The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-25

pests for a whole night. DO not pc weary of well doing. my brothers. You are one of Gods favorites. There Is great triumph of gospel usefulness for you ahead.
 Iris easy enough to be pleasant
 When life flows along like song,
 But the man worth while Is the ope who
 will smile
 When everything goes dead wrong;
 For the test of the heart is trouble,
 And 1t always comes with the years, And the smile that Is worth the praise of
 the earth
 Is the smile that comes through tears.
 The dark, tempestuous nights of f1nan- cial ruin have often been, in Gods sight the bright, blessed, sunshiny days for the merchant. How is George Watson get ting along?" l ask you. Well" you an- swer, T do not know how he Is getting along now. We were boys together in the same town. We came to the city at the same time. We used to room together, but we have drifted apart in the last few years At first George made quite suc- cess. He saved up a little money, and then started in business. But George was always a trustful fellow, and he had a dishonest partner. I believe the partner swindled him out of some money. Then the panic came, and his creditors began to press him Then the next thing heard was that George had failed. He moved out of our neighborhood. l have not seen him for a long time. I heard, however that he Is now quite an active member in church work. He is also one of the active men in the Young Peoples Christ ian Endeavor Society. But fear George is not doing very we'll When business man begins to get mixed Up ili church x.,o tv,,y,I too hot ha hoe not very big business to run. However, to tell the truth, l do not know what George Is doing. except that have feel ing that his credit Is not very high in tn business world" Is that all you know about George? Well, my friend, I can tell you that George Watson ia getting along a great deal better than you are. Iris true he was caught In financial storm as fierce as the Galilean tempest, which threatened to engulf the disciples after Christ had fed the multitudes, but after that tempest abated he ..eard .he voice of Jesus calling nin to the truer and nobler life. And George would .iever have heard the voice of Christ had he not first heard the hurricane of fnan- cial storm shriealng about nls head"
 One Mans Experience
 George Watson landed Fl this city Christian boy from a Christian home. He carried in his satchel the Bible which his mother gave to him the Christmas be- fore he left the old homestead. The very first Sabbath after he came to Chicago he hunted up a church and joined Sun day school class. The girl whom he aft erward married was a member of that same Sunday school The trouble was George Watson made to big a success in hIiQfDaeq n r1 bod motion after promotion. Then Sundays he would feel tired. He neglected church His wife would stay home with him. The more money he earned the greater were his responsibilities and the less his re- ligion. Then came the panic and the financial cyclone. George was at first overwhelmed by the catastrophe. Then his brain began to clear. He called his wife into his study and said: Kate, this Is the happiest time of all my life. I can truly say that tonight l am glad God took my money. know, Kate, that was enly thinking about my golu and not about the good which l could do with 1t. Kate, we will give ourselves to God to- night. We will give to him our children and our whole future lives, and we will promise God that never again shall we work six days and twenty-two hours each week for the world and only give to God two hours of a church service on Sunday" That is the history of your friend George. That is the reason that you now hear of George as an elder in the church, as q leader in the prayer meeting, as a director in the Young Mems Christian Association, as a church visitor who never refuses to call on the poor. It was a dark night when the financial storm overlook George on Lake Galilee, but that storm urove George to Christ.
 My friends, you think Georges figura- tive history cannot be duplicated In life tell you that 1t can. I declare to you today that ..iere are thousands and tens would never have been able to see clear ly the spiritual face of Jesus except through a financial tempest. The best merchant I ever knew was consecrated to Christ through Galilean tempest Mir. A. F. Brooks was not only the chief member of the old Second Presbyterian church of Pittsburg when I was there, but he was also the most influential Christian layman in the city He told me just before his death that the cause of his consecra tion to Christ came to him when dishonest partner made him lose millions of dollars. Had it not been for the acton or lnaL ulSnOHeSL pdrlIleT at that time MT. Brooks would have become before closing his career not only one of the wealthiest men In Pittsburg, but also one of the wealthiest men in the United States. Oh. ye merchants. in those hours of trials and financial embarrassment I want you to make your troubles the step ping stones to a complete consecration to the cross. I want you here and now to feel that Christ constrained you to enter the leaky boat of financial shipwreck so that you might truly see his face, as the disciples saw the living Christ in the fourth watch of the night on Lake Galilee.
 In the Dark Hours
 The dark tempestuous nights when the shadow of the death angels wing how cred over the home have often been in Gods sight the bright shining days for the broken hearted household circle It was awfully hard for you to hear the doctor say there was no hope. You felt that other people might die, but somehow