The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1902-08-31

position to meet trouble IS shown to be
unwise and un-Christian in this dis
course by Rev. Frank De Witt Talmage
on the text, Matthew Vi "a, Sufficient
unto the day Is the evil thereof
Christ Is giving counsel. which recalls
the advice the dying man once gave to
his children After calling his sons and
daughters to his bedside the dying father
said: Ny children. have seen lot OF
troubles in my time I have seen SO
many troubles that they have completely
worn me out. and that is the reason that
/ am now dying, when I ought to be IN
my physical and mental prime. But the
saddest part of it is that most OF my
troubles have been imaginary trouoles
They have not been troubles Of the inNIl-
nent today but the visionary tomorrow
They have been troubles which would
never have bothered me unless I had
gone forth and hunted them out OF their
lairs and troubled them. The things that
have given me most concern have been
the things that never happened. so
char~e Won. my dear children. II you
would serve God with your best physical
mental and spiritual powers, always oney
the words which Christ spake IN his ram
Gus sermon. Take, therefore, no thought
for the morrow, for the morrow shall
take thought for the things OF tsel1'
Sufficient unto the day is the evil there
Of.
NV glorious text teaches almost exactly
the same lesson that Mr.. Beecher once
presented when he said: All time Is d.
vided into three parasitic past the pres
ent and the future. The past belongs TO
gratitude and regret, the present to con-
tentment and work, the future should be-
long to only hope ana trust. 1t teaches
that a dread of future evil Is dishonorins
God because 1t implies doubt whether
the good God will be true to the trust
we have placed in him and whether he
will really keep the promises he has made
TO his people. 1t teaches that after
Christian has done his best. his level
and conscientious best he should then
joyfully and confidently leave the future
in Gods hands, and in Gods hands alone
II teaches that no matter how hopeless
humanity speaking, may be the outlook.
II we know and trust God we should let
out gospel faith chase away all the DOUBT
and worries and fears that fret and tease
and tantalize us in reference TO the fu-
ture. even as the rising sun scatters the
darkness and the impenetrable gloom OF
the night It teaches that no matter how
dark and threatening may be the Shrek
ing tornadoes of trouble the gospel rain
bows should be big enough to arch the
widest of horizons and bright enough to
smile through even a shower of falling
tears.
Anticipated troubles rarely happen. BY
this statement 1 do not mean that II
man would cease to worry he could get a
him
forever from the rough hand of trouble
The cup of sorrow must be pressed
. against every human lip. The old eyes.
as we'll as the young eyes, must become
fountains of tears. Death angel as we'll
as birth angel must flap the wing over a
Pharaohs palace as well as over the poor
mans hut 1t is by the broken heart
that God is able to make the sonSsters
and songstresses sing their sweetest
music.
But, though troubles must and will
come to the rich and the poor. the Ole
and the young alike, yet I make this as
sertion about your past life: The trou
bles and misfortunes which you anticipat
ed and worried over rarely II ever hap
pened As our own philosopher poet said
Some of your ills you have cured
And the sharpest you still have sur
vived.
But what torment and pain you've en-
dured
From evils that never arrived
The Evils You Look For.
In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred
the troubles which did you the most seri'
Gus damage were those troubles which
as a tiger, 1eaped upon you Unexpectedly
from ambush, not the troubles that lay
crouching and g1aring and threatening
you In broad daylight in the open pain
way Just ahead. Those serious trouble:
came to you as the little pygrny was sup
posed to have come to the king of old
When the pygmy asked the great mon
arch for permission to rule over all th'
lands which his little, short limbs coult
cover in three steps, the royal consent
was derisively given. Then the insigniff
cant dwarf Immediately sprang up into
the stature of a huge giant. With one
stride the giant stepped across the land
with another stride the giant stepped
across the seas. and with third stride
the giant lifted his sledge hammer fist
and swept the trembling king off his
throne. Your troubles, to use familiar
comparison. came like a clap of thunder
and stroke of lightning out of clear
sky. They came like a collision at sea
or as the terrific explosion of a gunpow-
der magazine. They came as thief not
by day. but by night. in way and at a
time you did not expect them.
Let me illustrate how your troubles
came In an unexpected way. Two OF
your three children were born physically
strong. Every movement of their limbs,
every smile of their red lips. every look
of their dancing eyes, bespoke perfect
health. They could run up the mountain
side as swiftly as a gazelle chased by the
dogs They would climb tree almost as
quickly as a squirrel would seek his nest
in the old orchard trunk. Then those chill.
dren would sit laughing anu singing anc
swinging upon one of the branches But
though two of your children were borr
physically well. the third was born
poor, helpless invalid. You. the mother
worried about that third child from thu
day when she was born. For years not
night passed In which you did not arts
two or three times to go to the crib ant
give the necessary medicines. Did you
worrying about that child do you an!
good? Did your troubles come In tn.
way you expected? Today your two chill
dren who were once strong are dead
Diphtheria In one week slew them both
Your invalid daughter, about whom yoi
worried, has overcome her invalidlsn
and grown into young womanhood Sh'
is now married and has children of hei
own Your troubles came. but the pan.
Their leaped upon you from the rear anc
did not lie crouching in the open pathway
ahead.
Some Useless Worries.
AS a business man you have often wor
ried about this. that and the other thing
You have worried about whether tn,
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