Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1904-11-24
"A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
An ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED.
,:SLEEP AS GODS GIFT"
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An ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED,
SLEEP AS GODS GIFT"
Tho Rev. T. A. Nelson. ID. D., Delivers q
STIRRING Address the Subject
SIceplessness," With an Appropriate
! Text Of Comprehensive Meaning.
BROOKLYN, N. Y.-At the Second Pres
Dyterlan Church Sunday morning the pas
tor, the Rev TIA: Nelson, D. D., preached
on the subject, tsSleeplessness. He took
TOT his text, Daniel ii, part Of first verse.
| his spirit was troubled and sleep went
| from him" and said:
mat hne OF the poet Young, "Sleep, ma
lures sweet restorer,' like every other true
poets saying, was inspired. Blessings
light on him who first inverted Sleep
says Sancho Panza, in Don Quixote,. and
Coleridge exclaims, in the Ancient Mari
ner, ", sleep, it is a gentle thingW Ten
nyson speaks of s'the mystery OF golden
sleep" and what mystery indeed it Is. It
IS the most interesting and the most per-
picking OF all physical and metaphysical
mysteries. The mother bends lovingly
over her infant in the cradle and wonders
what it means-this harmless. painless
iapslng OF all life into unbroken tranquil
lity. Those little hands, now so quiet, but
$50 busy most of the time, how beautiful
/ and still they are now. Those limbs COM
posed in attitudes of such unconscious
grace, lying on the pillow; how hard it
generally is to keep them IN order during
wakeful hours. And how unspeakably sol
emn it Is to think how far the child is now
beyond our reach. Who is it, when the
face of the mother fades from the vision,
that takes its soul in charge?
| But when man sleeps the spectacle is
more suggestive. Think of Caesar on his
couch, his vigilant eyes closed, his voice 81
lent, his brain unwerking and still. Think
Of Alexander in the night, looking as he
finally looked in the coffin, dead. Imagine
how David felt when he saw Saul entering
the cave. Think of Cicero fast asleep. Think
of the sleeping Christ lying asleep in the
midst of the tempest, as if He were resting
in the heart of God. When Christ turns
away from US with closed eyes there is al
ways Ways afforded opportunity for the storm.
| We are only at peace while He is wakefully
| with lis. While He sleeps not only is the
| light withdrawn, but the darkness is felt to
the utmost: life's ship is tossed with the
storm and we are threatened with mortal
| danger, A sleeper Christ will do me no
| good. A painted Christ will not be of the
! vaguest service in my life A wooden cru
| must be q wakeful Christ with every en-
orgy astir; power in every look and move
ment; an actual, positive, real and per-
sonal Christ. We are Knocked by His
figure; we arc saved by His personality.
1t is Christ, not in the temporary paralysis
| OF unconscious sleep, but Christ alert in
watchfnl omnipotence that [ need. Unless
| we nightly sink into sleep we are not pre-
pared to live, and anything over which we
| have control which prevents out sleeping
| in proportion to our need should be es-
teemed guilt before God. Sincetthc strength
iiberts e nssfe fei & HaSertSeless Il or at
| day we live in such fashion that, like the
| eastern monarch, our spirits are troubled
| o our sleep departs.
his has come about sometimes from the
| haste to get rich. People rise early and sit
up late in their eager pursuit of wealth,
and when the fading day is done, at last
| lows, sleep may fly from them and they
may seek it in vain. Now this is not a
| light matter. There are few things more
dispiriting and truly exhausting than the
| loss OF natural Sleep; to count hour after
! hour in feverish wakefulness, seeking for
getfulness which will not come.
| Now what is the root Of all this dis
| tress? The physician will doubtless dag
nose it as owing to unhealthy excitement
| of brain and undue sensitiveness OF the
| nervous system. But in it's last analysis
| you will find as general rule the great
| cause OF this, weary wakefulness. anxiety
| and misery is simply want Of faith in God.
| It is because we are not able, as we ought
| to trust ourselves and all that concerns us
| to a sure providence, and many Of you
| know that it is mental anxiety that breaks
your rest. It is because you are trying to
| bear the burden and build the house your
selves, to keep the city yourselves, that
you will plan too far ahead instead of let
| ting each day bear it's own burden; be-
| cause you will ask what is to become of
you and your children if such and such an
event takes place; because you will take
| the future into your own hands instead of
| leaving it to Jesus.
| But why should we not have faith in
| God? If we had, many of US, would not
we sleep? II, once for all, you have in
trusted your soul to His keeping you are
sure that all things will go we'll: that moth
ing can go amiss; that God will keep you,
angels will guide your footsteps and the
Holy Spirit will dwell within you from
| down upon your pillow and rise again, with
the morning light, refreshed.
After trying to explain away our weary
hours of sleeplessness on the basis Of ply
steal infrmity, we have to confess that the
| real source is found in the things that prey
night, and mixed with those anxious
thoughts there are the thoughts that will
Intrude themselves of more serious char
acter. In the still, wakeful hours, even
the most needless one is forced occasionally
to think of Him before whom we must
surely appear and give account Of. our
selves. It is impossible, then, quite to sup.
press question as to where the soul will
be when the body shall be down in its lit
tie bed, when all earthly things have faded
from us. But if you can truly trust that it
is well with you, that amid your deep un.
worthiness you are simply believing on
your Saviour and are striving to grow like
Him; that your task is appointed you OF
God, however humble your sphere, it is
large enough to achieve character; if you
can always feel that Christ is near and
ready to help; that you and those near to
you are provided for by Him and that you
shall never want; if you have once for all
learned whether awake or asleep that you
are the Lords and that you shall live to-
gether with Him, then surely you may sink
into untroubled rest and sleep refreshing
ind peaceful sleep.
But let me come closer still to the exper.
ience of some perhaps among PROCESSING
Christians. You know that heaithful sleel
is our most peaceful state. You see human
nature in that state in which it is most
thoroughly free from all ANNOYANCE and
touble, and that is a symbol of the prov.
nee. ''Thou wilt keep him in psrfec!
I peace whose mind is stayed on Thee .
!. That is wonderful promise, but there ii
no blinking the fact that comparatively
Il few even among those who claim to be