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

The world can never FILL"
1t is not L say that you have not
achieved before. The peace that flow q
eth like r river, that is given not as the
world gives, the strength that is made
perfect in weakness, the consciousness
of growth in grace, the spirit to say,
"Thy will, OF mine, o Lord, be done, ~
all these have been your rich treasure
once; but you are sadly cons cious that
they are not now. What is the trouble !?
viii these Pisgah- heights of Christian
experience not be climbed again? will
these ecstatic moods never aga in be in
dulged? Tue thought that they may not
be brings discoura cement.
SO, TOO, IT IS IN SPIRITUAL WORK.
You know all about 1t, Sunday school
teacher. You know how interested
your class have been in your teaching,
now you have caught and held their at
tentiOn even in going through the reigns
of the kings of Israel and Judah-a not
very easy task. You know how you
have interested them, how you have
grappled them to your affection with
hooks of steel, how you have had strong
reason to hope that, one by one, the
would all be Influenced to openly profess
Christ as their Saviour; but the trouble
is, all this is in the past tense. Now the
nets of your attempts come up empty,
your personal mold on your scholars is q
wasting force (and personality is always
the strongest power in winning sOuls.)
Again and again you have been on the
point Of saying to the superintendent
chat he must find another teacher for
your class, that it was useless for you to
hold on.
The minister knows all about this. He
has prepared gospel sermon; he has
seasoned it with prayer, he has sweet
ened it with divine love, he has put his
full self into it; and it has seemed to him
as if sinners cannot reject the message
that he brings. But he comes back from
the delivery of it to say with the proph-
ct of old, Lord, who hath believed our
report and to whom hath the arm of the
Lord been revealed?" The man of God
is conscious that he has done his best;
but no echo comes from the strokes, his
words are like shots against a wall
there is no response. This is about
the hardest encouragement that can
come to a man, to be conscious of failure
when he is also conscious of having done
his best. But the minister should re-
member that it is Gods message he is
charged with, not his own, that it is
Gods people TO whom he speaks; and
God hath pledged Himself to be respon-
sible for results. Then, too, eternity
Will have some sweet surprises for us
all, for those of US who have toiled faith
fully in Gods vineyard here. There
will be this one and that one who shall
say to us: "YOu helped me with your
cheering word; you encouraged me with
your grasp of my hand; your message
saved my soul"
Discouragements come from every
quarter; can hardly enumerate them.
Heterogeneous come in the training Of
children. After man passes the age of
40, he transfers his ambitions to his
children. He wants them to achieve
what he has failed to achieve he wants
them to be what he has failed to be.
But at any time in life parent has an
ideal which he sets before his children.
Some one wished to buy the other day
the Sistine Madonna at Dresden; and it
was told him that the price was million
dollars, which practically meant that
the Sistine Madonna was not in the mar
ket.
EVERY TRUE PARENT HAS SKETCHED A
PICTURE
of what he wishes his child to be. Here
he flashes in a bit of color, there he
widens the outlines; here he throws on
more light, there he softens the rough
ness and makes shapelv what was I'M
pleasant to the view. And how at times
the picture CLOVIS! The child of a thou
sand prayers is fulfilling all the fondest
hopes cherished concerning him, ne is
reaching the ideal that has been set.
And then-suddenly, unexplainedly-
you see habits forming, tendencies
emerging, which you know will prove
ruinous if allowed to run on; but you
feel yourself helpless before them. Alas !
that all the good should be so quickly
overthrown. Alas that beautiful pic
lures should be limned only so soon to
have their bright colors fade away.
DIsCoURAGEMENTs COME FROM SEASONS
OF SORROW.
There are men who by years OF hard
Industry have piled up fortunes, and by
some sudden reversal in business those
fortunes have melted away in a night.
There are men whose hair has turned
white in single night through sorrow.
There are those from whom, because of
disappointment for their hopes and balk-
ing of their plans, all ambition for liv-
ing has been taken away; and think
the saddest thing in this wide world is
the sight of a man, especially young
man, who has lost all enthusiasm for
living, wh0 simply plOds on, as listless
as stone, as dull as cl0d, until death
relieves him Of his charge. / remember
the man with whom was thrown as
principal OF an academy In southern
town soon after my graduation from