Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1898-12-21
SERMONS OF THE DAY
suf, -, slife's Minor Chord'-Trials and
sSalations Are Necessary For the
Proper Developments of Character
Mans Compensation For Suffering.

suf, -, slife's Minor Chord'-Trials and
sFSalations Are Necessary For the
Proper Development of Character
Mans Compensation For Suffering.
TEXT: ''I will open my dark saying upon
the harp."-Psalm Xix, 4.
The world Is full OF the inexplicable, the
impossible, the unfathomable, the fnsur-
mountable. We cannot go three steps in
any direction without coming up against a
hard wall of mystery. riddles. paradoxes,
profundities, labyrinths; problems that we
cannot solve, hierogiyphics that we cannot
decipher, anagrams we cannot spell our,
sphinxes that will not speak. For that
reason David In my text proposed to take
M some of these somber and dark things
and try to set them to sweet music. II
will open my dark sayings on harp"
SO look of upon society and find people
in unhappy conjunction OF circumstances.
and they do not know what 1t means, and
thev have right to ask Why Is this? Why
is that? and think will be doing n good
work by trying to explain some OF these
strange things and make you more content
with your lot, and I shall only be answer
Ing questions thar have often been asked
me- or that we have all asked ourselves,
while try to set these mysteries to music
and open nv dark savings on harp.
Interrogation the first: Why does God
take out OF this world those who are use-
ful and whom we cannot spare and leave
alive and In good health so manv who are
- nuisance to the world? though1
would begin with the very toughest OF air
the seeming fnscrutables. Many OF the
most useful men and women die at thirty
or forty years Of age, while you often find
useless people alive at sixty and seventy
and eighty. John Careless wrote to Brad
ford. who was soon to be put to death,
saving: why doth God suffer me and such
other caterpilllars to live, that can do
nothing but consume the aims OF the
churcb, and take away SO many
worthy workmen in the Lords vine
yari?" Similar questions are often
asked. Here are two men. The one is a
noble character and Christian man.
He chooses for lifetime ompanion one
who has been tenderly reared. and she
Is worthy OF him and he Is worthy of her.
As merchant or farmer or professional man
or mechanic artiec he tolls to educate
and rear his children. He Is succeeding,
but he has not vet established for his family
full competency. He seems indispensable
to that household; but one day, before he
has paid of the mortgage on his house. he
Is coming home through n strong north
east wind and chill strikes through
hiT and four days of pneumonia end
his earthly career, and the wife and
children go into struggle for shelter
and food. His next door nefghbor Is
man who though strong and well, lets his
wife support him. He is around at the
grocery store or some generai ioailnS pidce
IN the evenings while his wife sews. His
bows are initiating his example, and lounge
and swagger and swear. All the use that
man is Ia that house is to rave because the
coffee is cold when he comes to late
breakfast, or to say cutting things about
his wife's looks. when he furnishes nothing
I tor her wardrobe. The best thing that
could happen to that family would be that
mans funeral, but ne declines to die. He
, and on and on. So we have all
mas c"eo.~- Of the useful are early
,or OF the Great W t. have great Vita