The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1901-03-16


;hen. while | discourse of the ministry
of tears or the practical use of sorrow:
First. it is the design of trouble to
keep this world from being TOO at
tractive. Something must be done 10
make US willing TO quit this existence.
If it were not for trouble, this would
be a good enough Heaven for US. You
and l would be willing to take lease
of this life for a hundred million years
if there were no trouble. The earth.
cushioned and upholstered and pill
Jared and chandeliered a such expense,
no story of other worlds could enchant
US. We would say; Let well enough
alone. If you want to die and have
your body disintegrated in he dust and
your soul 90 out on celestial adven-
ture, then you can go, but this world
is good enough for me-" You might as
wei! go to a man who has just entered
the Louvre at Paris and tell him TO
hasten off to the picture galleries OF
Venice or Florence. why" he would
say what is the use of my going
there? There are Rembrandts and Ru-
benses and Tiuans here that have not
looked at yet" No man wants to 90
! out of this world or out of any house
until he has better house.
To cure this wish to stay here God
] must somehow create disgust for our
surroundings. How shall He Go it.?
he cannot afford to efTace His horizon
or to tear off a fiery panel from The
sunset or to subtract an anther from
the water lily or to Danish the pungeut
aroma from the mignonette or 10 drag
the robes OF the morning in mire. You
cannot expect a Christopher Wren to
mar his own St. Paul's cathedral or a
Michael Angelo TO dash out his own
Last Judgment" or a Handel 10 dis
cord his Israel in Egypt" and you can
not expect God TO spoil the architecture
and music OF His own world. How
then, are We 10 be made willing ia
leave? Here is where trouble comes in
After man has had a good deai Of
trouble he says: 'Well, | am ready to
go. If there is a house somewhere
whose roof does not leak. l would like
to live there. If there is an atmosphere
somewhere that does not distress the
lungs. l would like to breathe it. i
there is a society somewhere where
there is no title tattle. would like Il
live there. Ifthere is a home circle some
where where l can find my lost friends
l would like to GO there lie used tt
read the first part of the Bible chiefly
5 now he reads the last part of the Binl
| chiefly. Why has he changed Genesi
' Z 10 A \ J, -
ous chiefly to know how this world wa
: made and all about its geological con
struction. Now he is chiefly anxious I,
: know how the next world was mad
and how it looks and who live there ani
how they dress. He reads Revelation
: ten times now where he reads Genesi
| once. The old story. "In the beginning
: God created the heavens and tn,
| earth" does not thrill him half as mucl
, as the other story, Il saw a new HeaveI
and a new earth" The old mans hant
trembles as he turns over this apoc
, alyptical leaf, and he has to take ou
his handkerchief TO wipe his spectacles
: That book OF Revelation is prospectu
now of the country into which he j
soon to immigrate; the country il
which he has lots already laid out an,
: avenues opened and mansions built.
Again, it is the use of trouble T.
capacitate us for the office of sym
pathy. The priests, under the oIc
) dispensation, were set apart by hav
ing water sprinkled upon their hands
| feet and head, and by the sprinklin!
of tears people are now set apart t,
the office of sympathy. When w,
: are in prosperity, we like to have
great many young people around us
J and we laugh when they laugh, anC
we romp when they romp, and w,
! sing when they sing, but when W,
, have trouble we like plenty of OLE
folks around. Why? They know how
to talk. Take an aged mother, q
years of age, and she is almost ON
: nipotent in comfort. Why? She hai
, been through it all. At seven o'clocl
, in the morning she goes over to com
, fort a young mother who has jus
| lost her babe. Grandmother knows
all about that trouble. Fifty year
, ago she felt it. At 12 o'clock of tina
day she goes over to comfort a wild
l owed soul. She knows all about that
| She has been walking in that darl
, valley 20 years. At four o'clock il
the afternoon some one knocks a
| the door, wanting bread. She know
, all about that. Two or three time
! in her life she came to her last loai
At ten o'clock at night she goes owe
? to sit up with some one severely sick
t She knows all about it. She know
: all about fevers and pleurisies an
S broken bones. She has been doc
toring all her life, spreading plastic
= and pouring out bitter drops an
= shaking up hot pillows and contriy
! ing things to tempt a poor appetite
J Drs. Abernethy and Rush and Hosac
1 and Harvey were great doctors, bu
a the greatest doctor the world eve
saw is an old Christian woman. Dea
5 me! Do we not remember her abou
, the room when we were sick in on
! boyhood? Was there anyone VIII
= could ever so touch n sore withou
S hurting it? And when she lifted he
] spectacles against her wrinkled for,
r head so she could look closer at til
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