The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1898-03-19

thC outSp WclC liot BOlhS dotidys VIC
shepherd woIld often use it as sort of
crutch, leaning on it; but when the
sheep were out of the way, the crook
was always busy pulling them back.
All we, like sheep. have gone astray,
and had it not been for the shepherds
crook, we would have fallen long ago
over the precipice.
Here is man who is making too
much money. He is getting very vain.
He says: After awhile | shall be in
dependent of all the world. Oh. my
soul, eat, drink and be merry" Bust
ness disaster comes to him. What is
God going to do with him? Has God
any grudge against him? Oh, no. God
is throwing over him the shepherds
crook and pulling him back into better
pastures. Here is man who has al
ways been well. He has never had any
sympathy for invalids, he calls them
coughing, wheeling nuisances. After
awhile sickness comes to him. He does
not understand what God is going to
do with him. He says: is the Lord
angry with me?" On, no. With the shep-
herds crook he has been pulled back
into better pastures. Here's happy
household circle. The parent does not
realize the truth that these children
are only loaned to him, and he forgets
from what source came his domestic
blessings. Sickness drops upon those
children, and death swoops upon lit
tie one. He says, is God angry with
me?" No. His shepherds crook pulls
him back into better pastures. | do
not know what would have become of
us if it had not been for the shepherds
crook. Oh, the mercies of our troubles!
You take up apples and plums from
under the shade of the trees, and the
very best fruits of Christian character
we find in the deep shade of trouble.
When | was on the steamer coming
across the ocean | got a cinder in my
eye, and several persons tried to get it
out very gently, but it could not be
taken out in that way. ! was told that
the engineer had faculty in such
cases. | went to him. He put his
large, sooty hand on me, took a knife
and wrapped the lid of the eye around
the knife. l expected to be hurt very
much, but without any pain, and in
stantly he removed the cinder. Oh,
there come times in our Chris
tian life, when our spiritual vision
is being spoiled, and all gentle appli-
ances fail. Then there comes some
giant trouble, and, back-handed, lays
hold of us and removes that which
would have ruined our vision forever.
will gather all your joys together in
one regiment of ten companies, and
will put them under Col JOY. Then |
will gather all your sorrows together
in one regiment of ten companies, and
put them under Col. Breakheart. Then
| will ask: Which of these regiments
has gained for you the greatest spirit
ual victories? Certainly that under
Col Breakheart.
In the time OF war, you may remem-
Der, at the south and north, the ques-
ton was whether the black troops
would fight; but when they were put
into the struggle on both sides they did
heroically. In the great day of eter-
nifty it will be found that it was not the
white regiment of joys that gained
your greatest successes, but the black
| troops of trouble, misfortune and dis
aster. Where you have gained one
spiritual success from your prosperity,
you have gained ten spiritual successes
from your adversely.
There is no animal that struggles
more violently than sheep when you
corner it and catch hold of it. Down
in the glen | see group of men around
a lost sheep. A plowman comes along
and seizes the sheep, and tries to pacify
it; but it is more frightened than ever.
A miller comes along, puts down his
grist, and caresses the sheep, and il
seems as if it would die of fright
After awhile some one breaks through
the ticket. He says: "Let me have
the poor thing" He comes up and lays
his arms around the sheep, and it is
Immediately quiet. Who is the last
man that comes? 1t is the shepherd
All, my friends, be not afraid of the
shepherds crook. 1t is never used or
you, save in mercy, to pull you back
The hard, cold icebergs of trouble will
melt in the warm stream of divine
sympathy.
There is one passage think you mis-
interpret: THE bruised reed He will
break" Do you know that the shep
herd in olden times played upon these
reeds? They were very easily bruised
but when they were bruised they were
never mended The shepherd could Sc
easily make another one, he woult
snap the old one and throw it away
and get another. The Bible says it i.
not so with our Shepherd. When tn,
music is gone out of mans soul, Goo
does not snap him in twain and throw
him away. He mends and restores
The bruised reed He will not break.
When, in the oerhanging heavens of fate,
The threatening clouds of darkness dwell,
Then let us humbly watch and wait;
1t shall be well, it shall be we'll
And when the storm has passed away
And sunshine smiles on food and fell,
How sweet to think, how sweet to say,
1t has been well, it has been well.
Next | speak of the shepherds dogs
They watch the straying sheep ant
drive them back again, Every shep
herd has his dog-from the nomads o
the Bible times down to the Scotcl
herdsman watching his focks on tn
Grampian hills. Our Shepherd employ
the criticisms and prosecutions of tn
world as His dogs There are those
! YOU know, whose whole work is t