Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1901-09-13
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allowing forebodings TO influence us
and how expectation OF evil weakens
and destroys; text. Matthew vi, "a,
Sufficient unto the day is the evil
thereof"
The life of every man. woman and
child is as closely under the divine
care as though such person were the
only man, woman or child. There are
no accidents AS there is a law OF
storms in the natural world SO there
Is n law of trouble. law OF disaster.
law OF misfortune but the majority
of the troubles of life are imaginary,
and the most of those anticipated new
er come. At any rate. there is no cause
of complaint against God See how
much he has done 10 make you happy
his sunshine filing tie earth with glo-
ry, making rainbow for the storm and
halo for the mc0ntain, greenness for
the moss. ssGrCa for the cloud and
crystal for the biaov and procession of
hammered Fame through the opening
gates of the morning, chatiinches to
sing. rivers 10 glitter. seas TO chant
and springs to blossom and overpow-
cring all other sounds with its song
and overarching all other splendor with
its triumph. covering up all other beau
" with its garlands and publishing all
other thrones with its dominion-deliv-
erance for n lost world through the
Great RedeemCr.
I discourse Of the sin of borrowing
trouble.
First, such q habit OF mind and heart
is wrong because it puts one into a
dependency that i'll Cts him for duty.
L planted two rosebushes in my gar
den. The one thriyed beautifully; the
other persisted. I found the dead one
on the shady side Of the house. Our
dispositions. like our plants, need sun
shine. Expectancy of repulse is the
cause of many secular and religious
failures Fear of bankruptcy has up
torn many a fine business and sent the
man lodging among the note shavers.
Fear of SANDER and abuse has often
invited all the long beaked vultures OF
scorn and backbiting. Many of the
misfortunes of life. like hyenas, fee if
you courageously meet them.
Evils of Brooding.
How poorly prepared for religious
duty Is a man who sits down under the
gloem OF expected misfortunel IL he
prays, he says, 81 do not think 1 shall
be answered" II he gives, he says, 81
expect they will steal the money"
Helen Chalmers told me that her IA
Their, Thomas Chalmers, in the darkest
hour Of the history Of the Free Church
OF Scotland and when the woes OF the
land seemed TO weigh upon his heart
said to his children, Come. let us so
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 Sum-
merfelds of the church who did the
most good toiled In the sunlight. Away
with the horrorsl They distil poison.
They dig graves, and il they could
climb 80 high they would drown the re-
joicings of heaven with sobs and wall
ing.
You will have nothing but misfor-
tune in the future II you sedulously
watch for II. How shall a man catch
the right kind OF fish IL 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 redbreasts,
and you will find robin redhreasts.
One night an eagle and an owl got
into fierce battle. The eagle, unused
10 the night. was no match for the owl.
which is most ut home In the darkness,
and the king of the air fell helpless,
but the morning rose, and with it rose
the eagle, and the owls and the night
hawks and the bats came n second
time TO the combat. Now. the eagle in
the sunlight, with stroke of his tai
ons and great cry, cleared the air,
and his enemies. with torn feathers
and splashed with blood. tumbled into
the thickets. Ye are the children Of
light. In the night OF dependency
you viii 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"
Do Not Borrow Trouble.
Again, the habit of borrowing trouble
Is wrong. because it has n tendency to
make Us overlook present blessing.
To Stake mans thirst the rock is cleft,
and cool waters leap into his trimming
cup. To feed his hunger the fields bow
down with bending wheat, and the cat,
tie come down from the clover pastures
to give him milk, and the orchards yell
low and rlpen, casting their juicy fruits
INTO his lap. Alas, that amid such ex-
uberance OF blessing man should growl
as though he were soldier on half ra
tions or sailor on short allowance;
that NAV should stand neck deep in
harvests looking forward to famine;
that one should feel the strong pulses
of health marching with regular tread
through all the avenues of life and yet
trenlble at the expected assault OF sick
ness: that man should sit In his pleas
ant honle. fearful that ruthless want
will some day rattle the broken win
dow sash with tempest and sweep the
Goals from The hearth and pour hunger
into the bread tray; that a man fed by
him who cwps all the harvests should
expect 10 Stare; that one whom God
loves and surrounds with benedlction
and attends with angelic escort and
hovers over with more than motherly
fondncss should be looking for a her.
-.aSe or tears! Has God been hard
with thee that thou shouldst be fore
bodiEg? 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 wreck
ed thee with storm and thundered up-
on thee with life fun OF calamity?
If your 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 eye on him, for you do
not know his designs So some men
treat God not as a father. but n
stranger and act suspiciously toward
him. 1t is high time you began to
thank God for present blessing; thank
him for your children. happy, buoyant
and bounding; praise him for your
home, with its fountain of song and
laughter; adore him for morning light
and evening shadow. nraiSa hin, for