Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1904-02-11
LIGHT IN A HIDDEN Way
A Brilliant Sunday Sermon Ey Rev
Robert C0liyer.
Every Life Should Ge An Open Self Con-
ta!ned Providence Lose Not
iieHrt and Soul.

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 q Hidden Way" His text wa:
job iii:..J: 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 over 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 III its simplicity and epic
melody, sublime i'll its sorrow and recon
ciliation; choral melody, old as the
heart OF man. soft as the summer MD
night. wonderful as the word with its
seas and stars; and there is no other thing
in the Bible, OF out Of it, of equal merit
! suppose 1t is not possible now to tell
whether the book is a 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, III all fairness. to he 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 i'll this dlrec-
ton this is clear that when Job put the
question | have taken for text he was as
far down in the world as man can be
who Is not abaSad by sin.
Job had been the richest man in the
countryside. houo,cd by all Who knew him
Tor his wisdom. hls good ness o. his money
He was now 81 poor that, he says. men
dcridcd him whose fathers he would not
have set with the dogs oI ms flock. lie
had been sound. healthy man. full ot
sight to the blind, feet TO the Ilmc a
father to the poor and "A defender of the
oppressed. lie was now Il diseased and
broken man, sittI1g in the ashes OF n
ruined home; his fire; all gone out. his
household goods all shattered his children
all dead. and his wife. the mother OF his
ten children. lost to the mighty love whl,h
will take ever so deClte and true-hearted
woman at such time aud make her
tower of strength to the man. Ills wife,
who should have stood a~ the angels stand,
at once bv his side and above him. turned
on him in his uttcrmo,t SORROW, and said,
Curse God. and die
Two things, in this -ad tmc seem TO
have smLten Job with unrunYucrAbr
pain. First, he could not make hi, condi.
ton chord with his convection o. what
ought to have happened. He had been
trained to believe N the axiom we put up
in our Sunday y-Scnooi>, hat 10 be good i ia
be happy. Now he had been good and Vet
here he was. as miserable a. It was pos
sble for a man TO be. Aud the wuIst ri
all was. he could not deaden down to the
level OF his misery. The light gwen INN
hA lot Ia
rest. His subtle spirit, pierced, rcst!css
dissatisfied, tried him every moment.
Questions like these came up IN his m,nd: :
why have | lost my money! | made K
honestly, and made good use OF it. Why
is my home ruined? never brought upon
it one shadow of disgrace. Why am
bereayen of my children. and worse than
bereaven OF my wife! II this is the result
of goodness, where Is cause and effect
What is there to hold OH by. II all this
misery and mlldew can come OF upright,
downright truth and purity
Questions like these forced themselves
upon him and would not he slIcncci. II
these spirits that troubled hjm could have
whispered, Now Joh, what is the use OF
your whining? You know that You have
got just what YOU deserve; that AoH are
a poor, old pewter Peckanifi, with not one
grain OF real silver about You. Your who.e
hlg mas oeen Shah' ~,
INC second tIet.eH' III ,' '"o .n'srn .,',, !
seems 10 ne III the ,arl thal theIt "Ppe'Ieu
70 be iight everywhere except on ms own
life. Ii life would only strike fair aver
age; II other good men mad suffered too'
or even bad men--then he could bear it
better. But the world went on Just the
same The sun shone With as much
splendor as on his wedding day. The moon
poured out her tides of moult on gold, night
irettea the piue vault W!th nreS' tree,
blossomed blrdS sang, ana young men ana
,maidenS danceo unaef the pa'hiSS;; other
MONIES were iuit OF g'aunesS. ln's man
had so!d ms clp Tor great price lhe
hghtnlnY hao siam Jno shreP' lnI'
man hnu opie wen III ud''N' NY 'orhhuo
mad twisted Jon trees down NaN' worst
OF All. mere We're wicked men nEh'y IN
wealth; their hoascS IN pcart' Wl,hoat rear
their children estabA'he9 III thr'1 sieht
sending forth niue ones 'ike Il mock spend
ing tner days III prosperity ana Set say
ing. Who Is the Almighty mat we should
fear linn me mere ne was, a poor
wreck, stranded on 4 utso'ate shore' a
broken man crying oh, that II were VIVA
me as IN days gone by; when the cand'e OF
the Loro shohe round ABOUT me; Wheh l
took my seat IN, the markGt pace, dnd
justice was my robe and dladem When |
think OF IT, ! am contounded. One d'eth
in the fnllness of his prosperity, wholly
at ease and quiet; another d'eth IN the
bitterness OF ms soul. not having tasted
pleasure; How Is 1t! What does 1t mean.
Why is hight given to man whose way is
hid"
Now, | suppose that not many men ever
fall into such supreme deso;ation as thus,
that is made to centre in the life OF this
most sorrowful man, "lt 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 ard women
who are conscious OF tn" iight sh'"tnI;. b1t
who cannot find the way; whose condition
will not chord with their conception Of
life, and who. in certain sense, wQuId
be better if they wcrH rot SO good. The
very perfection Of their nature is the way
by which they are mn>t easily bruised.
Keen, earnest, onward, not satisfied to be
below their own ideal, they are vet
turned 50 woefu''y this way and that by