The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1898-12-15

ness, he lost what property he had.
Then his beautiful daughter died;
then son became hopelessly dement,
ed. Another, son, splendid of mind
and commanding Of presence, resolved
that he would take care of his fathers
household; but under the swoop Of
yellow fever at Fernandina, Fla, he
suddenly expired. So you know good
men and women who have had enough
troubles, you think, to crush fifty peo-
pie. No worldly philosophy could take
such a trouble and set it to music. Or
play it on violin or flute, blu: I dare
to open that dark saying on a gospel
harp.
You wonder that very conseerated
people have trouble? Did you ever
know any very consecrated man Or
woman who had not had great trouble?
Never! It was through their troubles
sanctified that they were made very
good. If you find anywhere in this
city a man who has now, and always
mas had, perfect health, and never lost
child, and has always been popular.
and never had business struggle or
misfortune, who is distinguished for
goodness, pull your wire for a tele-
graph messenger-boy, and send me
word, and I will drop everything and
90 right away to look at him. There
never has been man like that. and
never will be. Who are those AFRO
CANT, self-conceited creatures who
move about without sympathy for
others, and who think more of a St.
bernard dog, Or an Attorney COW, or
Southdown sheep, or a Berkshire
pig than of a man? They never had
any trouble, or the trouble was never
sanctlfied. Who are those men who
l1sten with moist eye as you tell them
OF suffering, and who have a pathos
In their voice, and a kindness in their
manner, and an excuse or an allevia-
ZION for those gone astray? They are
me men who have graduated at the
Royal Academy of Trouble. and they
nave the diploma written in wrinkles
on their own countenances. Ny! my!
what heartaches they had! What
tears they have wept! What injustice
they have suffered! The mightiest in
huence for publication and salvation
is trouble. No diamond fit for a crown
until 1t is cut. No wheat fit for bread
I'LL 1t is ground. There are only three
things that can break off a chain-a
hammer, file, or a fire; and trouble
is all three of them. The greatest
writer's, orators and reformers get
much OF their force from trouble. What
gave to Washington Irving that ex-
qulslte tenderness and pathos which
will make his books favorites while
the English language continues to be
written and spoken? An early heart
break, that he never once mentioned:
ara when, thirty years after the death
OF MATILDA Hoffman, who was to have
been his bride, her father picked I'D
piece of embroidery and said. THAT
IS a piece of poor Matilda's workman
snlp, Washington Irving sank from
hllarity into silence, and walked awav.
Out of that lifetime grief the great
author dipped his pens mightiest rein
torcement. s'Calvin's Institutes of Re-
llslon, than which a more wonder
1ul DOCK was never written by human
hand, was begun by the author at
twenty-five years of age, because of
the persecution by Francis, king of
France. Faraday toiled for all time
ON a salary of eighty pounds wear
and candles. AS every brick of the
wall Of Babylon was stamped with the
letter N, standing for Nebuchadnezzar.
so every part of the temple of Chris
tlan achievement is stamped with the
letter T, standing for trouble.
interrogation third: Why did the
good God let sin or trouble come into
the world when he might have kent
| them out? My reply is, He had q good
| reason. He had reasons that he has
never given us. He had reasons which
he could no more make US understand
in our finite state than the father
starting out on some great and elab-
crate enterprise, could make the two-
year-old child in its armed chair conn
! prehend it. One was to. demonstrate
what grandeur of character NAV be
achieved On earth by conquering evil,
Had there been no evil to conquer and
no trouble to console, then this uni
| verse would never have known an
| Abraham, or Moses, or Joshua, or
an Ezekiel, or a Paul, or Christ. or a
| Washington, or a John Milton, or a.
| John Howard, and million victories
which have been gained by the conse-
Grated spirits of all ages would never
have been gained. Had there been no
| battle, there would have been no Vie
| tory. Nine-tenths of the anthems of
heaven would never have been sung.
Heaven. could never have been. a thou
sandth part of the heaven that it is. I
will not say that I am glad that sin
| and sorrow did enter, but do say that
I am glad that after God has given all
His reasons to an assem- bled universe,
| He will be more honored than if sin
and sorrow had never entered and that