The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1902-05-04
pnring the bltterness OF the Amerlean

During the bitterness of the American
civil war the Masons in gray remembered
that they were the brothers of the Ma
sons in blue Many a life was saved on
account of their Masonic oaths A Ma
son in good and regular standing can md
friends In any city of Europe to which he
may journey-friends who will not only
greet him with smile, but friends, Ma
sonic friends who will do all they can to
help him in his travels. Many other or
ders pledge their members to the same
brotherly regard for one another. We
have respect too, for national ties. A
traveller In foreign lands always speaks
to and greets fellow countryman. The
farther away from home the warmer Is
the salutation We have family ties.
When brother or sister goes wrong. II we
are sincere in our affections we try In
every way to bring the wanderer home to
our earthly fathers house.
AS 1 grow older l am the more dis
posed to judge the spiritual condition OF
a truly religious church member by the
way he treats those who have gone
astray. He is more apt to condemn him
self than he is to accuse his unfortunate
brother. When a Sunday School pupil
goes astray, the truly good Sunday School
teacher says: "Ah! that is too bad!
WOHueT IL 1 ulu MY luD uulN GtindpSs
If l only had called on the lad and invited
him to my home and had seen where he
spent his evenings. this awful sin would
not have happened. ] must not be too
hard upon the lad. Yes. |, too, am to
blame"
When a minister goes astray, the truly
good elder does not upbraid him. All,
no. He knows too much about the weak
ness of human nature to do that. The
old members Of session will sit by the
fire, with tears streaming down his fur
rowed cheeks, reproaching himself when
he says Here | have been a professed
follower of the Lord for forty years. |
ought to have looked after the young
man; I ought to have been his guide and
protector" When Peter played the cow
ard and denied his connection with
Christ. the Saviour did not call meet
ing of the apostles for heresy trial and
make Peter denit the ministry. By his
treatment of Peters sinful act Christ
taught the lesson of forgiveness and mer-
cy for the penitent wrongdoer. He reor-
dained Peter to go forth and feed his
lambs. Bear We one another's burdens
and so fulfill the law of Christ is espe-
cially an appropriate lesson for Chris
tians to learn who take no interest In the
welfare of fellow Christians who are the
members of the household of faith.
1t isn't the thing you do friend
It's the thing you leave undone
Which gives you bit of heartache
At the setting of the sun.
The tender word forgotten,
The letter you didn't write,
The flower you might have sent, friend,
Are your haunting ghosts at night.
But my text clearly means also that
every one should try in manful, womanly,
Chrfef 70 hi h,t,~
dens. We are very apt to think that our
own troubles are heavier to bear than
any other PERSONS troubles. But IL we
were allowed, as In the old legend, to go
to the plain of affliction and deposit there
our own sorrows, and were compelled in
stead to take up the sorrows of some one
else in all probability we would carry
away from the mountain of difficulty the
burden packs which our backs have been
accustomed to carry Now, we cannot
help our brother to bear his burdens by
trying to pile upon his stalwart shoulders
own burdens in addition.
No man ever becomes a healthy man,
mentally or spiritually, who Is a mendi-
cant by choice, crawling from door to
door, begging and whining. Yet there
are some burdens that are absolutely i'm
possible for us to bear in our own
strength. Some of us have had so much
trouble-such an awful lot of troubled
We have suffered again and again We
have had to go to the family plot, as I
went two weeks ago, and leave there a
loved one, The grave did look so big,
and the black hole was dug so deep But
there Is a way we can all carry our own
burdens. That way is to cast them upon
the Lord and he will sustain us. He has
promised, and he will do It, IF we will
only cast our burdens upon him, our own
hands will be free Then we can go forth
like athletes stripped for the fray We
can go forth to help our brothers and
sisters. our parents and children and all
our friends, carry their burdens.
Let us return to the good old country
times when every one helped every other
person in the community. In those good
old times every one was ready to halve
friends sorrows well as double
friends joys. When the wedding bells
began to ring, the young girls, the friends
of the bride used to come from the village
and decorate the church altar with wild
flowers which they had picked. Friends
would sew the wedding garments; friends
would help the young people furnish the
new home; friends would bear the bur-
dens of JOY. Then, when trouble came,
the same friends would come in and help
the invalid; they would pour out the med
icine; they would close the eyelids in the