The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-04-30

4 ttE bIk ~ kccOul3luk WOIk Vi k4E
church and the world No lack Of briga-
der generals or master builders or engi-
neers for bridging Niagaras or tunneling
Rocky mountains. For every big enter
prise of the world a dozen candidates.
What we want is private soldiers in the
common ranks, masons not ashamed to
wield a trowel, candidates for ordinary
work to be don in ordinary ways in or
binary places. Right where we are there
is something that God would have US do.
Let us do it, though it may seem to be as
u~nimportant as the rolling OF a grain Of
corn into an ant hill
Furthermore, go TO the ant and on
slider its indefatigableness. IL by the &C
cidental stroke of your foot or the re-
moval Of a timber the cities of the in
sectile world are destroyed, instantly they
go TO rebuilding. They do not sit around
moping. AT it again in a second. Their
fright Immediately gives way TO their
industry. And if our schemes Of useful
ness and our plans OF work fail, why sit
down in encouragement? As large ant
hills as have ever been constructed will
be constructed again. Put your trust in
God and do your duty, and your best
days are yet to come. You have never
heard such songs as you will yet hear,
nor have you ever lived in such grand
abode as you will yet occupy, and all the
worldly treasures you have lost are moth
ing compared with the opulence that
you will yet own. If you love and trust
the Lord, Paul looks you in the face and
then waves his hand toward a heaven
full of palaces and thrones, saying, "All
are yours" So that What you fail to
get in this present life you will get in the
coming life. Go to work right away and
rebuild as well as you can, knowing that
what the trowels Of earthly industry fail
to rear the scepters of heavenly reward
will more than make up. Persistence is
the lesson of every ant hill. Waste not a
moment in useless regrets or unhealthy
~repining. Men fret themselves down.
but no man ever yet fretted himself up.
Make the obstacles in your way your CO.
adjutors. as all those have who have &C
complished anything worth accomplish
ment.
John Philpot Curran. master Of the
rolls in Ireland. at his first attempt in
court stammered and sat down in con-
fusion and for that stammering was
derisively called Suffering Jack Cur
ran" and because of his failure in speech
was sneered at as Orator Num-" But
uc went lO "OEh duu COuQucISN LIS
and then conquered courtrooms and great
~assemblages whom he thrilled with his
eloquence. So instead of running against
obstacles as against a stone wall he plac-
ed them aslant like steps on which to
mount. Put your trust in God and moth
ing can stand before you. Rittenhouse,
the astronomer, at the start was so poor
that he figured out eclipses on a plow
handle.
Imparts Useful Lessons.
Furthermore, 60 to the ant and consid-
er that if God honors an insect by max
ing it our instructor in important les
sons we ought not to abuse the lower Or
J ders Of creation. 1t has been found by
scientists that insects trans6xed in the
case of a museum have been alive and in
torture for years. How much the insect
and the fowl and the brute may be right
ly called to suffer for the advancement of
human knowledge mi the betterment OF
the condition of the human race l do not
now stop to discuss. but he who uselessly
harms any of Gods living creation in
suits the Creator. Alas. for the horrors of
vivisection! / have no confidence in the
morality Of a man or a woman who
would harm a horse or a dog or a cat or a
pigeon. Such men and women. under af-
front. If they dared would take the life of
a human being You cannot make me be.
lieve hat God looks down indifferently
upon the CALLED neck OF the OK or the
cruelty curbed Bit of the horse or the un
sheltered cattle in the snowstorm or tho
cockpit or the bear batting or the pigeon
shooting or the laceration of fish that are
not used. Go TO the ant. thou miScreant,
and see how God honors it. In the great
college of the universe 1t has been ap-
pointed your professor. All over the land
and all over the world there are over
driven horses that ought to be unhar
messed. Gagged birds that ought to be put
on their wings in the free air Of heaven
droves of cattle agonized Of thirst on The
freight trains where they ought to be wa
tered and crustacea being broiled alive
that ought TO be lifted out of the fire
Christ chose - apostles for the human
race in the first century. and you know
their names. but in the nineteenth centu
~ he chose his thirteenth apostle, wht
wrought for the relief of the brute crea
ton, and his name was Henry Bergh. Ii
my text the ant is not impaled. is no
dead. but alive. and in the warm field.
providing her meat in the summer ant
gathering her food in the harvest
Furthermore, go to the ant n learr
the lesson Of God appointed order. The
being who taught the insect how to builG
was geometer as well as architect. The
paths inside that little home radiate from
the door with as complete arrangement
as ever the boulevards of a city radiat
ed from a triurnphal arch or a foweret
circle. And when they march they keel
perfect order, moving in straight lines
turning out for nothing. II a timber Lii
in the way, they climb over it. II Their,
be house or barn in the way, they marcl
through it Order in architectural struc
ture. order in government, order Of move
ment, order Of expedition. So let US al
observe this God appointed rule and taxi
satisfaction in the fact that things ar
not at loose end in this world. Ii Their
Is a divine regulation in a colony or re
public Of insects, is there not a divin'
regulation in the ives of immortal mer
and women! Ii God cares for the lras
of his creatures and shows them how L
provide their meat in the summer an,