The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-05-04
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN INTERESTING DISCOURSE BY THE
REV. l. H. CASWELL
Subject "A Little Inquiry Into Tribula-
1ation" - A Pathetic Figure is the
Shilly-sha1ly Youth CuddIed in Luxury
and Shrinking From Life's Combat.

SQ1lly-Hnally 1OuGD CuUQ2eu In LuAWIy
and Shrinking From Life's 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.n 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 trouble@ Do pain
and pleasure proceed from kindred laws? Z?
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
its bosom?
Snail we answer by impeaching Infinite
justice, by declaring the Tyranny Of pain,
by asserting the bondage of suffering?
Not so. But rather i:,o..re for the mission
of trouble and learn the utility of adversi-
ty. 1t 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: ::
of force or OF weakness; or grand or Of
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 so 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 paced amid
forces, rude and contrary, that We may
gain the glory of breaking and bridling
them. If nature and environment should
befriend and never oppose, crafty and
never grieve, satisfy and never smite,- life
would become immeasurably less noble.
1t is not uncommon to think that sui.
fering. as well as sin, comes fleet footed
from Tartarus, whereas, suffering IS not
dependent upon sin. There is a 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. 1t is not true tor 2
man to hold that because he has sinned
he is capable of reaching a 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 suffering's smallest province. 1t
exists for higher purpose than retribu-
tion-for stimulating, educating, atonlng
purpose so that Affections are but the
shadows of Gods wings"
Upon material things 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 ex-
pand eternally. Counter forces make the
life of the universe. The meteor CLEANS
because of resistance; the shinmering con.
stel!ations that glow upon the brow OF
night are but fire balls from the furnace of
the sun; light itself, resplendent. and vi
taiizing, 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 sluln-
bered but for adverse forces active with
in. Chemicals were there to disntegrate,
earthquakes to shatter, fires to fuse. gla-
ciers to grind. There were corrodrhgs,
consunlings, erosions, decayinEs. wlther.
ings and washing until the solid granite
unfolded its treasures to make possible
organic life. ,
selection" struggle for existence, sur
yval of the fittest?" They indicate shat
all lie is an extended conflict, where each
order preys upon the next below and grap-
pies with the next above for mastery.
The life of nations is no exception to
this law. Civilization NAV boast of her
attainments, but revolt and revolution are
the arbters for her progress. She may ex'
ult in the evolution OF government .dIl pvt
turmoil, violence, bloodshed cry out, I'VE
are factors in thy prosperity"
the ancient Hebrews? Rameses enslaved
them in Egypt, hardship harassed them
in the wilderness; the Land of Promise
pledged but little more than shook 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 DIety In
carnate. -.
What las been the discipline by which
our own nation has attained its present
strength? 1t had indeed wonderful pa
rentage. The brave little Netherlander
whom the Council of Blood. the Inquisi-
ton and the Holy See could not down;
the glorious Huguenot fresh from hearing
the blood cries of st. Bartholomew; the
sturdy, psa!m-sineing Puritan VINO wrung
Magma Charta from John. who served
Hampden to resist the king, who animated
Cromwell and his Ironsdes 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 myrad-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 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 dcvOtees: 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 lntellec'
tual it is found that the power OF lnclslve
intellect is purchased with the hard com
Of struggle: The product OF genus Is
dearly bought. No pioneer of philosophy,
or science, or rellglon ever piazeo his way
through untrod forests who was not con-
fronted by poverty. prejud;ce or !ardships
innumerable. Not in courts of ease; not
in rich classic halls; not in the midst of
fame and loud huzzas are deepest emotion
encendered, rarest truths found nor sub
limest 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 have 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 golden pen IN an easy
chair, in a scholastic library. For INK,
there were tears OF a multitude OF weepers.
For mems, there were fishermen, shep-
III l. Ia,,;nn nf the desert Sizes con-