The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-12-11

men VINO mad lived until they were thirty
~ forty or fifty years old, and many OF
tucm have said, l cannot understand why
4 did not yield. before. What riddles VIC
are % 0urselyesl How strangely we acti
How often men fail in their strongest
point! Why you would say, for instance,
that an Elijah would never be found a
quaking coward, whining uader n iunincr
tree; a man who could defy the king and,
whas u worse. DEFY the woman. the wife
OF tho king falling down and asking that
he might die. Elijah l. not tho only one.
Some men that YOU know have failed, when
they failed, Ia their very strongest point
What an enigma we are to ourselves who
can understand himself? I would give
more 90 know my own self than an else
beside, save God and jesus Christ
But lOol, Gt the enigma Of 40 many lives
Take for instance, the problem OF personal
suffering. Why is II that there IL so much
suffering? Why Is It that some of the best
people are crucifed so awfully2 Why is it
that some Of the most refined souls have
the arrows driven iurthest into their quiv.
ering hearts? Do you know why? Can
you explain II? Can you explain the re-
verses that come, and come 20 the very
best OF people? Do you know why some
Of the noblest OF men and women are re-
duccd from comfort, from atiiueuce,
through the meanness o. their own chill
dren or through the rascahty Of trusted
friends, 10 almost perjury?
| know woman of a refined sensitive
spirit, who has been for more than a third
of a century cruched 70 a wooden man.
Some preacher, OF course herself consent
ing, more than a third Of century united
her TO that wooden man. | am not draw
ing upon my Imagination; / have them
right in my mind; / know them. Not only
a blockhead Of a man, but man with a
wooden heart. just the opposite Of his
wife. IN her aspirations, refinement aud
sensltlveness. IL was hard for me all the
time | knew them not 10 despise him as
would dog, and think the only son and
daughter did almost despise their own
father as they would despise a cur. Now,
why was that woman crucifed TO that
man?
Here is a young woman with two or
three bairnies, wee bits Of tOddling things,
clinging to her skirts, and that man is
stricken down In the prime Of manhood
just when he is needed. How can we talk
Of the consolation Of the gospel in such a
case. I have not spoken at funerals Tor
years; l only read the word of God and
try to pray bearing up to God the hearts
that are before me. | will not attempt to
explain what is ineXpiicable to myself.
All | can say is what Jesus said. WHAT |
do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt
understand hereafter And behind that
/ stand, waiting. 1t is mockery to under.
take to explain to the soul in such posi-
ton the enigma that appals and over
whelms her.
said moment ago, for must not leave
you under dark cloud; said a moment
ago, of this woman who was cruciied for
thirty years, that she was one Of the saint
Hest and noblest women have ever
known, and what have said Of her is true.
One of the most faithful in the church,
loyal to the pastor, foremost in missionary
work and one of the most noble souls
knew, and | am not sure but tnat there Is
the relation of cause and effect. Is not
that wooden man the cause of the beauty
of her character? Has not his imperfec-
ton Of nature, his coaTseness, driven that
soul to communion with Him who is the
chief among ten thousand and the One al
together lovely? And has not her contact
with His transformed her into His like
ness, whom she loves, not having seen?
May il not be that we grow in spite OF
our weights, and that these deprivatiOns,
these Affections, this hard disposition, if
you please. may it not be that they are
weights intended to develop US into the
larger manhood and the greater nobilities
of the soul? Look at Jesus Christ. Tbs
story in brief is the incarnation, ID the
ministry, is Gethseulane, is the cross. is
the grave. Would Jesus ever have become
the worlds Saviour had He not known
Gethsemane and the agony Of the cross
Could He have touched the heart, the sore
heart of the world, had He not gotten
down 70 the very lowest deptha and felt
again and again the iron in His sensitive
soul?
It may be, fellow sufferer, it may ne
gentle woman, that your deprivation, that
your LOSSES your heart Disappointment
will minister to your transformation and
to your final exultation, until you snail
be in spiritual stature able to stand even
shoulder to shoulder with the Man who
was acquainted with sorrows and griefs.
Now, in conclusion, there IS a time com
ing when we shall have the perfect vision
"For now we see in mirror darkly, but
then face to face"
A young girl fifteen years of age, q
laughter loving, happy Christian girl, wa;
suddenly thrown upon bed OF severe sick
ness; indeed, all one side was totally par
alyzed and she was stricken into almost to
tai blindness. Her family physician, after
making very careful examination, said t.
the sorrowing friends, "She has seen hel
best days, poor child" And this laughter
loving maid responded, doctor, now that
! is not true; my best days are to come wheT
/ shall see the King in His beauty" AnC
so, beloved. our best days are to come
Your best days and mine, the days whoI
! all the mists have rolled away, when al
! the clouds have been dissipated by thu
shining Of His face, the day when all I'd,
enigmas Of life shall be solved, the da!
when we shall see the King in His beauty.
Jonn saws. Beloved, now are we tn,
children of God, and it is not vet made
manifest what we shall be- We. know
that if He shall be manifested we shall b
like Him, for we shall see Him even as +.
is. You and to be like Him who needetl
not to be told about man, for He krey
what was in man. You and to be Ilk
all material substances and forces? 70
aud to be like Him who on the Mount o
Irangfguration shone so that the discin.e