Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1903-10-24

turn yourself ont of the best by so doing.
Loyalty to goodness is the way Of blessed
ness. There is no happiness like that
which comes from simple goodness.
What does the victor find? He finds the
unseen reserves from which he may draw
and that of the world. "To him ::has ever
cometh will. give to eat of tine hidden
mamma" In the winning struggle you find
the soul sustenance hidden from YOU be-
fore and still hidden from the world. New
condolences, new assurances, new faltnS
arise in the soul; new visions break upon
it,, new voices speak to it and in it; new
communions with unseen powers enrich
it's inner solitudes. and the man gets ~
and by to understand what Paul meant
when he smoke of being "strengthened
with might in the inner man." The truly
earnest man who perseveres in the life OF
the good is constantly surprised at the re;
seas which looked as if they meant certain
death have been safely crossed, and the
song of triumph rang up to God on the
other side.
Difficulties which seemed insurmoIntable
have been successfully overcome. This is
why the man says: Hitherto hath the
Lord helped me-" He cannot understand
himself by himself. and 50 n, he bn!s:s an
we discover life's forces; in the onward
march we discover the enrichment Of the
way, come to one after another OF the
wells of salvation. hidden from all who do
not march that way. And. remember Al
ways, that the larger our conquest IN life,
the more abundant Will be life's susten-
ance; it is the concueror VINO finds The
mamma. In a sense. everything IS hidden
from us, and all growth is 4 discovery. 1t
is so in the intellectual sphere. You dis
cover treasures as you conquer difficulties.
You must conquer the a!nhabet AID the
spelling hook to discover the sentence;
CONQUER the sentence to discover the para
graph: conquer every paragraph to know
the treasure OF the book. And 50 all the
way MP. Many cannot read book that is
at all difficult: the food there is i, it 1ney
cannot appreciate. Why? because their
conquests are too small; they have not
overcome ignorance and superfciaty sntfi-
GENTLY, so the mama there remains hid
den.
The same is true in the moral and sp;r-
itual sphere. There are people who are
quite incapable of understanding the high
est kind Of affection and the hottest
kind Of love because they have not them
selves overcome the vulgarity and coarse:
ness of human natures lover levels. All
%opd RnowS nave not o Il they h wn'a aee s
tions which the world would always dilute
with base ingredients, and aspirations
which it would always tarnish with the
stains of earth. Be sure of it, your discov-
cry Of ife's best things will depend upon
your conquest of it's worst. and with every
victory you shall eat hidden mama and
be strengthened for victories yet; to be
achieved. The successful struggle con-
istantly discovers supports hidden from
him before, and still hidden from lives
which do not know the loftier reaches and
the more earnest endeavors. What does
life yield to the victor? Here is one of the
finest. OF the promises: 9! will give him the
morning star? 1t is the feeling that life is
sweet and pure. fair and fresh with the
touch of morning. 1t is the feeling that
life is full of promise. that day is coming
on; that the best IS yet to be. It is the
power to be oneself sweetening, freshen-
ing influence in the world, a living pro-
phecy Of its betterment. Now, friends,
there is nothing like moral purity to keep
the touch of morning on life; compromise
your morality and it is marvellous how soon
everything is stale. There is an indescrib-
able sweetness in the air of early morning
when the world. is as God makes it; when
it is indeed in the process of His remaking
before we light our fires and emit our
smoke and heat up the dust of our noisy,
turbulent life. Something like that sweet
freshness of morning belongs to the soul
that is pure and comes to it always in its
hour OF victory over sin. AS long as your
affections are clean they are fresh: you
never tire of pure feelings or holy loves;
Again, what does the moral victor find?
It is promised that Christ Nill write npon
him Gods name and the name of Gods
city, and his own new name. In our Ian
guage this means that life yields the victor
the consciousness that ne really belongs
to God: that he. belongs to the new so.
ciety: that he belongs to Christ. In other
bn ifproI
and he knows himself as vital mart of it.
even as pillar in the temple of God, an
uDholder of the sacred things of life: one
OF those who have real permanent life in
the. sanctuary, among the sanctities OF
God-yea, who share the spiritual sover-
with all the good: "He shall sit with Me
on My throne" etc.
Oh, Won who are fighting sin, take cour.
age; with every triumph you are mounting
the steps of the throne of God. and ever
nearing the time when your life shall be
fixed in the truth which knows no farming,
and the Righteousness which is forever.
Lay hold on the thought OF God as your
Helper. and believe that ii you work wit.
Him all will be well. I invite you to no
superficial optimism that has neve: sound.
ed the depths of life's woe. nor seen into
the hearts of its tragedy. There is no pow.
CT and no healing in that. heard it once
given out from a Christian platform. I.
denounced gloominess of every kind: it
sashed the pessimists in every direction;
il declared that all things were going on
exceedingly well; even the slums were not
so bad as some made out, and the war in
South Africa-well, it would come to an
end some time.
So much of this was dealt out that felt
that such optimism was the shallowest Of
hes: and that to ventilate it in the name
Of Christianity was to forget the tragedy
of Gethsemane and to blot out the mem
Dry OF the cross. Nc, no; if YOU are to be
q serious man, in earnest for the highest
ends of life. for. yourself and for SO.
eiety, YOU have a battle to fight; hard,
stern battle; a hundred things are wrong
with the world. which YOU must help to
put right. Look the evil in the face and
do not call it light. But when you have
done that, !! ask you to realize larger fact,
VIZ, that the Alpha and Omega of all this
life is the love of the good God. Because
that is the beginning. that is also the end,
and let it, therefore, be our
Hope sun will pierce
The thickest cloud earth ever stretched.
That after last shall come the first,
Tho wide compass rounl be fetched"
With that thought of God let lis spend
our few brief years fighting sin and serving
man, till we pass ''to where beyond these
voices there is peace"
Now unto the God of all grace, who hath
called us unto His eternal glory bv Christ
Jesus, be glory and dominion forever and
ever.
CODES USED BY RULE7o.