The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-04-25
BEARING OF BURDENS
FoRCEFUL SERMON BY REV.
 STEWART MCQUEEN.
Every Man Shall Bear His Own Burden" Was Text Taken by MT. McQueen at the Holy
 Comforter.

shall bear his own burden" This we at once rcognizc to be one of the supreme factl of lifc. Our own experience has taught its truth We cannot possibly es- cape it. Whether we will or no. we must bear our own burdens.
 We are tempted to ask:--Why do we have to bear burdens? Is 1t purely arbi- trary enactment on G d's part? Does he impose burden-bearing upon us without meaning, without purpose. Is 1t one of the things to which we must submit with out understanding 1t at all. submit blind ly without question? Must we be content tc regard 1t merely as one of the myster- ious "decrees" of Providence? May we not seek to comprehend 1t? Certainly. for God expects us to use the gifts He Him self bestowed upon us. and to search for the meaning of everything that affects our lives here on earth. such as--thc ra- ture of life itself and the relations to our fellow men sustained by us all There fore should We seek to know the mean ing of the great fact of life that each man shall bear his own burden.
 little reflection will serve to show us that thers Is nothing arbitrary, unmean- ing. or cruel in burden-bearing. The question arises:-does our life end here. end In the grave? If such were the case, then could we reasonably expect that God would allow our existence to be frec from cares and sorrows and burdens. If death were the end of us. if development in the character, and growth in spiritual manhood and womanhood, were not lad upon us, then. to require burden bearing would be unjust. Our sense of justice (whick we have from God Himself as made in his image and partaken of the Divine Nature, would rightly cause us to rebel against burden bearing as some. thing arbitrary and unreasonable.
 Now. let us suppose that father has child whom he knows, tby special reve- lation) is to die. say at the age of ten years. It Is probable he would not vex him with needless burdens,-Qn the shape of disipline )-for the future in this world really to be no future in this world for the child. But not so ordinarily, for q father assumes that the child will grow to manhood. Therefore he does every thing possible to prepare him for the du- ties and struggles of life. He imposes burdens of self-control, the burden of obedience, the burden of industrious hab- its and so on. Thus does a wise earthly father deal with his child. Shall we expect less wisdom on the part of our Heavenly Father In deatng with His childrenf
 Let us realize that our life here on
  childhood of eternity. Then should we reasonably expect God to require us to make preparation for 1t? Does not this suggest an explanation of the fact | that each one of us must bear his own burden? It Is because our exist ence does not end in the grave, and the bearing of burdens Is necessary and essential to fitting us for that | which follows the grave. eternal life. God deals with us on exactly the same l principle that a wise and faithful earthly parent deals with his child. To our Heavenly Father-as a moments on earth is simply the childhood of our existence. In the next life. we at tain maturity. In this life, our spirit ual capacities and faculties are being trained and developed to prepare us Tor maturity. Therefore. every man shall bear his own burden" for. from burdenbearing. in it's numberless forms, comes the evolution of charac- ter. In the ages to come, God will show us the exceeding riches of His grace" The toll, the pain, the disci- pline we now undergo. tho burdens we now bear, develop and expand the powers and virtues of our souls to pre- pare us for an inheritance eternal and unfading. Hence. "every man shall bear his own burden" Why, men and brethren, the troubles, tho cares, the sorrows, the difficulties, the struggles, in word. the burdens of this life are proofs that we are being reared for eternity!
 Has 1t never struck you that there is a dignity in burden-bearing? Why? Be- cause 1t Is characteristic of man alone; no other creature in this vast universe hn All nfheF live for the moment. Their wants are purely animal The fact that we bear burdens Is a proof of our superiority to all other beings throughout the world. Humanity has always borne burdens It began with the expulsion of our foreparents from the Garden of Eden. There was then imposed upon them the burden of tilling the soil. of subduing the forces of nature and dis covering the secrets of the invisible world Burdens are absolutely neccs- sary for the growth and development of civilization for the progress of the race. It is owing to the struggle with burdens of various kinds that man has made any advance, any improvement at all in his condition.
 One of the hardest burdens most of us have to bear is: The inequality of worldly conditions. How hardly It presses upon us at times! How flercely do we rebel against 1t! How bitterly do we denounce its injustice. as 1t seems to us! But, reflect. How can we possibly expect to do away with inc quality? To overcome. or to prevent it. Numberless theories have been de vised and experiments made in. every generation. The latest scheme is mod ern socialism. Whatever 1t may mean, all these efforts were vain. and will ever be vain Does not this prove that there must be something in our struc- ture, in our natures as human beings to which this inequality is necessary and essential? It Is utterly useless to ask why this inequality exists You might as well ask why life Is the sphere of duty and the nursery of vir- tues.
 If all men were equal, if there was no suffering, no ease. no poverty. no wealth, what would be the result? Why, at one blow. half of the grandest. noblest virtues would be stricken out of the universe. Suppose there was no poverty, or no pain. what would become of fortitude? What would become of patience? What would become of faith? If it were possi- bie to annihilate the inequalities of life, what would be the inevitable result? Why, 1t would mean the destruction of our worthiest virtues. It would mean death to much that is highest and best within us. It would mean the paralysis of our mental faculties. and to great extent also of our physical activities. We must realize. men and brethren, that diversity and contrast are as necessary in the moral as in the material world.
 Surely we now see two things; the