Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1903-11-28

substitute maj g. you nave enc ten
der and gentle word "discipling." That is
really what the present chastenings mean
you are being made discipleI,you are
of Him as He has invited you to do: You
are entering into the fellowship of His suf-
| ferings. But. "be,oved, if 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
| us. and yet how it has enriched us. AS
many 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 contingency or an
agony could have no hero and no saint.
There is no epic of the certainties and no
lyric without the surprise of sorrow and
the sigh of fear. Whatever touches and
ennobles 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 book of mar
BILE. with many too sharp angle and many
4 b.emish. And as Michael Angelo said Of
the stone thrown on the rubbish heap: 81
see an angel there ara l must get him
out. so God sees the best there is in You
and He is determined to bring l; out, even
if He must needs use chisel and mal!et:
Ana now the blows are struck. the chisel
cuts deep. the chips fly. "The more the
marble wastes the moro the statue grows"
Thus continues the divine sculptor His
work and labor of love. until there stands
forth. afte!rward. { glorious soul OF majes'
"'Tis the Master who holds the chisel,
and day by day
He is climbing whatever environs the form
That under His skilful cutting the form
may he
Wrought silently out into beauty, Of such
degree
Of fauIt!ess and full perfection, that angel
eyes
Shall gaze on the finished product with
new sunrise,
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
as for the righteous there is an "after.
ward" Over that melancholy scene
would gladly draw the curtain of complete
silence I would fain hold my peace and
sneak not at all Of the wretcheG sequel
which in the very nature of things must
be theirs who hurl defiance at Goes be.
nevo,ent laws for the souls of men.
Just as the tears of the righteous now
shall afterward be transmitted into eterna!
gems. sparkling forever in the light Of
heaven, so the very gems 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
pershable accessories of mad nightmare
Of revelry and rioting. The empty. idle
fallacies with which they .sported here,
killing time and killing sonls. shall after.
ward become whips that lash them forever,
scorpions whose sting is eternal. tears that
are never wiped away, but which unceas!
inglv scald and scarify the soul like biting
acids ating the heart forever.
For the devils dune the inevitable order
is just that-now a little temporary peas
ure. just enough to halt the soul success
fully; and afterward, deso.ation and an
guish indescribahe.
So. to sum it all up-what kind Of an az
terward are you going to have? That de-
pends on what kind of present you are
having. Would you not prefer to suffer
Affections with Gods peon'e and afterward
have glory nnspeakable than to eniov the
pleasures of sin for a season; and after:
ward suffer the inevitable aftermath of
desnair: Say eyes" to that proposition,
and will say "Amen."