The Penn's Grove record., 1904-04-22

~OhOOhL1N, ". I-Tfor MS sunday ser
mon, in the Tabernacle NJ. E. Church,
Greenpoint, the pastor, the Rev. Lincoln
HOLSTER Caswell, took as his subject "a
Little Inquiry Into Tribulation." The
text was from Romans v: 8: But we
glory in tribulations." Mr.. Caswell said:
Unto each the ever recurring questions
come. Whence the mission of adversely?
Why the existence of troubles Do pain
and pleasure proceed from kindred laws?
How is it that while our earth in it's orbit
keeps symphony with the host Of heaven,
it yet bears the undertone of anguish in
its bosom?
Snall we answer by impeaching Infinite
justice, by declaring the Tyranny of pain.
by asserting the bondage of suffering?
Not SO. But rather ilC~.re for the mission
of trouble and learn the utility of ADVERSE
ty. 1t is clear to the student of ethics
that there is an unknown quantity in the
formula of suffering. In this question K
equals life-life of service or of idieness:
of force or Of weakness; or grand or of
mean proportions. Adversely either makes
or ruins a man, his individual character
alone determining whether he shall be
crushed or exalted. Opposing forces stim-
ulate to heroic action. A man may choose
to dwell in luxury, but he must do SO at
the expense of the stronger forces of char
acter. 1t is hard to endure pain, it is
far harder to resist ease, but by resisting
and by enduring are wrought out those
prlncely qualities which are attributes of
the ideal man. And SO we are placed amid
forces, rude and contrary, that we may
gain the glory of breaking and bridling
them. If nature and environment should
befrlend and never oppose, crafty and
never grieve, satisfy and never smite, life
would become immeasurably less noble.
1t IS not uncommon to think that suf-
fering, as well as sin, comes feet footed
from Tartarus, whereas, suffering is not
dependent upon sin. There is a ministry
of suffering. but there can never be a min
istry of evil. Is hatred the cause of love;
revenge of forgiveness; selfshness of gen
crosby; vice of virtue? Humility is not
the daughter of pride, nor is error the
propagation of truth. 1t is not true for a
man to hold that because he has sinned
he is capable of reaching a higher holiness.
Give not evil the credit of befriending hui
manity. Sin alienates, debases, ruins. Be-
hold how suffering rise above evil! Evil
is Infamous; suffering may be glorious.
Evil merits antipathy; suffering often de-
serves praise. Evil swears fealty to the
internal; suffering never. but repeatedly
vow allegiance to the Infinite. To punish
evil is suffering's smallest province. 1t
exists for a higher purpose than retribu-
tion-for a stimulating, educating, atoning
purpose so that Affections are but the
shadows of Gods wings"
Upon material things a literature is
written. Read it! 1t tells of strife, strug-
gle, contention. The law of dissolution CO.
operates with the law Of growth. The
rock dies that the vegetable may live; the
plant withers that the animal may grow;
the body decays that the spirit may tx
pand eternally. Counter forces make the
life of the universe. The meteor CLEANS
because of resistance; the shimmering con-
stellations that glow upon the brow Of
night are but fire balls from the furnace of
the sun; light itself, respondent and vi
talizing, comes from combustion, antag-
onism and chemical conflict. Adversely
enters into the very nature of things.
Earth's living forms once slumbered in the
granite rock. and would still have slum-
bered but for adverse forces active with
in. Chemicals were there to disintegrate,
earthquakes to shatter, fires to fuse. gla-
ciers to grind. There were corrodings,
consumings, erosions, decayings. wither-
ings and washing until the solid granite
unfolded its treasures to make possible
ORGANIC life.
selection struggle for existence" "sur-
vival of the fttest?" They indicate that
all life is an extended conflict, where each
order preys upon the next below and Crap
Piles with the next above for mastery.
The life of nations Is 10 exception to
this law. Civilization NAV boast of her
attachments, but revolt and revolution are
the arbiters for her progress. She may ex-
ult in the evolution of government, but
turmoil. violence, bloodshed cry out, we
are factors in thy prosperity
What people were more oppressed than
the ancient Hebrews? Rameses enslaved
them in Egypt, hardship harassed them
in the wilderness; the Land of Promise
pledged but little mere than shock on
shock Of battle. That. was the nation
buffeted, defeated. tried-that became the
safe depository OF truth, au1 gave to the
world as its consummate flower Diety In
carnate.
What has been the discipline by which
our own nation has attained its present
strength 1t had indeed a wonderful pa
rentage. The brave little Netherlander
whom the Council Of Blood. the Inqulsi-
ton and the Holy See could not down;
the glorious Huguenot fresh from hearing
the blood cries of st. Bartholomew; the
sturdy, ps~alm-singing Puritan who wrnng
Magma Charta from John who served
Hampden to resist the king, who animated
Cromwell and his Ironsides at Marston
Moor and Naseby, who taught Vane how
to die, who struggled amid overwhelming
forces for religious liberty; these, whom
the American is proud to wi as worthy
ancestors, are all sons of hardship and en-
durance, ~eonquerors In the nobler fields OF
battle. Thus out of milleniums of struggle
with the myriad-headed hydra Of persecu-
ton arises the America of to-day. The ma
tion's birth was marked by pain. Speak,
We noble slain of Bunker Hill Ye patriots
clashing arms with an alien Zoe! Shout:
We pallid lips of the blood stained snow OF
Valley Forgel And tell us that freedom is
gained by devotion to death; that liberty
rides triumphant over a road macadamlzed
by the bones Of its devotees; tell us that
the advancing stages of national life are
heralded by conflict and fastened by the
presence of a martyr host!
Passing into the realm of the intellee-
tual it is found that the power of incisive
intellect IS purchased with the hard com
of struggle. The product of genius is
dearly bought. No pioneer Of philosophy,
or science, or religion ever blazed his way
through untrod forests who was not con-
fronted by poverty, prejudice or ardshlps
innumerable. Not in courts of ease; not
in rich classic halls; not in the midst of
fame and loud huzzas are deepest emotion
engendered, rarest truths found nor sub
FINEST conceptions begotten. From a cup
of hemlock in Athens; from the cross In
Jerusalem; from an apostles dungeon at
Rome; from the chamber of a blind bard
in London nave come the thoughts that
have swayed the world.
Why is the sacred page so filed with
tenderness, pathos and comfort? 1t was
not written with a golden pen in an easy
chair, in a scholastic library. For ink,
there were tears of a multitude of weepers.
For pens, there were fishermen, shep-
herds, bedouins Of the desert. slaves, con-
victs and martyrs. For libraries, there
were desolate rocks, caverns, mountain
sides, sea shores and prison walls. Out Of
such harsh and unfavorable conditions
came the volumn which, through all the
years has been coveted by the bereaved,
sought by the lonely, loved by the trou-
bled. Excellence of thought comes by way
of toll, endurance, denial.
Mind, capable of Infinite thoughts, has
its Gardens of G~ethsemane. Mind wears
the crown of thorns in the very hour of
lofty achievement.
1t is said that De Bull assembled the
rough mountains Of Norway, there he saw
the majestic storm, heard the weird wall
Of the pines. listened to the roar Of the
cascades, and from these he caught those
rapturous tones with which he charmed
the heart of the world. Thus it is be-
cause men have climbed some craggy Mat
terhorn Of chilling adversely, descended in
IN eonnn vale Of shadows hr Eered by some