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

the LfuLh was never fully brought hoihS
 to you until then that your mother or
 wife or child could ever be taken. Since that moment not only this life, but the next, has for you an entirely different significance
 Why did you place upon her coffin plate the words At rest?" Did you mean that her sleep was to be an endless sleep which shall never have an awakening You used to revel in the theories of par wins evolution. You used to claim that
 the physical man was only higher 1orn of a developed animal Man was born like dog: he must die like dog. Dlo you still cling to those theories when you placed upon her coffin lid the words At rest?'' Oh, mol You Immediately went back to the sweet faith of your iatier and mother. You acted in your own ne just as Ethan Allen, the New Englano infldel, acted In reference to his dylng daughter. She called the great reVolu- tionary soldier into her bedroom and said' Papa, I am going to dle. Mamma says there are Christ and herea1ter-n trust him. You say there Is no hereaIter' I am dying. papa, and l must make my last decision now. Whom shall l believe! Shall I accept mammals Christ or your inf1delity?' The great soldiers frame
  had just finished his famous infidel book called Reason, the Only Oracle Of Man." he turned and said, My darling, you had better die in your mothers faith, and not in my unbelief." And so when the death angels wings began to fiutter over the bed of one of your loved ones with one blow 1t not only struck your heart, but 1t also knocked your infdelity clean out of your life You immediately said, as you looked into the pale face sleeping in the casket: "I know she lives. l know she Is living In some other world for me" And as you look up to see where that other world Is do you not feel that you were being struck by Galilean tempest, as were the disciples of old? Do you not feel that through the dark shadow of the death angels wing you have been able to see the spiritual face of Jesus Christ as never before? It was trouble that did it-tempestuous trouble alone which made you use the hillock of grave for 8 kneeling stool at the altar of mercy and pardon and love.
 The dark tempestuous nights in your sick-room have often been in Gods sight the bright dawn of a day of Christian usefulness. Perhaps I can well illus trate this thought by telling the personal history of famous American minister He told me in the sick-room his personal experiences, the recital of which made a lasting impression upon my mind and heart He Is very dear friend of mine.
 For many years this minister was not only admired, but loved. But whenever man went to hear him preach he did not know exactly where that minister stood. A nearer could not say he was un- orthodox, because in his sermons he al- ways called Jesus a Divine King. Neither could the nearer say this preacher was true believer. His sermons could al- ways be questioned. They would nearly always have something in them that would make the nearer say: q wonder what the preacher means by that? Is he one of those liberals who only believe the Bible in spots, who only believe what they want to believe?"
 When the Morning Came
 But one day the newspapers all over the country had the startling telegraphic announcement, "Dr So-and-so Is s...,, ' Then came the reports that Dr. So-and-so might die. For weeks and months that famous minister lowered between life and death. Then he came back to his pulpit and to his work. But now what change If any stranger goes to hear him preach, the first and the last thought he has Is: ''Dr So-and-so Is nothing more or less than mighty gospel evangelist. He has Christ in the beginning of his sermon, Christ in the middle of his ser mon, Christ all the may through" Do you know the cause of this marvellous change? It was the Galilean tempest of physical pain that did 1t. pr. So-and-so told me that never before did he truly know what the purpose of preaching was until he lay upon that bed of suffering. For months the barking of a dog would cut him like a knife. For months he lay in his room, an exile in agony; for months he had but one wish, and that was to die. But when God led him forth out of that Galilean tempest to preach Jesus Christ he came forth a new man. He was a Saul, the member of a Hebrew sanhedrin changed into the mighty atg who had fought with the beasts at Eph- esus. He became the disciple of the Lord, looking and pleading for a spiritual Christ alone.
 It was physical pain that helped make Frederick w. Robertson one of the great est soul winners of his day. It was phy- sical pain that helped draw the multi tudes to the cross when Robert Hall preached in London and John Summer field preached in America. And 1t Is phys ical pain which nearly all of us have suf- fered in the past and physical weakness which many of us are suffering now which ought to make us turn our faces toward the Good Physician who can heal the body and heal the soul.
 Two Kinds of Trouble
 Now. trouble comes to us in one of two ways. and 1t rests with every one to de- eide in which of the two ways 1t shall come to him. It may come as a sancti- fled trouble, or as an unsanctihed trouble. It came in both forms to the thieves who were crucified with Jesus. To the one thief the physical agony was unsancti- fled trouble causing him to curse and de- ride Christ; to the other 1t came as sanc- tified trouble, causing him to plead for mercy and love. Unsanctified trouble comes to a man who stands by his child's open casket, and 1t imbitters him and causes him to set his jaw in rebellion and say. "No good God would have taken that child out of my arms" Sanctifed trouble came to a young officer of my