The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-01-08

Wlhos snail not sow" and the converse or that fact Is thHt if a man will only go forth with brave heart if he will only plant and sow his seed faithfully and oonscientiously, God will give him large harvest. "To him that soweth rishteeusness shall be a sure reward" VIII you not believe this7 o man, will you not go forth to your coming years work with a brave and 8 hopeful spirit for q coming conquest2
 But there are some whose apprehen- sions of coming trial are based on facts of different kind. My trouble" says ono. ''is not due to n lack of faith in God or in my own ability, but in the loyalty of others. The apostolic advice not to be unoqualy yohed with unbe- lievers extends further than the marriage relation. I nm finding that out in the broader sense of business. It also means that those who are unequally yoked to- gether can never pull well as a team. My business associates and I are fretting and worrying and irritating and retard- ing one anothers labors."
 Yes brother, I at once catch the mean ing of your Bible slmile. A4.nough born in the city have spent great deal of my spare time In the country and I have witnessed again and again feats of horse team pulling The farmers have a great deal of pride in their horses. If one farmer can have a perfectly matched team of heavy farm horses he always thinks they can outdraw and outpull all other teams in the country. It is not uncommon at the county fairs to have these trials of strength tested. A great load will be piled upon a sled at the bot tom of a hill. Then the team will be hitched up. The farmer will take the reins firmly in his hands and cry, "Get 1 upp' If the horses pull together evenly and steadily in all probability the sled will move over the hard, bare ground as If the runners were slipping over the winters snow. But if one horse jerks at ], his traces one moment and then balks when his mate Is pulling 1t is impossible to move the heavy load. The great diff culty with your business and professional life may be that you are not "equally yoked" with your associates. You may have pulled while they were baking, and they may be pulling while you are i baking. But did you ever stop to think that perhaps your lack of faith in your self may be the chief reason why they have no faith in you and why they do not work in harmony with you?
 Faith Is Needed
 i Lack of faith in your own work will l kill absolutely any faith others may l have in our ultimate success. The old l proverb says, Rats will leave a sink ing ship" All our friends and associates will leave us as quickly as they can if they once get into their minds the 1 thought that we ourselves feel that we are certainly doomed to failure. A man who is always anticipating failure and l taking gloomy view of the future not l only works half heartedly himself but I depresses his associates. What church would wish to listen to a minister who had no hope fthe ultimate triumph of 1 the gospel? If he were to preach week 1 after week sermons the keynote of l which was that man Is a failure, the church a failure and the world is going to the dogs. would any one want to listen ] to such sermons? Would anyone continue l to work for the upbuilding of the grand 1 old church of Christ, which has had such a mighty influence for good in the past and Is having such a mighty influence for 1 good in the present and will have such a mighty influence for good in he future? No, of course you would not. You would say to yourself: Well, the church is going to smash and the people are going to smash. l guess I will get off the train and let the Limited Express of Destruc- tion' go over the open drawbirdge as it may
 Supposing your daughter is sick and l you call in a physician and beg him to cure her. That physician, having ex- amined her, declares there is no hope. l He leaves some medicine for her, but 1 doubts if it can do her any good; he ad- vlses this course and that, but says there 1 is really no hope of saving her. What i would you do with such a doctor? You i would turn him out of doors in the twink ! ling of an eye. You would say, 'If a physician has no faith in his own medi- i cine, l will have no faith in him." And l yet the strange fact of life is this: There are scores and hundreds of men who always keep talking about their misfortunes. They keep on telling their employees only the dark side of their business. After awhile their employees and business associates lose faith in their business prospects and they do not work l es they ought.
 Take an Inventory.
 What you need, o man. at the begin ming of this new year is to take big inventory. not of your misfortunes but of your blessings Find out all the bright things you know about your life. Repeat them over and over and over to yourself i Get faith in God and in yourself. Then your associates will get faith in you. By their increased labor you will get faith 1 in them. Then. together, with faith in each other and faith in God, you will go i luTlH Nltn renewed zeal TOT the seed planting and the multitudinous harvest will surely come. Never let your asso- ciates know that you have lost faith in yourself. The poorest song a farmer ever sung in the time of sowing and seed planting is the pesslmistic song of 1 old, which will destroy the enthusiasm of every farm hand:
 i Thirty days hath September, April, June and November
 From January up to May it raineth every day:
 All the rest have thirty-one, without blessed ray of sun,
 And if any of them had two and thirty
 They'd be just as wet and twice as
 dirty.
 ] Well" says some one else afflicted l with New Years timidties, 'I not only have lost faith in myself and in my as- sociates but 1 have also lost faith in the good deeds which I try to do for the l lost and the needy. l am not an angel. l make no pretense of being a perfect man, but I do try to do some good in the world. Almost all my good intentions have gone for naught. l can understand l the disappointment of men who have made honest but futile attempts to help people, for the more you do for some people the less those people seem to be :, willing to do for themselves I do not want to lead a purely selfish life, but do not intend to be bled for nothing"