Milford chronicle., 1902-02-21


chiseling out your immortal nature. 1t !
is click, click click! l wonder why
some great providence does not come .
and with one stroke prepare you for
heaven. All, no. God says that is not
the way. And so he keeps on by strokes
of little annoyances. little sorrows, lit
tie vexations, until at last you shall be
a glad spectacle for angels and for
men. You know that a large fortune
may be spent in small change, and a
vast amount of moral character may
go away in small depletions. 1t is the
little troubles of life that are having
more effect upon you than the great
ones. A swarm of locusts will kill a
grainfield sooner than the incursion OF
three or four cattle. You say, "Since l
lost my child, since lost my property,
l have been a different man." But you
do not recognize the architecture of lit
tie annoyances that are hewing, dig
ging, cutting. shaping, splitting and in
terioining your moral qualities. Rats
may sink a ship. One lucifer match
may send destruction through a block
of storehouses. Catherine de- Medici
got her death from smelling poison
Gus rose. Columbus, by stopping and
asking for a piece of bread and drink
of water at a franciscan convent, was
led to the discovery of the new world.
And there is an intimate connection be-
tween trifes and immensities, between
nOthings and everythings.
Now. be careful to let none Of those
annoyances go through your soul unar-
raigned Compel them to administer
to your spiritual wealth. The scratch
of a sixpenny nail sometimes produces
lockiaw. and the clip Of a most in
fnitesimal annoyance may damage you
forever. Do not let any annoyance or
perpleXity come across your soul with
out its making you better.
Revenue of Spiritual Strength.
Our national government did not
think it belittling to put tax OH pins
and a tax on buckles and tax on
! Shoes The individual taxes do not
amount to much. but in the aggregate
to millions and millions of dollars. And
/ would have you. o Christian man.
i put high tariff on every annoyance
and vexation that comes through your
soul This might not amount to much
| in single cases, but in the aggregate it
would be a great revenue of spiritual
strength and satisfaction. A bee can
/ suck honey even out of a nettle, and If
/ you have the grace Of God in your
heart you can get sweetness out of
that which would otherwise irritate
and annoy. The only way to get pre-
pared for the great troubles Of life is
to conquer these small troubles. And
! have to tell you. o Christian men, If
you cannot apply the principles of
Christ's religion on a small scale you
win never be able to apply them on a
large scale. If you cannot contend
successfully against these small sor-
rows that come down single handed,
what will you do when the greater dis
asters of life come down with thunder
ing artillery. rolling over your soul?
Again. we must bring the religion Of
Christ into our commonest blessings.
When the autumn comes and the har-
vests are in and the governors make
proclamatiOns, we assemble in church
es and we are very thankful But
every day ought to be a thanksgiving
day. We do not recognize the COM
mon mercies of life. We have to see
a blind man led by his dog before we
begin to bethink ourselves of what a
grand thing it is to have undimmed
eyesight. We have to see some wound
ed man hobbling on his crutch or with
his empty coat sleeve pinned up be-
fore we learn to think what a grand
thing God did for us when he gave us
healthy use OF our limbs. We are SO
stupid that nothing but the misfor.
tunes of others can rouse us up to OuI
blessings. AS the OK grazes in the
, pasture up to its eye in clover, YET
never thinking who makes the clover
and as the bird picks up the worn
from the furrow, not knowing that i
, is God who makes everything, from
the animalcule in the sod to the serapl
on the throne. so we go on eating
: drinking and enjoying, but nevel
thanking. or seldom thanking, or, il
: thanking at all, with only half ;
: heart.
l compared our Indifference to tn
brute, but perhaps l wronged tn
: brute. l do not know but that, among
: its other instincts, it may have an in
stinct by which it recognizes the divin
hand that feeds it. do not know bu
= that God is, through it, holding com
munication with what we call ''irra
= tional creation" The COW that stand
under the willow by the watercOurs
: chewing its cud looks very thankful
= and who can tell how much a Dir
. means by its song? The aroma of tn
flowers smells like incense, and tn
= mist arising from the river looks lik
y the smoke of a morning sacrifice. Oh
]. that we were as responsive! Yet VIII
= thanks God for the water that gushe
up in the WELL and that fOams in IL
> cascade, and that laughs over I'll
- rocks, and that patters in the shower
and that claps its hands in the sea
- Who thanks God for the air the foul
= tain of life, the bridge of sunbeam
the path of sound. the great fan on
~ hot summers day? Who thanks &C
- for this wonderful physical organism
- this sweep of the vision. this chime {
= harmony struck into the ear, this so
- tread of a myriad delights over IL
- nervous tissue. this rolling of the erin
son tide through artery and vein, tn
n drumming of the heart on our marc
~ to immortality? We take all theI
- things as 4 matter of course.
- Gods Common blessings.
-. But suppose God should withdra
- these common blessings! Your boo
would become an inquisition of to
ture. the cloud would refuse rain, eve
81 green thing would crumple up and Il
~ earth would crack open under yo
feet. The air would cease its healthf
-. circulation, pestilence would swoO
"a and every house would become a pla
of skulls. Streams would first swi
- with vermin and then dry up. al
- thirst and hunger and anguish and 4
spair would lift their scepters. O
compare such a life as that with t
life you live with your families! Is
ion not time that. with every word of o
ais. lips and with every action of our Ii
for we began to acknowledge these evel
Ike day mercies? whether We eat
re drink or whf tsoever We do do all to t
ISL glory of Cod" Do l address a man
Of a woman who has not rendered to G