The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1898-08-17

vi TIC OHc SLUG anu SlChuCSo Oli ihC
other are Bozez and Seneh, and they
interlock their shadows, and drop
them upon the poor mans way. God
help him! There IS sharp rock on
the one side, and sharp rock on the
other side"
Now, what is such man to do? In
the name of Almighty God, will tell
him what to do. Do ss Jonathan did
climb; climb up into the sunlight of
Gods favor and consolation. l can go
through the churches, and show you
men who lost fortune and health at
the same time, and yet who sing all
day and dream of Heaven all night.
If you have any idea that sound diges-
ton, and steady nerves, and clear eye
sight, and good hearing, and plenty OF
friends, are necessary to make man
happy, you have miscalculated. l sup
pose that these overhanging rocks
only made Jonathan scramble the
harder and the faster to get up and
out into the sunlight; and this COM
bined shadow of invalidsm and finan-
cial embarrassment has often sent a
man up the quicker into the sunlight
of Gods favor and the MONDAY of His
glorious promises.
1t is a difficult thing for man to
feel his dependence upon God when he
has ten thousand dollars in the bank,
and fifty thousand dollars in govern
ment securities, and block of stores
and three ships. "Well," the man says
to himself, "it is silly for me to pray,
Give me this day my daily Bread
when my pantry is full and the canals
from the west are crowded with bread
stuffs destined for my storehouses."
Oh, my friends, if the combined mis-
fortunes and disasters of life have
made you climb up into the arms of
sympathetic and compassionate God,
through all eternity you will bless
him that in this world there was a
sharp rock on the one side, and a
sharp rock on the other side"
Again, that man is in the crisis of
the text who has home troubles and
outside persecution at the same time.
The world treats a man well just as
long as it pays to treat him well. As
long as it can manufacture success out
of his bone and brain and muscle, it
favors him. The world fattens the
horse it wants to drive. Brt let man
see it his duty to cross the track of
the world, then every bush is full of
thorns and tusks thrust at him. They
will belittle him. They will caricature
him. They will call his generosity
self-aggrandizement and his piety
sanctimoniousness. The very worst
persecution will sometimes come upon
him from those who profess to be
| Christians.
John Milton-great and good John
Milton-so far forgot himself as to
pray, in so many words, that his enc
mics might be eternally thrown down
into the darkest and deepest gulf OF
hell, and be the undermost and most
detected, and the lowest down vassals
of perdition! And Martin Luther sc
far forgot himself as to say, in regard
to his theological opponents: Put
them in whatever sauce you please
roasted, or fried, or baked, or stewed
or boiled, or hashed, they are nothing
but asses!' All, my friends, if Johr
Milton or Martin Luther could come
down to such scurrility, what may yor
not expect from less elevated oppon
ents? Now sometimes the world take!
after them; the newspapers take after
them; public opinion takes after
them; and the unfortunate man il
lied about until all the dictionary O.
Billingsgate is exhausted on him. Yor
often see a man whom you know t.
be good and pure and honest, set upor
by the world, and mauled by whole
communities, while vicious men TAKE
on supercilious air in condemnation
of him; as though Lord Jetfreys should
write an essay on gentleness, or Henry
VIII. talk about purity, or King Herot
take to blessing little children.
Now, a certain amount of persecu
ton rouses mans defiance, stirs hi
blood for magnificent battle, ant
makes him fifty times more man thai
he would have been without the perse
cution. So it was with the great Re
former when he said, 81 will not b,
put down; l will be heard" And 81
it was with Millard, the preacher, il
the time of Louis XI. When Louis XI
sent word to him That unless HI
stopped preaching in that style HI
would throw him into the river, he re
piled, Tell the King that l will reacl
Heaven sooner by water than he will
reach it by fast horses" A certain
amount of persecution is tonic ant
inspiration, but too much of it, and to-
long continued, becomes the rocl
Bozez throwing a dark shadow owe
a mans life. What is he to do then
Go home, you say. Good advice, that
That is just the place for man to g.
when the world abuses him.
Go home. Blessed be God for on
quiet and sympathetic homes! Blu
there is many man who has the repu
tation of having a home when he ha
none. Through unthinkingness o
precipitation there are many matche
made that ought never to have beel
made. An officiating priest canno
alone unite a couple. The Lord Al
mighty must proclaim banns. There ar
many homes in which there is no sym
pathy, and no happiness, and no goo
cheer. The clamor of the battle ma
not have been heard outside; but Go
knows, Notwithstanding all the play
ing of the Wedding March," and a
the odor of the orange blossoms, an
the benediction of the officiating pas
tor, there has been no marriage. S
sometimes men have awakened to fin
on one side of them the rock of perse
L IL & All,r