Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1902-03-27

1t Is this asthma. and 1t is such an
exhausting thing to breathe" Your
trouble is husband, sharp. snappy
and cross about the house and raising
a small riot because button Is on.
How could you know the button is of?
Your trial Is wife ever in contest
with the servants, and she is sloven.
Though she was very careful about her
appearance in your presence once. now
she Is careless, because, she says, her
fortune Is made! Your trial Is hard
school lesson you cannot learn and you
have bitten your finger nails until they
are a sight to be hold.
Everybody has some vexation OF an
noyance or trial, and he or she thinks
1t is the one least adapted. Anything
but this" all say: anything but this"
My hearer, are you not ashamed to
be complaining all this time against
God? Who manages the affairs of this
world anyhow? Is 1t an infinite Mo-
doc or Sitting Bull savage or an ON
nipotent Mana Sahib? No; 1t is the
most merciful and glorious and wise
being in all the universe. You cannot
teach omnipotence anything. You have
fretted and worried almost enough.
Do you not think so? Some OF you are
making yourselves ridiculous In the
sight of the angels. Here Is a naval
architect, and he draws out the plan Of
ship of many thousand tons. Many
workmen are engaged on 1t for long
while. The ship Is done, and some day,
with the flags up and the air gorgeous
with bunting, the vessel is launched
for Southampton. At that time lad
six years of age comes running down
the dock with toy boat which he has
made with his own jackknife. and he
says: Here, my boat is better than
yours. Just look at this jibboom and
these weather crossjack braces" And
he drops his little boat beside the great
ship, and there Is roar of laughter on
the decks! All, my friends, that great
ship is your life as God planned it
vast. million toned, ocean destined,
eternity bound! That little boat Is your
life as you were trying to hew 1t out
and fashion 1t and launch it. Do not
try to be rival of the great Jehovah.
God is always right, and in nine cases
out Of ten you are wrong. He knows
what kind Of grain you are, and he
sends the right kind of thrashing ma
chine. It will be rod or staff or iron
wheel just according as you are fitches
or cummln or corn.
Again, my subject teaches that God
keeps trial on US until we let go. The
farmer shouts "Whoa!" to his horses
as soon as the grain is dropped from
the stalk. The farmer comes with his
fork and losses up the straw, and he
sees that the straw has let go the grain
and the grain is thoroughly thrashed.
So God. Shifting rod and turning
wheel both cease as soon as we let go.
We started under the delusion that this
was great world. We learned out of
our geography that 1t was so many
thousand miles in diameter, and SO
many miles in circumference, and we
said, "Oh, my, what a worldr' Trou-
BILE came In after life, and this trouble
sliced off one part of the world, and 1t
has got to be smaller world and in
some estimations very Insignificant
world, and 1t is depreciating all the
time as a spiritual property. Ten per
cent off, so per cent off, and there are
those who would not give 10 cents for
this world-the entire world-as soul
possession.
We thought that friendship was \
grand thing. In school we used to
write compositions about friendship.
and perhaps We made our graduating
speech on commencement day on
friendship. Oh, II was charming
thing, But does 1t mean as much to
you as II used to? You have gone on
in life. and one friend has betrayed
you, and another friend has misinter-
preted you. and another friend has
neglected you. and friendship comes
now sometimes to mean to you merely
another ak to grind! So with money.
We thought II man had a compe-
tency he was safe for all the future.
but we have learned that q mortgage
may be defeated by an unknown pre-
vious incumbrance: that signing your
name on the back Of note may be
your business death warrant; that q
new tariff may change the current of
trade: that a man may be rich to-day
and poor tomorrow. And God, by all
these misfortunes, is trying to loosen
your grip. but we still hold on. God
smites with stan, but we hold on.
And he strikes us with a rod, but we
hold on. And he sends over us the
iron wheel OF misfortune. but we hold
on. There are men who keep their
grip on this world until the last mo-
ment, who suggest to me the condl-
ton and conduct of the poor Indian Ia
the boat in the Niagara rapids, COM
ing on toward the fall Seeing that he
could not escape. a moment or two
before he got to the verge OF the
plunge he lifted wine bottle and
drank 1t off and then tossed the bottle
into the air So there are men who
clutch the world. and they go down
through the rapids Of temptation and
sin, and they hold on to the very last
moment to life. drinking to their eter-
nal doom as they go over and down
Oh. let go! Let go! The best for
tunes are in heaven. There are no
absconding cashiers from that bank,
no falling in promises to pay. Set
your affections on things above. not
on things on the earth. Let go! De-
pend upon it that God will keep upon
you the STAFF or the rod or the iron
wheel until you do let go.
Another thing my text teaches us
is that Christian sorrow is going to
have a sure terminus. My text says,
Bread corn Is bruised because he
will not ever be thrashing it." Blessed