Cherokee scout. [volume] (Murphy, N.C.) 188?-1961, 1904-02-23
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE BY The
REV. Or. ROBERT coLLYER.
He Took For His Subject Light on a
Hidden Way LIVERY Life Should BE
an Open, Self-Contained Providence
Lose Not Heart and Hope,

BROOKLYN, N. Yf-Dr. Robert Collyer,
who recently passed his eightieth birthday
preached Sunday. morning in the Second
Unitarian Church. The audience filled
the church and listened with great .atten-
ton to the eloquent words of the famous
preacher. DR.. Collyer took for his subject
Light! on Hidden Way" His text was
job ills: why is light given 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 its simplicity and epic
melody, Sublime in its sorrow and recon
Sllatlon: choral melody, old as the
heart OF maR soft as the summer Md
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,7
l suppose 1t is not possible now to tell
whether the book is a true story or sort
OF Oriental drama. The question is one
as long as there are rational and what
ought, IN all fairness. to be 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 c Macbeth foated about in later
times among our own fore.clders, and that,
hike those great dramas, it was taken into
the heart soase man now forgotten and
came out 7&gain endowed with thhA won.
drous quality of inspiration and life, that
viii bear it, onward through all time. But
whatever the, truth may be in this diree-
ton this is clear, that when job put the
question | have taken for text he was as
far down in the work. as a man can be
who is not ebased by sin.
Job had been the richest man in the
countryside, honored by all who knew him
for his wisdom, his goodness or his money.
He was now so poor that, he says, men
derided him whose fathers he would not
have set with the dogs of his flock. He
had been a sound, healthy man, full of
human impulses and activities; he had been
sight to the blind, feet to the lame, a
father to the poor and a defender of the
oppressed. He was now a diseased and
broken man, sitting in the ashes of a
ruined home; his fires 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 which
will take ever SO delicate and true-hearted
woman at such time and make her
tower of strength to the man. His wife,
who should have stood, as the angels stand,
at once by his side and above him, turned
on him in his utternost sorrow, and said,
Curse God, and die"
Two things, in this sad time, seem to
have smitten Job with unconquerable
pain, First, he could not%Eaake his condi-
ton chord with his conviction. eff what
ought to have happened. He had been
trained to believe in the axiom we put up
in our Sunday-schools, that to be good is to
be happy. Now he had been good and yet
here he was. as miserable as it was pos.
sible for man to be. And the worst of
all was, he could not deaden down to the
level of his misery. The light given him
on the divine justice would not let him
rest. His, subtle spirit, pierced, restless,
dissatisfied, tried him every moment.
Questions like these came up in his mind:
why have | lost my money? I made it
honestly, and made good use of it, Why
is my home ruined? never brought upon
it one shadow of disgrace. Why am I
bereaven of my wife? IF this is the result
Of goodness, where is cause and effect?
What is there to hold on by, if all this
misery and mildew can come of upright,
downright truth and purity?"
Questions like these forced themselves
these spirits that troubled him could have
wbisnersd Now, job what - ne L. of
got just what you deserve; that you are
poor, old pewter Pecksniff, with not one
grain of real silver about you. Your whole
life has been a sham"
The second element in Jobs misery
seems. to lie in the fact that there appeared
to be light everywhere except on his own
life. If life would only strike a fair aver
TOO1
Or even bad men-then he could bear il
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 moulton gold, night
fretted the blue vault with fires, trees
maldens danced under the palms: Other
homes were full of gladness. This man
had sold his clip for a great price; the
lightning had slain Jobs sheep. That
man had done well in dates; the tornado
had twisted Jobs trees down. Nay, worst
of all, here were wicked men,, mighty in
wealth; their houses in peace, without fear;
their children established in their sight,
sending, forth little ones like flock, spend.
ing their days IN prosperity and yet say.
ing, Who is the Almighty that we should
fear HIM." While here he was, a poor
wreck, stranded on a desolate shore: a
broken man, crying, ooh, that it were with
me as in. days gone by. when the candle of
the Lord shone round about me; when I
took my seat in the market place, and
justice was my robe and diadem! When 7
think of it, l am confounded. One dieth
IN the fullness of his prosperity, wholly
at ease and quiet; another dieth in the
bitterness of his soul, not having tasted
pleasure. How is it? What does it mean t?
hid?'' 10 "' gwen - d man whose way rs
Now, suppose that not many men ever
that is made to centre in the life of this
most sorrowful man. 1T is the possible
OF that which is in itself positive" But
then, it is true that we NAV reach ont in
all directions and find men and women
who are conscious of the light shining, but
VINO cannot ind the way; whose condition
VIII not chord with their conception of
HE, and who, in a certain sense, would
De better If they were not SO good The
very perfection OF their nature is the way
by which they are most easily bruised.
iheen, earnest, onward, not satisfied to be
below their own ideal, they are vet
turned so woefully this way and that bv
adverse circumstances that, at the last,
they come tel acceptstheir life as a DOOM
and bear 1t IN grim silence, or they. cut
the :. : masts when the storm comes and
drift, a helpless hull, broadside to the
breakers, to go down finally like stone.
A young man comes to town from the
country full of purpose and hope. He finds
difficulties confront him; he strives. but
remains poor. At last, when hungry and
1alnt and alone, the devil comes-a nice
person, probably, but still a devil-and
tempts him. The young man yields Or,
ne succeeds, and then slides into the belief
that there Is Providence that will keen
mm prosperous because he is a good man.
Disaster comes. and he loses his all, in.
Guiding mis- belief in Cod Or, a maiden
leaves her home full of trust and love.
Under adverse conditions she loses hope,
and asks: :.Why is life given when the
way is hide"
Or, here, in the larger life, is prince
and leader of men. The roots of his power
begin to ramify through all the land. He
seems to be the one indispensable man of
the time. In the sorest need of all, he is
smitten down and dies. Or here Is a
great cause. reaching back into a great
principle. The light of the divine justice
shines on the principle and so wins men
to it that they cannot rest. Year after
year they will stand. suffering, toiling,