Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1904-02-18
LIGHT ON THE WAY.
OUR REGULAR SUNDAY SERMON.
Every Life Should Be AS An open
Book-Lose Not Heart and rope
An Eloquent Sermon.

Every Life Should Be AS An open q
Book-Lose Not Heart and Hope
An ELOQUENT Sermon. |
BROOKLYN, n Y-Dr. Robert Collyer, {
who recently passed his eightieth birthday, ]
preached Sunday, morning IN the see1nd Snad
Unitarian Church The audience hlled
the church and listened with great atten-
tion to the eloquent words OF the famous
preacher. Dr. Colyer took for his subject
Light on a Hidden Way" His text was
| Job iii rs: 'Why is light gwen to man
whose way is hid?" He said
/ '.The Book of job says Thomas Carlyle,
! rs one of the grandest things ever written
with 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 it's simplicity and epic |
melody, sublime in its sorrow and recon- |
cihaticn: u choral melody, old as the |
heart OF man. soft as the summer mid
night. wonderful as the world 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 a IT true story or sore
that will always keep the critics at work
: as long as there rational and what
!. ought, in all fairness. to be called not
l rational schools in theology. NY own
, idea is that the rude outline of the story
was floating about the desert, as the story
Of Lear or Macbeth fioated about in later
l. times among our own fore-elders, and that,
$ like those great dramas, 1t was taken INTO
/ came out again endowed with this won
l. drous quality of inspiration and life, that
,f will bear it onward through all time. But
20 whatever the truth may be IN this dlrec-
~ | tion this is clear, that when job put the
le question | have taken for text he was as
e. far down in the world as man can be
e. who is not abased by sin.
Job had been the richest man in the
ie countryside, honored by. all who knew h1m
to for his wisdom, his goodness or his money
I'd He was now so poor that, he says, men
derided him whose fathers he would not
have set with the dogs Of his flock lie
CT had been a sound, healthy man, tnll Of
er human impulses and activities: he had beer
bc sight to the blind, feet to the lame, {
nc father to the poor and defender Of the
So oppressed. He was now diseased ant
broken man, sitting in the ashes OF !;
I'D ruined home; his fires all gone out, hi
a. all dead. and his wife. the mother OF M
oy ten children, lost to the mighty love whic]
he will take ever so delicate and true hearte
sh- a woman at such time and MAKE ne
- who should have stood. as the angels stane
at once by his side and above him, turne
on him in his uttermost sorrow, ana sal'
Course God, and die
Two things, in this sad time, seem
have smitten Job with unconquerab
pain. First. he could not make his cond
ton chord with his conviction Of VIII
tss;asd - heeye 8 tbsd Ale He had at f
in our Sunday schools, that to be good IS
be happy. Now he had been good and y
/ mere he was, as miserable as it was pi
! sible for a man to be- Ana the woLs' :
| level of his misery. The light given n
MA on the divine Justice would not let n
gA rest. His subtle spirit, pierced, restle
ga dissatisfied, tried him every momel
Questions like these came up IN ms aa nun
honestly. and made good use of it. w
n IS nv home ruined? I never brought up
~ it one shadow of disgrace. Why am
N bereaven of my children. ana worse IN III
II of goodness, where is cause and et1e
II What is there to hold on by, It all t
~ misery and mildew can come OF uprlg
II downright truth and purity
\ Questions like these forced themsei
+ mon him and would not be silenced;
these spirits that troubled him could h
Whispered, ''Now, Job, what is the use
your whining? You know. know t4as t7la+ you ~on
got just what 70" Pectan ae5erra ,af with NOT got
grain Of real silver about you. Your WI
life has been sham.
The second element IN JOB $ mis-
seems to lie in the fact that there appea
to be light everywhere except on ms =
life. If life would only sti1ke last
noe: if other good men had suffered,
oS even bad men-then he could bea
rison, better. But the world went on Just
,i+ted same. The sun shone with "a, as n
r,ith splendor as on his wedding day: LIS Ihe n
lappi- fretted the blue vault with tires.
llossomed, birds sang, and young men
,o, maidens danced under the palms; Y
pres homes were full of gladness.. This
+ the had sold his clip for great price;
yfully lightning had slain Jobs sheep +o
Ii her man had done wen III III da.e1' 49,, Va Nav
Win Of all here were wicked men,. might
walls wealth; their houses in peace, without
hore sending forth little ones like tiock, s. s.
nave mo their DAYS in prosperity and yet
h pos ING inc WHO is the Almighty that we 81
of | fear Him?'' While here he was.
broken broken man. crying ooh, that it were
me as in days gone by, when the can!
azz7-za@e, azz7-zae the Lord shone round about me; W
! took my seat in the market plae9e;
\ justice was my robe and dladem!o s on w
| | think of it. I am confounded. Onc
in the fullness Of his prosperity,
. | at ease and quiet: another dleth 1
bitterness OF his soul. not having
pleasure How is it? What does 1t
WHY is light given to a man whose
hid?"
:, II Now, I suppose that not many me-
~ fall into such supreme desolation al
Y that is made to centre in the lie
= most sorrowful man It IS !ne =
of that which is in itself positive.
~ then. it is true that we may reach
all directions and find men and
who are conscious of the light sh1nlr
who cannot find the way; whose COZ
will not chord with their concept
life and who. in certain sense.
be better if they. were not SO good q
very perfection of their nature IS t.
~sl by which they are most easily Q
Keen. earnest, onward, not SATISFIED
s below their own ideal, they a.
4IsI turned so woefu1ly this way and t
9sE adverse circumstances that. at Tn
~ they come to accept their hfe as a q
lUS and bear it in griw silence, or u
B rs the masts when the storm, conn
sYs drift, helpless hull, M hroadslde ads -
~, breakers to 60 down finally ike 81 s.
~ A young man comes to town town = T
country full of purpose and hope: !.
es:sst ssasss difficulties confront him; he strlv
81 & remains poor At last. when hune
faint and alone, the devil comes. IS.
First person, probably, but still oe,
1 Tbo