Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-09-25

sneersand dcrlslve remarks hurled at the
young statesman that ncrved Bcnja min
Dlsraelt to become the great leader OF
the house Of commons and the favorite
prime minister Of his queen. It was
the harsh criticism of an English naval
officer that made Admiral Farragut
firmly set his teeth and lips together
and redouble his energy when he drove
his wooden ship past the supposed i'm
passable batteries Of New Orleans, and
1t Is the deserved criticisms Of our enc.
mics that ought to make us more CON
secrated to our life's work and more
willing to make sacrifices to accom-.
plish our object
But there is Christian as well as an
un-Christian way Of meeting the crti-
cisms Of rivals and of those who are
Jealous of our successes. One way is
to do as Plato, the great disciple of
Socrates, did when he was told that
even the boys in the streets were laugh.
ing at his singing He answered.
"Then I must learn to sing better. SC
that they will not laugh" The other
way is to do as Alexander Pope, the
vain and representative poet of Eng
land, used to do. Instead of going
ahead and doing the work that God
gave him to do, and on account of his
enemies criticisms doing it better ana
better all the time, he wasted most Of
his life in chickering's and backbiting
and in trying to destroy the regulations
OF those who were attacking him. The
one way is to do as d. L. Moody did
He made It the rule of his life to never
individually attack n person who had
attacked him. The more Mr. Moody
was personally assailed and misrcpre-
sented the more he would go to God in
prayer and ask the Divine Father to
make his life so pure and true that
there might not remain in his heart
any cause for the charge which his en-.
emies were making. The other way is
to do as many of us are doing. When
neighbor or a critic makes any derog
atory statement about us and our
work, we prove that we are not falsely
condemned in all particulars, that at
least we have the fault of retaliation
because we 20 hunting for the faults
Ing, with divine help, to correct the
evils In our own.
Rise by the Grace of God.
Thus, my brother, want you, by the
grace of God. to rise higher and higher
in the spiritual life until at last you are
at an altitude above and out of earshot
of the buzzing sound of the locusts Of
fault finding enemies. | want you to
rise so high In the spiritual life that
you will not care what people may say
or think about you or yours as long as
you can bring these people to love and
live for Christ. Humanity speaking 1t
is awfully hard to bear the petty all
noyances of your neighbors, criticising
you and saying mean things about your
wife and children. 1t is hard from a
human standpoint, to refrain from
flinging stone at the locusts of evil
naggings which are buZzing about you
and your loved ones. But by the grace
of God you can live down these petty
annoyances. You can go on doing your
work, even as Christ went on doing his
work, in spite of the jeers and the
SCOTS which the Pharisees uttered
against him and his disciples.
If you are absorbed in your Divine
Masters work, you will receive suffi-
cient grace to make you Indifferent TO
the little annoyances caused by what
people may say against you. You will
be like that gateman whom Major Cole
some years ago saw in a Chicago de
pot. 1t was during bitterly cold
night. Many male passengers We're
Grumbling and complaining because
this gateman made every one Of these
men unbutton his coat and show his
ticket before he could 90 to his train.
MY friend" said Major Cole. you do
not seem very popular with the passcn-
gers of this road" No" answered the
gateman with smile, but that docs
not concern me. SO long as | obey or
ders | am all right There is only one
man whose good opinion affects me-
and that is the president of the road.
So long as he is satisfied | do not care
what these people say In order TO
overcome the locust burden of what
fault finders may say against you, re-
llleUlDeT, MY AuTlSl4uD DlOlutIS, our
duty is not to please man, but God, and
God alone. After you are convinced
that in what you do you are pleasing
God it makes but little difference what
any enemy-man, woman or child
may say against you or your loved
ones.
Walking with Christ.
The increasing signs of physical and
mental decadence can also be classed
among the burdens of the buZzing To-
Gust. The annoyance of feeling that
your eyes are becoming nearsighted
and that you have to wear glasses and
sit very close to the light when you
read the Bible or the evening news
paper. The annoyance of having the
eardrum refuse to clearly throw the
cchoing sound into the brain. as it once
did. The annoyance of not being able
to run for street car or to step off
that car when il IS in motion. The an
poyance of having some young fellow
in the car arise and offer you seat
as though you were an old man. Or
what is worse than all, the annoyance
of feeling that you cannot do as much
work and do ii as quickly as you once
did few years ago. AS your brain
power seems to lose its grip you pee
vishly place your hand upon your fore
head and say: II do not know what is