The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1904-02-10
light IN A HIDDEN WAY"
A Brilliant Sunday Sermon Ey Rev.
Robert ColIyer.
Every Lie Should se Al Open Seii-con.
talaed Provldenee--Lose Not
heart and SeuL

s~ess es~
BROOKLYN, N. Y.--Dr Robert Collyer,
who recently passed his eightieth birthday,
preached Sunday morning in the Second
the church and listened with great atten.
ton to the eloquent words of the famous
preacher. DIR. Collyer took for his subject
Light on d Hidden Way" His text was
job ii:.s: why is light given to a man
"Thc Book OF job" says Thomas Carlyle,
ais 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 it's simplicity and epic
melody sublime in, its sorrow and recon
ciliation; choral melody, old as the
heart of man, soft az the summer mid
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"
j suppose it 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, in all fairness; to be called not
idea is that the rude outline of the story
was floating about the desert as the story
of Lear or Macbeth floated about in later
times among our own forc-elders, and that,
like those great dramas, it was taken into
Tile HtdIC Ol bDHlt man now IOTxOLIen ana
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 in this direc-
tion this is clear, that when job put the
question I have taken for text he was as
far down in the world as a man can be
who is not abased by sin.
Job had heen 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 defender OF the
oppressed He was now a diseased and
broken man, sitting in the ashes OF u
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 truehearted
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 uttermost 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 make his condi-
ton chord with his conviction of 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 a 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! made It
honestly, and made good use of it. Why
it one shadow of disgrace. Why am l
bereaven of my children, and worse than
bercaven of my wife? If this is the result
Of goodness, where is cause and effect?
What is there to hold on by. il all this
misery and mildew can come of upright,
downright truth and purity?"
Questions like these forced themselves
upon him and would not be silehced If
these spirits that troubled him could have
whispered, Nov, job, what is the Use Of
got just what you deserve; that you are
q poor, old pewter Pecksniff, with not one
grain of real silver about you. Your Whole
life has been 9 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. II life would only strike fair aver
age; If other good men had 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 moulton gold. night
fretted the blue vault with fires. tree~
blossomed, birds sang. and young men and
maidens danced under the palms. Other
Homes were full Of gladness. This man
lightning had slain JOBS sheep. That
man had done well in dates: the tornado
had twisted Jobs trees down. Nay. worst
of al. 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 wns.. poor
wreck. stranded on g desolats shores. q
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 l
think Of it. am confounded. One dieth
IT as sase s esv ana quiet ns anotherp dsh IN tS
bitterness Of his soul, not having tasted
pleasure. How is it? What does it mean
Why is light given to man whose way is
fall into such supreme desolation as this,
that is made to centre in the life of this
most sorrowful man. ''It is the possible
of that which is in itself positive" But
then, it Ia true that we may reach out in
all directions and find men and women
who are conscious OF the light shining. but
who cannot find the way; whose condition
will not chord with their conception Of
life, and who, in a certain sense. would
be better il they were not SO good. The
very perfection OF their nature is the way
by which they are most easily bruised
Keen. earnest, onward, not satisfied to be
below their own ideal, they are YET
turned so woefully this way and that by
adverse circumstances that. at the last
they come to accept their life as a doom
and bear it in grim silence, or they cui
the masts when the storm comes and
drift, helpless hull, broadside to the
breakers, to 60 down finally like a stone.
A young man comes to town from the
country full OF purpose and hope. He ind'
difficulties confront him; he strives bu
remains poor. At last, when hungry anc
faint and alone, the devil comes--a mic,
person, probably, but still a devil-anc
tempts him. The young man yields. Or
he succeeds, and then slides into the belle
that there is a Providence that will keeI
him prosperous because he is a good man
Disaster comes, and he loses his all, in
cluding mis- belief in God. Or, a maider
leaves her home full of trust and love
Under adverse conditions she loses hope
and asks: why is life given when thu
way is hidw
Or, here, in the larger life. is a prince
and leader OF men. The roots of his powe
begin to ramify through all the land. II,
antsms TO he the one indispensable man o