Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1898-05-28

tenderness and mercy, drops the idea OF
IL father and says, Gas one whom his
mother comforteth so will l comfort
you. !"
Again, l remark there is comfort in
the thought that God by all this process
is going to make you useful. Do you
know that those who accomplish the
most for God and heaven have all been
under the harrow? Show me Il man that
has done anything for Christ in this
day i'll public or private place who
has had no trouble and whose path has
been smooth All, no.
| once went through an AK factory,
and | saw them take the bars Of iron
and thrust them into the terrible fur
naces. Then besweated worllmen with
long tongs stirred the blaze. Then they
brought out bar of iron and put it i'll
Il crushing machine, and then they put
it between jaws that bit it i'll twain.
Then they put it on an anvil, and there
were great hammers swung by machin-
ery-each one half ton in weight
that went thump, thump, thump! If
that iron could have spoken, it would
have said: "Why all this beating? Why
must l be pounded any more than any
other iron?" The workmen would have
said: 1--WE want to make axes out of
you, keen, sharp aXes-axes with which
to hew down the forest, and build the
ship, and erect houses, and carry on a
thousand enterprises Of civilization.
That is the reason we pound you. "
Now, God puts a soul into the furnace
Of trial, and then it is brought out and
run through the crushing machine, and
then it comes down on the anvil, and
upon it, blow after blow, blow after
blow, until the soul cries out, "Oh,
Lord, what does all this mean" God
says: II want to make something very
useful ont Of you. You shall be some
thing to hew with and something to
build with. 1t is practical process
through which am putting you. Yes,
my Christian friends, we want more
tools in the church Of God, not more
wedges to split with. We have enough
of these. Not more bores with which to
drill. We have too many bores What
we really want is keen, sharp we'll tenn
pered axes, and if there be any other
way of making them than in the hot
furnace, and on the hard anvil, and I'M
der the heavy hammer, l do not know
what it is. Remember that if God
brings any kind of chastisement upon
you it is only to make you useful. Do
not sit down discouraged and say: II
have no more reason for living wish
/ were dead" Oh, there never was so
much reason for your living as now.
By this ordeal you have been consecrat-
ed a priest of the most high God. Go
out and do your whole work for the
Master.
The Rebellious Heart.
Again, there is comfort III the thought
that all our troubles are revelation.
Have you ever thought of it in that con-
nection? The man who has never been
chastisement is ignorant about
a thousand things i'll his soul he ought
to know. For instance, here is a man
who prides himself on his cheerfulness
of character. He has no patience with
anybody who is depressed in spirits.
Oh, it is easy for him to be cheerful,
with his fine house, his filled wardrobe
and well strung instruments of music
and tapesried parlor and plenty of
money in the bank waiting for some
permanent investment 1t is easy for
him to be cheerful But suppose his
fortune goes to pieces, and his house
goes down under the sheriff's hammer,
and the banks will not have anything
to do with his paper. Suppose those
people who were once elegantly enter
tanned at his table get so shortsighted
that they cannot recognize him upon
the street How then? Is it so easy to
be cheerful? 1t is easy to be cheerful in
the home, after the days work is done,
and the gas is turned on, and the house
is full of romping little ones. But sup
pose the piano is shut because the fin
gers that played on it will no more
touch the keys, and the childish voice
that asked so many questions will ask
no more. Then is it so easy? When a
man wakes up and finds that his re-
sources are all gone, he begins to rebel,
and he says: God is hard God is out
rageous. He had no business to do this
to me. /" My friends those of us who
have been through trouble know what a
sinful and rcEcllious heart we have and
how much God has to put up with and
how much we need pardon. 1t is only
in the light of flaming furnace that
we can learn our own weakness and our
own lack of moral resource.
Family Meetings.
There is also a great deal of comfort
In the fact that there will be a family
reconstruction i'll Il better place. From
Scotland or England OF Ireland child
amigrates to America. 1t is very hard
parting, but he comes, after awhile
writing home as to what a good land 1t
is. Another brother comes, sister
comes and another, and after awhile
the mother comes, and after awhile the
father comes, and now they are all here,
and they have timo of great congrat-
ilation and very pleasant reunion.
Well, it is just so with our families.
They are emigrating toward a better
land. Now one goes out Oh, how hard
it is to part with him. Another goes
Oh, how hard it is to part with her.
And another and another, and we our
selves will after awhile go over, and
then we will be together. Oh, what a
reunionl Do you believe that? Eyes"
you say. Oh, you do not. You do not
believe it as you believe other things.
If YOU do, and with the same emphasis,
why it would take nine-tenths of your
trouble off your heart. The fact is
heaven to many Of US is great fog. 1t
is away off somewhere, filled with an
uncertain and indefinite population.
That is the kind of heaven that many
of us dream about, but it is the most
tremendous fact in all this universe
this heaven of the gospel. Our departed
friends are not afoat. The residence Ill
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