The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-01-08

4zH 1@@E w ORR S1TY.-' Hearts Ease" was
Ahe 9saR3eeE OF the sermon Sunday morning
Fhe Old First Presbyterian Church
NAfkh Avenue and Twelfth street. by Che
rie ~. howard Duhield, pastor The
teNE N from John, xiv: l (Revised Ver-
SION Let not your heart be troubled.
VIZ. Dnfi8ld said:
Let hot their hearts be troubled? How
coulA SkeY help it? They were not men
whogtlne1 the world well and they were
" going QUITO face the world alone They
IS OF the schools, and they were to be the
teachers oinove profound and revolution
airy, truths. They were impulsive, undis-
81 ccitplined and without social influence.
Hitherto n every hour of difficulty d.
~ SAse4le friend had stood at their side to
.R.H. Kht upon the shield OF His love every
of al (which was launched at them. Now
~ ~ Xlnilst address themselves unfrended
~ Mission such as men never attempted,
~ stua$Ney must enter upon their adventure
I& pr UNI With bereavement and crushed with
a5eoIAzapusness of helplessness How could
rney M# otherwise than 'troubledw 1t is
slnp mockery to say to the heart which
rs hNWed with the mystery of pain and
IN hainted with the bitterness o. loneliness
"a ana sfung with the keen sense of its ina
bllitF to cope with the responsibilities of
81 existence, Don't be troubled" The OPP
1 pressed soul is ready to reply, "Pour acid
upon alkali and say do not ferment' But
when wishes are thwarted and hopes are
withered, and endeavor has it's upshot
IN disappointment, and the light of life
. has bgone into eclipse, do not say to me,
fuA Let not your heart be troubled Either
!. 81 8you have not measured my grief or the iron
Hty,saS never entered your SOUL"
YBut he who spoke this sentence had
taken the exact measure of the woe OF
those to whom He spoke, and He knew
The wormwood tang of sorrows blacklist
draught. His acquaintance with grief
was lifelong. He knew grief not as a
casual pass erby upon the streets. He
knew grief not as we know some neigh
Dor By occasional sight. He waa the in:
innate and inseparabe associate of that
grlEl companion. 1t was just because He
knew the secret sorrow, its strange min
t drultry and its woudrous outcome, that when
ne saw His friends standing at the TIRES
a~-rAsold Of the very life which He Himself had
lived, a life wrought out in loneliness
and suffering and defeat and scorn, a life
of utter sacrifice to a. uplifting of 9TH
ELS, life rejected by the world for whose
enrichment they were to give up every
thing that made their years sweet to
them. He said, 'Iet not your hearts be
troubled" In thought He was looking far
forward from that unknown house in Jeru-
salem beneath whose roof they then were
seated, to another mansion, not made with
hfnds, eternal and glorious in the city OF
God. Present to His gaze was not so
much the pillow and the narrow and the
6pcold dark burrows Of the soedtime, as the
gladstone company Of the reapers laden
with golden sheaves and shouting the song
c+t3he harvest. He was looking across the
st1rm-swept sea of the safe and sheltered
harbor where the troubled waves were
sleeping. He was thinking not only OF
4 the wrench of parting, but of the clasp of
greeting. Present to His mind was not
only the death which was to separate but
the death which was to unite. So He said:
"Let not your heart be troubled, neither
lei it be afraid; During the strange, sad
hours and the hard and weary days that
are coming. believe in God; believe also in
Me; and by and by the doors of your
AJ'ather's house shall open wide for your
Rntrance upon larger, holier, purer min.
istry for which the dsciplines of time
shall have evoked the capacity. If it were
not so. would have told you"
Believe is Christ's talisman for charm
ing away the specter of trouble from the
haunted heart; Believe in the Fathers
plan for His chfld Believe in the Fathers
care of His child There is no speculative
the sore angles of mortal experience.
condemned heart cannot find relief in a
4 logic book The cold bloodless hand of
& Teason never wiped awa5 tear. The in
heartache When one is dying of hunger
u lit. is, no time to discuss the process by
which flour is prepared. When one is
pinched with poverty, it is not the hour
=, breach the tenets Of political economy.
The famine-stricken soul cries for bread,
the bankrupt debtor demands coin. The
troubled heart yearns for God Himself,
and not for anv theoretical d lssion of
the nature of deity. When robIem
OF the cross becomes too sort the
weight of the burden becomes W,
Id not struggle to express your ence
I'm theological formula; do not ST to
Tendure the strain in your l. Sded
strength Lean on God "CGddle down, in
His arms. Be not afraid. Believe. That
is the way Christ would take the sting
from mortal sorrow.
To attempt to analyze such an act of be-
lief as the Master here prescribes would be
like endeavoring to learn to sing by study
ing picture of the larynx One may
master the anatomy of the throat and
! 1i.sYY utter note of song Think your
sell /back into inc situation: Jesus was
IA desk and lecturing to a class with refer
= ence to a neatly articulated system of
dogmas: The shadow of life's mystery
was chilling to the hearts of those He |
loved. and He was striving to kindle in
their breasts vivid luminous, unquench-
able consciousness of the divine sympathy |
His word to them is Realize God in
stead of theorizing about Cod AS though
He said Peter, James, John and all
the rest. YOU have lisped sentences con-
Il, cernlng God since you were little children. !
Il David's holy hymns were your cradle songs.
The sacred roles Of the synagogue have |
spoken to you their Sabbath day messages
from the Infinite One. Your hearts were
burned as you participated in the SOL |
emnities of Passover and Pentecost, which |
celebrated the august soveregnties with |
which God had shaped your nations life. |
With an irrepressbe usefulness YOU have !
pondered the grandeur Of Jehovah as you