Connecticut western news., 1902-02-20

| 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 large fortune may be spent in small change, and vast amount of moral character may | go away in small depletions. It Is the | little troubles of life that are having
 more effect upon you than the great ones. A swarm of locusts will kill
 grainfield sooner than the incursion of three or four cattle. You say, Since l lost my child, since lost my property, have been different man." But you do not recognize the architecture of lit tie annoyances that are hewing, dig
 ging, cutting, shaping, splitting and in- | terjoining your moral qualities. Rats may sink a ship. One lucifer match may send destruction through block of storehouses. Catherine de- Medici | got her death from smelling a poison ous 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 trifies 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 sixpenny nail sometimes produces lockjaw, and the clip of a most in-
 flnitesimal annoyance may damage you
 forever. Do not let any annoyance or perplexity come across your soul with out It's making you better.
 Revenue of Spiritual Strength. Our national government did not
 think 1t belittling to put tax on 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 1 would have you, O Christian man, put a high tariff on every annoyance and vexation that comes through your soul This might not amount to much in single cases, but ip 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
 
 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
 I have to tell you, o Christian men, if
 you cannot apply the principles of Christ's religion on a small scale you
 will never be able to apply them on 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 bethtnk ourselves of what grand thing 1t is to have undimmed eyesight. We have to see some wound ed man hobbhng 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 our 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 worm
 from the furrow, not knowing that 1t
 is God who makes everything, from
 the animaIcule in the sod to the seraph
 on the throne, so we go on eating, | drinking and enjoying, but never
 thanking, or seldom thanking, or, if thanking at all, with only half
 heart.
 compared our indifference to the
 brute, but perhaps I wronged the brute. do not know but that, among it's other instincts, 1t may have an in- stinct by which 1t recognizes the divine hand that feeds 1t. do not know but | that God is, through it, holding com | munieation with what we call 'irra- tional creation" The COW that stands
  chewing it's cud looks very thankful, | and who can tell hoy much bird
 means by it's song? The aroma of the | flowers smells like incense, and the
 mist arising from the river looks like l the smoke of a morning sacrifice. Oh, | that we were as responsive! Yet who thanks God for the water that gushes | up In the well, and that foams in the cascade, and that laughs over the rocks, and that patters in the showers, l and that claps it's hands in the seal Who thanks God for the air, the foun- | tain of life, the bridge of sunbeams, I the path of sound, the great fan on a hot summers day? Who thanks God for this wonderful physical organism, I this sweep of the vision, this chime of
 harmony struck into the ear, this soft tread of a myriad delights over the | nervous tissue, this rolling of the crim-
 son tide through artery and vein, this
 drumming of the heart on our march | to immortality? We take all these things as a matter of course.
 Gods Common BIessinEa.
 But suppose God should withdraw | these common blessings! Your body would become an inquisition of tor | ture, the cloud would refuse rain, every green thing would crumple up, and the earth would crack open under your feet. The air would cease its healthful
 circulation, pestilence would swoop, | and every house would become a place | of skulls. Streams would first swim with vermin and then dry up, and
 thirst and hunger and anguish and de | spair would lift their scepters. Oh, | compare such a life as that with the | life you live with your families! Is it
 not time that, with every word of our
 lips and with every action of our life
 we began to acknowledge these every | day mercies? Whether ye eat or