The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1904-02-18
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE BY THE
REV. DR.. Robert ccLLYER.
He Took For His Subject "Light on a
Hidden WAY Livery Life Should ];e
an Open. Self Contained Providence
Lose Not Heart and Hope.

an Open. Self-Contained Providence
Lose Not Heart and Hope.
| BROOKLYN, n. Y.-Dr. Robert Coltver,
who recently passed his eightieth birthday;
preached Sunday. morning in the SECOND
Unitarian Church The audience filled
the church and listened with great atten-
tion to the eloquent words of the famous
| preacher DR.. Col.yer took for his subject
Light on a Hidden Way" His text was
job iii:. 5: Why is light given to a man
whose way is hid:" He said:
| '"The Book of job" says Thomas CARLYLE,
"is one of the grandest things ever written
with a pen: our first statement, in books,
of the problem of the destiny Of man and
the way God takes with him on this
| earth; grand in its simplicity and epic
| melody, sublime in its sorrow and recon-
| Citation: choral melody, o!d as the
night, wonderful as the word with its
seas and stars; and there is no other thing
in the Bible, or out of it, of equal merit
! I suppose it is not possible now to tell
whether the book is true story or a sort
of Oriental drama. The question is one
| that will always keep the critics at work
| as long as there are rational and what
| ought, in all fairness. to be called not
| rational schools in theology. My own
| idea is that the rude outline of the story
was floating about the desert, as the story
of Lear or Macbeth hoated about in later
times among our own fore-elders, and that,
| like those great dramas, it was taken into
| the heart of some man now forgotten and
came out again endowed with this won
drous quality of inspiration and life, that
| will bear it onward through all time. But
whatever the truth may be in this direc-
tion this is clear, that. when JOB put the
question I have taken for text ne was as
far down in the world as man can be
who is not abased by sin.
Job had been the richest man in the
countryside, bonored by all who knew him
for his wisdom, his goodness or his money.
He was now so poor that. he says, men
derided him whose fathers he would not
have set with the dogs of his Aock. He
had been a sound. healthy man, full of
human impulses and activities; he had been
sight to the blind, feet to the lame, a
father to the poor and defender of che
oppressed. He was now diseased and
broken man, sitting in the ashes Of a
household goods all shattered, his children
all dead. and his wife, the mother of his
ten children, lost to the mighty love which
| will take ever so delicate and true-hearted
a woman at such time and make her
a tower of strength to the man. His wife,
who should have stood, as the angels stand.
at once by his side and above him, turned
on linn in his uttermost sorrow, end said,
"Curse God, and die"
Two things, in this sad time, seem to
have smitten Job with unconquerable
pain. First, he could not make his condi-
ton chord with his conviction of what
ought to have happened. He had been
trained to believe in the axiom We put up
~ our S,,p1oy-coboo1e that RI ho ooo2 ic fo
be happy. Now he had been good and yet
here he was. as miserable as it was pos
sible for a man to be- And the worst of
all was. he could not deaden down to the
level of his misery. The light given him
on the divine justice would not let him
rest His subtle spirit. pierced, restless,
dissatisfied, tried him every moment.
Questions like these came up in his mind:
'"Why have ! lost my money! l made 1t
honestly, and made good use OF it; Why
is my home ruined? l never brought upon
it one shadow OF disgrace. WY am
bereaven of my children. and worse than
bereaven of my wife? If this is the result
of goodness, where 10 cause and effect?
What is there to hold on by. if al this
misery and mildew can come of upright,
downright truth and purity?'
Questions like these forced themselves
upon him and would not be silenced: II
these spirits that troubled him could have
whispered, "Now, Job, what is the use OF
your whining? You know that you have
got just what you deserve; that you are
grain of real silver about you. Your Whole
Life has been sham"
The second element in Jobs misery
seems to lie in the fact that there appeared
to be light everywhere except on his own
life. If life would only strike a fair aver
age; if other good men had suffered, too,
or even had men-then he could bear it
better. Eut the world went on just the
same. The sun shone with az much
splendor as on his wedding day. The moon
poured out her, tides of moulton gold, night
blossomed, birds sang, and young men aud
maidens danced under the palma: Other
homes were full of g.adness. This man
had sold his clip for a great price; the
! lightning had slain Jobs sheep. That
man had done we'll in dates: the tornado
had twisted Jobs trees down. Nay. worst
of all. here were wicked men,, mighty in
wealth; their houses in peace, without fear;
their children established in their sight,
sending forth little ones like flock, spend.
ing their days in prosperity and ~ yet a,ii say;
fear Him." While here he was. q poor
wreck, stranded on deso!ate shore. a
broken man. crying, "Oh, that it we're with
me as in days gone by, when the candle OF
the Lord shcne round about me; when |
| took my seat in the market place. and
Justice was my robe and diadem! When |
think of it, am confounded. One dieth
in the fu.lness of his prosperity, wholly
at ease and quiet: another dieth in the
bitterness of his soul, not having tasted
! pleasure. How is it? What does it mean
| Why is light given to man whose way is
! hidw
Now, I suppose that not many men ever
| fall into such supreme deso;ation as this,
| that is made to centre in the life OF this
| most sorrowful man. "It is the possible
of that which is in itself positive" But
then. it is true that we may reach out in
! all directions and find men and worlen
who are conscious of the light shining. bat
who cannot find the way; whose condition
| will not chord with their conception OF
| life, and who. in q certain sense, would
| be better if they were not so good. The
very perfection of their nature is the way
| by which they are most easily bruised
Keen, earnest, onward, not satisfied to b,
, below their own ideal, they are yet
turned so woefully this way and that BY
| adverse circumstances that. at the last,
| they come to accept their life as a doom,
and bear it in grim silence, or they cut
! the masts when the storm comes and
DRIFT. helpless hull, broadside to the
| breakers, to 60 down finally like g! stone.
vouno man comes to town from the