The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-03-22

we are in prosperity, we like TO have q
great many young people around US, and
we laugh when they laugh, and we romp
when they romp. and we sing when they
sing, but when we have trouble we Ike
plenty Of old folks around. Why? They
know how to talk. Take an aged moth
er, 20 years of age, and she is almost ON
nipotent in comfort. Why? She has
been through it all. At Z o'clock in the
morning she goes over to comfort q
young mother who has just lost her babe.
Grandmother knows all about that trou-
bic. Fifty years ago she felt it. At II
o'clock of that day she goes over to com
fort a widowed soul She knows all
about that. She has been walking in
that lark valley 20 years. At 4 O'Clock
In the afternoon some q knocks at the
door, wanting bread. She knows all
about that. Two or three times in her
life she came to her last loaf. At 10
o'clock that night she goes over to sit up
with some one severely sick. She knows
all about il, She knows all about fevers
and pleurisies and broken bones. She
has been doctoring all her life, spreading
p~lasters and pouring out bitter drops and
shaking up hot pillows and continuing
things to tempt a poor appetite. Drs.
Ia AkoSh ~ A4OSdIh anu
Harvey were great doctors, but the
greatest doctor the world ever saw Is an
old Christian woman. Dear me! Do we
not remember her about the room when
we were sick in our boyhood? Was
there any one who could ever so touch a
sore without hurting it? And when she
lifted her spectacles against her wrin-
Killed. forehead SO she could look closer at
the wound it was three-fourths healed.
And When the Lord took her home, al
though you may have been men and wo-
men 80, 40, 80 years of age, you lay on
the coffin lid and sobbed as though you
were only 3 or 10 years of age.
Where did Paul get the ink with which
to write his comforting epistles? Where
did David get the ink to write his COM
forting psalms? Where did John get
he ink to write his comforting Revela-
ton? They got it out of their own tears.
When a man has gone through the cur
riculum and has taken q course of dun
geons and i~mprisonments, he is qualified
for the work of sympathy.
The UnfaiIing Remedy.
I am an herb doctor. 1 put into the
caldron the root out of dry ground, with
out form or comeliness. Then l put in
the rose of sharon and the lily Of the
valley. Then l put into the caldron some
of the leaves from the tree of life and
the branch that was thrown into the
wilderness Marah. Then 1 pour in
the tears of Bethany and Golgotha. Then
l stir them up. Then l kindle' under the
caldron a fire made out of the wood Of
the cross, and one drop of that potion
will cure the worst sickness that ever af-
flicted a human soul. Mary and Martha
shall receive their Lazarus from the
tomb. The damsel shall rise. And on
the darkness shall break the morning,
and God will wipe away all tears from
their eyes,.
Your troubles are educational. l 20
into the Office of a l%apidary, an a~rtificer
in precious stones, and / see him at work
on one precious stone for a few minutes.
and he puts it aside finished. 1 see him
take up another precious stone, and he
works on that all the afternoon, and l
come in the next day and still find him
working on it, and he is at work ON it all
the week. l say to him, "Why did you
put only 20 minutes work on that one
precious stone and put a whole week on
this other?" "Oh," he says, "that one
upon which I put only 20 minutes work
is of but little worth, and l soon got
through with it. But this precious stone
upon which I have put such prolonged
and careful work is of vast value, and it
is to flash in a kings ~coronet." So God
lets one man go through life with only a
little cutting Of misfortune, for he does
not amount to much; he is a small soul
and of comparatively little value. But
this other soul is of great worth, and it is
cut of pain and cut of bereavement and
cut of persecution and cut Of all kinds Of
trouble and through many years., and |
ask, Dear Lord, why all this prolonged
and severe process?" And God says:
''This soul is of infinite value. and it is
to fash in a kings coronet. He shall be
mine in the day when / make up my jew
els"
You know on a well spread table the
food becomes more delicate at the last.
I have fed you today with the bread of
consolation. Let the table now be clear
ed and let us set on the chalice of heav-
en-. Let the Kings cupbearers come in.
"Oh." says some critic in the audience.
'the Bible contradicts itself. It init
mates again and again that there are TO
be no tears n hea~en. and if there be no
tears in ke2~cT how is it possible that
Col will wipe any away" / answer,
"Have you never 81 u q child crying one
moment AMI I:rc,.ilc the next. and
while she was laughing you saw the
tears still on her face?' And perhaps
you stopped lar in the very midst Of her
resumed glee az wiped off those delayed
tears. So | think after the heavenly
raptures nave come upon us there may
be the mark Of some earthly grief, an
while these tears are glittering in tie
light of the jasper sea God will wipe
them away. How we'll he can do that,
The Sympathy of Jesus.
Jesus had enough trial to make him
sympathetic with all trial. The shortest
verse in the Bible tells the story, Jesus
wept." The scar on the back of his Ell
Their hand, the scar on the arch Of either
foot, the row Of scars along the line Of
the hair, will keep all heaven thinking.
Oh, that Great Weeper Is just the one TO
silence all earthly trouble, wipe out all
stains of earthly grief! Gentle! Why,
his step is softer than the step Of the
dew. 1t will not be a tyrant bidding you
hush your crying. 1t viii be a father
who will take you on his left arm, his
face beaming into yours, while with the