The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1903-11-25

substitute 1nai e., you nave tne ten-
der and gentle word "discpling." That ia
really what the present chastenings mean
you are being made a disciple--you are
taking Chrst's yoke unon you and learning
of Him as He has invited you to do. You
are entering into the fellowship of His suf.
ferings. But. beloved, IL we suffer with
Him; we shall also reign with Him-after.
ward!"
After all, how blank and dull. and sadly
monotonous. life would be without its
crises Of pain The problem Of pain how
it has ,yexed us and how pain has panied
us. and yet how it has enriched us! As
many a spice plant gives forth its most fra.
grant perfume only when bruised and
crushed. so a human heart does its best
for other human hearts after some soften.
ing grief has visited it. Martineau said:
"A world without a contingency or an
agony could have no hero and no saint.
There is no epic of the &C certainties and no
lyric without the surprise of sorrow and
the sigh of fear. Whatever touches and
ennohles us in tie lives and voices Of the
past is divine birth from human doubt
and pain"
The. sculptors have maxim to the eff
feet that "all that is not statue must be
hewn away" At first our lives are like a
rough and quite meaningless block of mar
bic, with many too sharp angle and many
blemish. And as Michael Angelo said Of
the stone thrown on the rubbish heap: 81
see an angel there. ana l must get him
out" so God sees the best there is in YOU
and He is determined to bring i; out, even
il He must needs use chisel aud mallet.
And now the blows are struck. the chisel
cuts deep, the chips hy. "The more the
marble wastes the more the statue grows"
Thus continues the divine sculptor His
work and labor of love. until there stands
forth. afterward, n glorious soul OF majes-
tic dimensions and Christlike beauty.
"'Tis the Master who holds the chisel,
and day by day
He is chipping whatever environs the form
away,
That under His skilful cutting the form
may be
Wrought silently out into beauty, of such
degree
OF faultiess and full perfection, that angel
eyes
Shall gaze on the finished product with
That even His matchless patience could
grave His own
Features upon such fractured and stubborn
stone"
There is. unfortunately. another side to
this proposition. For the wicked as well
ward" Over. that melancholy scene [
would gladly draw the curtain of complete
silence. l would fain hold my peace and
speak not at all of the wretcheG sequel
which in the very nature of things must
be theirs who hurl defiance at Coos be-
nevo.ent laws for the souls of men.
Just as the tears of the righteous now
shall afterward be transmitted into eternal
gems. sparkling forever in the light OF
heaven. so the very PENS of the wicked,
the tawdry tinsel and trinkets and toys
that now seem so bright and attractive,
will be found, afterward. to be but the
perishahle accessories of n mad nightmare
Of revelry and rioting. The empty. idle
fallacies with which they sported here,
killing time and killing souls. shall after
ward become whips that lash them forever,
scorpions whose sting is eternal. tears that
are never wiped away, but which unceas-
ino'v sca'd and scarify the soul like biting
acids eating the heart forever.
For the devils dune the inevitable order
is just that-now little temporary peas
IRE. just enough to bait the soul success
fully; ard afterward, deso.ation and an
gnish indescribable.
So, to sum it all up-what kind of an af-
terward are you going to have? That de-
pends on what kind of a present you are
having. Would you not prefer to suffer
Affections with Gods peonle and afterward
have glory ,nspeakab,e than to enjoy the
pleasures of sin for season. and after.
ward suffer the inevitable aftermath Of
despair? Say "ves" TO that proposition,
and l will say "Amen."