The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-09-10

and evening shadow. Praise him for
fresh, cool water bubbling from the rock,
leaping in the cascade, soaring in the
mist, falling in the shower, dashing
against the rock and clapping its hands
in the tempest. Love him for the grass
that cushions the earth and the clouds that
curtain the sky and the foliage that
waves in the forest. Thank him for a
Bible to read and a Saviour to deliver.
Work of Self Examination.
Many Christians think it a bad sign TO
be jubilant, and their work Of self exam
ination is q hewing down Of their bright
er experiences. Like a boy with a new
jackknife, hacking everything he comes
across, so their self examination is a reli-
gious cutting TO pieces of the greenest
things they can lay their hands on. They
imagine they are doing Gods service
when they are going about borrowing
trouble, and borrowing it at 80 per cent,
which is always a sure precursor Of bank
ruptcy.
Again, the habit of borrowing trouble
is wrong because the present is sufh-
GENTLY 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. Alas for the pol
icy of gathering it all up for one day or
year, Cruel thing to put upon the back
of one camel all the cargo intended for
the entire caravan. / never look at my
memorandum book to see what engage
ments and duties are far ahead. Let ev-
cry week bear its own burdens. The
shadows Of today are thick enough. Why
implore the presence of other shadows?
The cup is already distasteful. Why
halloo to disasters far distant to come
and wiring ont more gall in the bitter
ness? Are we such champions that, hav-
ing won the belt in former encounters,
we can go forth to challenge all the fu-
ture?
Here are business men just able to
manage affairs as they now are. They
can pay their rent and meet their notes
and manage affairs as they now are, but
how If a panic should come and my in
vestments should fail? Go tomorrow and
write on your daybook or On you ledger,
on your money safe, Sufficient unto the
day is the evil thereof" Do not worry
about notes that are far from due. Do
not pile up on your counting desk the
financial anXieties of the next 20 years.
| The God who has taken care Of your
worldly occupation, guarding your store
| from the torch of the incendiary and the
key of the burglar, will be as faithful in
1910 as in 1901. Gods hand is mightier
than the Vaccinations of stock gamblers
or the plots of political d~emagogues or
| the red right arm of revolution, and the
| darkness will fly and the storm fall dead
at his feet.
So there are persons in feeble health,
and they are worried about the future.
! They make out very well now, but they
are bOthcTing themselves about future
plcurisies and r~heu:Eatis-ns and neural
gias and fevers. Their eyesicht is feeble,
and they are worried lest they entirely
lose it. Their hearing is indistinct, and
they are alarmed ir.s they become en-
T. ti-cly deaf. They -: cniIly toLay ard
are expecting Pr attack OF typhoid. They
|, ave been troubled for weeks with some
p~erp.exing malady and dread becoming
lifelong invalids. Take care of your
health now and trust God for the future.
BE not guilty of the b~lasphemy of asking
him to a care of you while you sleep
with your windows tight down or eat
chicken salad at IL O'Clock at night or
sit down on a cake of ice to cool off. Be
prudent, and then be confident. Some of
the sickest people have been the most
/, useful. 1t was so with Payson, who died
deaths daily, and Robert Hall, who used
to stop in the mids of his sermon and lie
down on the pulpit sofa to rest and then
go on again. Theodore Frelinghuysen
had a great horror of dying till the time
came and then went peacefully. Take
care of the present, and let the future
look out for itself. "Suficient unto the
day is the evil thereof"
Borrowing Misfortune.
Again, the habit of borrowing misfor.
tune is wrong because it units us for ii
when it actually does come. We cannot
always have smooth sailing. LIES path
will sometimes tumble among declivities
and mount a steep and be thorn pierced.
Judas will kiss our cheek and then sell us
for 80 pieces of silver. Human scorn will
try to cruelty us between two thieves.
We will hear the iron gate of the sepul.
cher creak and grind as it shuts in our
kindred. But we cannot get ready fol-
these things by forebodings. They who
fight imaginary woes will come out OF
breath into conflict with the armed dis
asters of the future. Their ammunition
will have been wasted long before they
come under the guns of real misfortune
Boys in attempting to jump a wall some.
times go SC far back in order to get i'm
petus that when they come up they are
exhausted. and these long races in order
to get spring enough to vault trouble
bring US up at last to the dreadful reali.
ty with our strength gone.
Finally. the habi of borrowing trouble
is wrong because it is unbelief. God has
promised to take care of US. The Bib.e
blooms with assurances. Your hunger
will be fed; your sickness will be allevi,
ated; your SORROWS will De healed. God
will sandal your feet and smooth your
path, and along by frowning crag and
opening grave sound the voices Of victo-
ry and good cheer. The summer clouds
hat seem thunder charged really carry
in their bosom harvests of wheat and
shocks of corn and vineyards purpling
for the winepress. The wrathful wave
will kiss the feet Of the great Storm
Walker. Dur great Joshua will com
mand, and above your soul the sun of
prosperity will stand still. Bleak and
wave struck Patmos shall have apocalyp.
tic vision, and you shall hear the cry OF
elders and the sweep Of wings and trum.
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