness
until the day she ran away, SO that he
wrote in his diary these words: Il did not
forsake her. l have not dismissed her.
will not recall her." Planting one foo;
upon outside persecution and tho other
foot on home trouble, John Wesley climb
cd up into the heights Of Christian JOY
and after preaching 10000 sermons and
travelling $40, 900 miles reached the heights
Of heaven, though In this world no had II
hard enough-"a sharp rock on the one
side and sharp rock on tho other"
Departing Women.
Again, that woman stands In the crisis
of the text who has bereavement and O
struggle for livelihood at the same time
Without mentioning names, speak from
observation. All, 1t 10 hard thing for q
woman to make an honest living, even
when her heart Is not troubled, and she
has fair check, and the magnetism Of al
Exquisite presence. But now the husband
Or the father is dead. The exponsos of the
pbseQhies have absorbed all that was left
In the savings bank, and, wan and wasted
with weeping and watching, she goes
forth--a grave, ; hearse, coffin behind
hcr--te contend for her existence and ths
lexistNuce Of her children. When sec suok