Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1901-09-19
BORROWING TROUBLE
DR.. TALMA6E'S SUNDAY SERMON.
A Sin That Units rlany Persons For
The Ordinary Duties of Life Not
Niece Ssify
Copyright 1901. !

| copyright 1901
| WASHINGTON, D. Gin this discourse
forebodings to influence US and how ex-
| pectation of evil weakens and destroys;
| text, Matthew Vi, 81 Sufficient unto the
day is the evil thereof"
| The life OF every man. woman and chi.d
| is as closely under the divine care as
though such person we're the only man,
| woman or child. There are no accidents.
As there is a law of storms in the natural
| world, so there is a law OF trouble, law
| of disaster. a law of misfortune, but the
| majority of the troubles of life mag
| mary, and the most of those anticipated
| never come. At any rate. there Is no
cause of complaint against God. See how
| much He has done to make You happy
His sunshine filling the earth with glory,
| making rainbow for the storm and halo
| for the mountain. greenness for the moss,
saffron for the cloud and crystal for the
| bllow and procession of hammered flame
through the opening gates Of the morning,
| chaffincnes to sing, rivers to glitter, sea 5
| to chant and springs to blossom and over
towering all other sounds with its song
and over-reaching all other splendOr with
| it's triumph, covering up all other beauty
with it's garands and outhashing all other
| thrones with its dominlon-deliveranc
for lost world through the Great Re
| deemer.
I discourse OF the sin OF borrowing
trouble
First such a habit of mind and heart
is wrong because it puts one into a de-
spondency that i'll fits him for duty. /
planted two rose bushes in my garden.
| The one thrived beautifully; the other
persisted. ] found the dead one on the
shady side OF the house. Our dispositions,
| like our plants. need sunshine. EXpec-
fancy of repulse is the cause of many sec
ular and religious failures. Fear Of bank
ruptcy has uptorn many n fine business
aud sent the man lodging among the note
shavers. Fear of SANDER and abuse has
often invited the long -beaked vultures of
scorn and backbting. Many of the mis-
| fortunes of life. like hycnas, flee if you
courageous.y meet them.
How poorly prepared for religious duty
Is man who sits down under the gloom
| of expected msfortune! if he prays, he
says. Il do not think l snail be an
swered." If he gives, he saws, Il expect
| they will steal the money" Helen CHAIN
ers told me that her father, Thomas
Chalmers, in the darkest hour of the
Free Church of Scotland and when the
his heart. said to his children, Come, let
US go out and play ball or fly kite" and
| the only difficulty in the play was that
the children could not keep up with their
father. The McCheynes and the Summer
fields of the church who did the most
| ROOO JOllPU III inc sunlight. AWAY WITH
| the horrors. They distil poison. They
dig graves. and if they could climb so high
they would drown the rejoicings of heaven
with sobs and waling.
Yon will have nothing but misfortune
| in the future if you sedulOusy watch for
it. How shall man catch the right kind
of fish if he arranges line and hook and
bait to catch lizards and water serpents!
Hunt for bats and hawks, and bats and
hawks You will find. Hunt for robin red
breasts, and You will find robin red
breasts. One night an eagle and an owl
got into fierce battle. The eagle, unused
| to the night. was no match for the owl,
which is most at home in the darkness,
and the king OF the air fell helpless, bat
the morning rose. and with it rose the
eagle, and the owls and the nighthawks
| and the bats came a second time to the
combat. Now, the eagle in the sunlight,
with stroke of his talons and a great cry
torn feathers and splashed with blood,
tumbled into the thickets. Ye are the
children of light In the night Of despond-
ency you will have no chance against
your enemies that flock UP from beneath,
but trusting in God and standing in the
| sunshine of the promises YOU shall renew
Your youth like the eagle
Again. the habit Of borrowing trouble
is wrong, because it has tendency to
make us overlook present blessing. To
sake mans thirst the rock Is cleft, and
| cool water leap into his trimming cup.
To feed his hunger the fields bow down
with bending wheat. aud the cattle come
down from the clover pastures to give
him milk. and the orchards yellow and
rpen, casting their juicy fruits into his
lap Alas, that amid such eXu5erance of
blessing man should crowl az though he
were y soldier on half rations or n sailor
! on short allowance; that a man shonid
stand neck deep in harvests looking for
ward to famine: that one should feel the
strong pulses OF health marching with reg
uiar tread all the avenues of life and vet
| tremble at the expected assault OF sick
ness; that man should sit III his y 'easant
| home, fearful that ruthless want will some
day rattle the broken window sash with
| tempest and sweep the Goals from the
| hearth and pour hunger into the bread
! tray that man fed by Him who owns
| all the harvests should expect to starvc;
| that one whom God loves and surrounds
with henediction and attends with angelic
| escort and hovers over with more than
| mOthery fondness should be looking for
| a heritage of tears. Has God been hard
with thee that thou shouldst be forebod-
! ing? Has He stinted thy board? Has He
! covered thee with rags? Has He spread
traps for thy feet and CALLED thy cup and
rasped thy soul and wrecked thee with
storm and Numbered upon thee with a
| life full Of calamity?
! If vour father or brother come into your
| bank where gold and silver are lying
| about. YOU do not watch them, for YOU
know they are honest, but If an entire
, stranger come by the safe you keep your
! eve on him, for you do not know his de-
signs SO some men treat God not as a
| father, but a stranger. and act susp!-
| cIousty toward Him. 1t l. high time yoI
hegan to thank God for present blessing;
| Thank Him for Your children. happy buoy
! ant and bounding: praise Inn for Your
home, with its fountain Of song and
| laughter: adore Him Tor morning light
| and evening shadow; praise Him for fresh,
| cool water bubb'ing from the rock, leap
| ing in the cascade. soaring in the mist,
falling il the shower, dashing against the
| rocks and c,apping its hands in the tenn
| pest love Him for the grass that cushions
| the earth and the Clouds that curtain the
| sky and the foliage that waves III the for
| est: thank Him for a Bible to read and
| Saviour to deliver
Many Christians think it bad sign to
be iubilant, and their work OF self-eEam-
| ination is hewing down OF their brighter
experiences. Like boy with a new jack
knife hacking everything he comes across,
| SO their determination is a religious
cutting to pieces OF the GreeneSt thin~s
| they can lay their hands on. They i'm
aglne they are doing Gods service when
| they are going about borrowing trouble
ana oorFo"l"S II at thirty per cent,
| which is always sure precursor of bank
ruptcy.
Again. the habit of borrowing trouble
! is wrong because the present is sufficiently
! taxed with trial God sees that we all
need a certain amount of trouble, and So
| He apportions it for all the days and years
| of our life. A,as for the policy of gather
ing it all up for one day OF year! Cruel
| thing to put upon the back of one camel
| all the cargo intended for the entire cara
van. l never look at my memorandum
book to see what engagements and duties
are far ahead. Let every week bear its
own burdens. The shadows or to-day are
| thick enough. Why lmp.ore the presence
of other shadows: The cup is already dis
| tasteful. Why halloo to disasters far dis
tant to come and wiring out more gall in
the bitterness? Are we such champions
that, having won the belt in former en-
! counters, we can go forth to challenge all