The age-herald., 1901-04-15
TIE LIMITATIONS IF LEES PATHWAY Eloquent Sermon by Rev. A. B.
 Curry AT FIRST PRESBYTERIAN Text From Lam. s:s: "He Hath En. closed My Ways With Hewn
 stone"-stones We En.
 counter in Life
AT FIRST PRESBYTERIAN

At the First Presbyterian Church yes terday, Dr. A. B. Curry preached a strong and eloquent sermon. his text being from Lam. III:9-"He hath enclosed my ways with hewn stone"
 These are the words" said pr. Curry. "of soul in deep trouble His country had been devastated by an invading ene- my. his city destroyed his home rased to the ground his people slain or carried in- to captivity, and the future to him was unknown and uncertain. and 1t Is out of these depths he cries: He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stones
 Many are the sorrowful hearts in this world, for man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward There may be some before me today struggling with a great grief, walking under the. shadow of a sore trouble. The happiest of us may one day find ourselves In distress. There Is comfort for us in the words of the ancient Hebrew Seer: He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stones. In studying these words. three thoughts engage us.
 .'The pathway of our life Is often shut in Some understand the prophet to mean that a wall was built across his pathway; but the primary idea of the word in the original is given In our text: He hath in- closed my way The imagery of the prophet is probably that of pathway with wall erected on either side. so that one must walk between the walls. It Is an apt representation of the experience of many. We do not go far on our earthly pilgrimage before we find that life has It's limitations. We cannot always have things just as we want them: we cannot go just where we please. We are com- pelled by circumstances over which we have not control to walk a certain path. and often 1t seems to us all too narrow path. various are the stones of the walls that hedge us in, for example: spell of illness or chronic invalidism.
 "A letter sometime ago from friend in the prime of life in the midst of great use- fulness said: My health Is gone; the doc tors tell me have an incurable disease must now lay down my work and await the end.' He wanted to work as much as ever, but a stone wall prevented. My nearer, have you not felt your spirit often soar beyond the limits of your body's power to follow? Your way was inclosed by your physical limitations.
 Poverty Is Stone.
 Poverty is another stone in the wall that sometimes keeps in. What far-reach- ing. useful plans we make for needy hu- manity if only we had the wealth to car- ry them out. What could we not do if we were all Carnegies? How quickly the church building of our brethren de- molished by the tornado would be re- built! How rapidly would rise the walls of a church college, of the Hillman Hospital, of suitable Y. M. c. A. rooms, and of Kindergarten building But we are not Andrew Carnegies some of us are far from it; our life is walled up here, and we tread a narrow pathway.
 "Our environment frequently furnishes other stones for the walls that inc1ose our way; the conditions In our homes, the need of those we love, the social station the business sphere in which we are placed, all these seem sometimes to in close and limit our pathway.
 "The danger is that we chafe under these restrictions and rebel against them. The time of trouble is time of tempta- tion. When Phareoh saw Israel entan- gled. hedged in by the mountains and the sea he set upon them: and when the ene- my of sauls sees men enmasked in trou- ble he thinks it favorable time for at- tack And so we need the second thought of our text, viz: It is God who thus in- closes our lives.
 Ut is not chance, nor simply the result of natural causes, but God does 1t. He hath enclosed my ways with hewn walls those made of rude, unsnapened stones, loosely thrown together without mortar, and those made of carefully hewn, chiseled stones, firmly set in nor tar, evidencing plan. care, thought. labor. He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stones. My way therefore is the object of Gods plan and care and special thought. It may seem to me sometimes strange way, very different from what would choose for myself. Like Jeremiah, I may feel constrained to say: He hath made my paths crooked No wonder Jeremiah said this; called to the pho- phetic office as youth he had we'll nigh fruitless ministry: his message was unheeded; he was persecuted, imprisoned, and ls it desolate with a hidden future before hlm. He thought his path indeed a crooked one. But 1t was Gods path for Jeremiah So your way. may seem strange and tortuous but if you have yielded your life to Gods control, 1t is Gods way for you. Follow it bravely, cheerfully, unfaultedingly; 1t will come out all right in the end; it will lead you to the paradise of God. This brings us to the last thought.
 1t Is Gods Purpose.
 Gods purpose in inclosing our ways. We may be sure it is wise and loving glorified through us Wonder is a poor, blind man, born blind, a beggar, shut in to darkness and helplessness, burden to his friends Why is this? men ask; and the great Teacher answers: That the works of God should be made manifest in him:' and He took him and healed him, and the blind beggar, no longer blind, became Gods witness to this day of the messiahship of Jesus. My nearer, God may have shut you in that the works of God should be manifest in you
 Then it Is for our good. If he hampers the flesh, 1t Is that the spirit may rise; if he walls up our way 1t Is that we may not wander into the many by-paths that Iood nd nj