The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1904-04-21
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN INTERESTING DISCOURSE BY THE
REV. l.. H. CASWELl.

Subject: GA Little Inquiry Into Tribula-
lation A Pathetic Figure is the
Shilly-shally Youth Cuddled in Luxury
and Shrinking From Lies Combat.
BROOKLYN. n. Y.-For his Sunday ser
mon, in the Tabernacle NJ. E. Church,
Greenpoint, the pastor, the Rev: Lincoln
! Hollister Caswell, took as his subject "A
Little Inquiry Into Tribulation.' The
text was from, Romans v: 8: But we
glory in trioulations." Mr.. Caswell said:
| Unto each the ever recurring questions
come. Whence the mission of adversely!
Why the existence of trouble? Do pain
and pleasure proceed from kindred laws?
How is it that while our earth in its orbit
keeps symphony with the host of heaven,
it yet bears the undertone of anguish IN
it's bosom:
Snail we answer by impeaching Infinite
! justice, by declaring the Tyranny Of pain,
| by asserting the bondage of suffering!
Not so. But rather iau~.re for the mission
! of trouble and learn the utility of adversl-
| ty. It is clear TO the student OF ethics
that there is an unknown quantity In the
! formula of suffering. In this question x
equals life-life of service or of idleness;
mean proportions. Adversely either makes
; or ruins 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 50 at
the expense of the stronger forces of char
acter. It is hard to endure pain, 1T is
: far harder to resist ease, but by resisting
| and by enduring are wrought out those
princely 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 brldlng
! befriend and never oppose, crafty and
I never grieve, satisfy and never smlte, lite
/ would become immeasurably less noble.
It 10 not uncommon to think that SUI,
| fering, as we'll as sin, comes fleet footed
| from Tartarus, whereas, suffering is not
! dependent upon sin. There is ministry
| of suffering. but there can never be min
| istry of evil. Is hatred the cause of love;
revenge of forgiveness; selfshness OF gen.
erosity; vice Of virtue? Humility is not
the daughter Of pride, nor is error. the
propagator of truth. It is not true for
man to hold that because he has sinned
! he is capable of reaching higher holiness.
| Give not evil the credit of befriending hu.
manity. Sin alienates, debases, ruins. Be.
hold how suffering rises 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
vows allegiance to the Infinite. To punish
evil is sufering's smallest province. 1t
exists for a higher purpose than retribu-
| tion-for stimulating, educating, ,atoning
purpose so that "athictions are but the
| shadows of Gods wings.
Upon material things literature IS
! written. Read it! 1t tells of strife, strug-
i 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;
7 the body decays that the spirit may ex-
pand eternally. Counter forces make the
life of the universe The meteor CLEANS
| because of resistance; the shimmecing con.
! stellations that glow upon the brow OF
night are but fire balls from the furnace OF
J the sun; light itself, resplendent and VI
talizing, comes from combustion, antag-
onism and chemical conflict Adversely
| enters into the very nature. OF things
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. wlther-
! ines and washing until the solid granite
unfolded its treasures to make possible
organic life.
What mean the expressions, natural
selection" struggle for existence, sur
| vival of the fittest?" They indicate that
| all life is an extended conflict, where each
:: order preys upon the next below and crap
pies with the next above for mastery.
The life Of nations is no exception to
attainments, 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, I'VE
| 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 more than shock On
shock of battle. That was the nation
! buffeted, defeated. tried-that became the
safe depository of truth, and gave to the
! world as its consummate flower Dlety In
! carnate.
! What has been the discipline by which
our own nation has attained it's present
strength? 1t had indeed wonderful pa
! rentage. The brave little Netherlander
| whom the Council of Blood, the 1nquisi-
ton and the Holy See could not down;
the glorious Huguenot fresh from hearing
the blood cries of St. Bartholomew; the
! sturdy, psalm-singing Puritan who wrung
Magma Charta from John. who served
I 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 own as worthy
ancestors, are all sons Of hardship and en-.
durance. conquerors 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
! tons birth was marked by pain. Speak,
We noble slain of Bunker Hill! Ye patriots
clashing arms with an alien foe! Shout:
We pallid lips of the blood stained snow OF
Valley Forge! And tell us that freedom is
gained by devotion to death; that liberty
rides triumphant over a road macadamized
BY the bones of its deyotees: tell us that
the advancing stages of national Life are
heralded by conflict and FASTENED by the
presence of martyr host!
Passing into the realm Of the intellec-
| L...1 - - fo,,nd that tho now3r of incIsiVe