Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1905-02-11

as TO the soulY"
Yes, my brother blessings can come
and do come from physical pain in two
ways. First, in the influence of sick
ness upon those who are sick. You can
read this truth in the looks Of those
who have been near to deaths door.
When Dante used to walk through the
streets of the city of his adoption, the
passersby would stop and look at him
and in awe say, There goes a man
+ who has been in hell" When we see
Christian men and women who have
! lain under the shadow of death in a
sickroom we know they have had ex-
periences which have influenced them
even as Dante had when, with Virgil
as his guide, he trod the hot, blistering
sands where dwelt and agOnized the
multitudes of the "lOst and the de-
stroyed." We also know that their ex-
periences of suffering have nodded
their lives for good, even as Samuel
Johnson felt this experience in his own
life. Il myself" said he, "was for some
years totally regardless Of religion. 1t
had dropped out of my mind. 1t was at
an early part of my life. Sickness
brought 1t back, and hope have nev-
er lost it since" o man, Is not this
true Of you? Do you suppose William
Mckinley could ever have uttered the
Lords Prayer with such feeling as he
did had he not been lying upon an op-
Grating table in the Emergency hos
pital of the worlds fair? Do you be-
lieve that Christ would be as near to
you had you not talked with him In
the midnight hour when the nurse was
doing in her chair by your bed? Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy on me"
cried blind Bartemeus in his physical
weakne to the passing Christ. Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy on me"
we have cried to Christ in our physical
torture. DO you not see any blessing in
pain, any spiritual mission In physical
suffering in your past life?
The BIessedness of sickness.
Benefcent is the sick bed for the
| invalid. Blessed is its influence upon
| those who come in touch also with the
sanctifed sufferer. Wendell Phillips
would not have been as brave and as
| true a man as he was had his life not
been inspired by the bravery of that
sick wife who always kept saying to
him: "On, Wendell, on! God has
mission for you. While you are out
! battling In his name l will be here
praying and waiting for you" Could
| any one read the eulOgy Robert j.
Burdette wrote about his dead wife
and not realize that the frall little
woman whom he for years carried
around in his arms had mighty mis-
sion in mOlding and developing her
| husbands life for spiritual good? BY
| the letters my mother wrote me from
her sick room and by the letters you
| have received from a sick wife or
sick daughter or a sick mother who
was at that time in the shadow OF
death you know that some Of Gods
mightiest agents for the salvation of
| the world are to be found among those
of pale cheeks, thin hands and fevered
broYs, oh. no. my friends, God will
I fitual mission of physical pain and sur
fering until, through those sufterings'
tbe multitudes have been brought to
confess Christ at the foot OF the cross
| An Easy Task.
would it be for God to make
rigbl ut and to melt the iron heel
of tyranny in the hot fires OF his III
dignation and righteous wrath. Easy
would il be for God to come forth with
his great legions of angels and ride
down the hillsides of heaven upon the
white charger of victory. Easy would
# he for God to destroy his puny ad-
versaries. as they are trying to destroy
his kingdom on earth. How do know
this? In the first chapter of Proverbs
7 read that when the time shall draw
near for God to bear his right and come
70 the defense Of his children by the
overthrow of his enemies God shall
say: 81 also will laugh at your calam-
lity I will mock when your fear
cometh." God will easily overthrow
his adversaries when the right time
lcomes. But now even sin has its mis-
sion. The battle against sin can devel-
Cd us, even as youth can be develop
ed in his struggles against the trials or
the world.
Iniustices have their beneficent mis-
sion? How else would you ever appre-
ciate what the pardoning love or
Christ meant unless you learned II
through your willingness to forgive
those who have "reviled you and perse-
cuted YOU and have said all manner OF
evil against you falsely for my sake.
Don't YOU remember how you were
distressed by calumnies and false
charges uttered by some malicious enc
my? How angry and furious you were
against the calumniator! You have
learned your lesson now; you have
learned how to forgive Was 1t not III
frying to overcome those bitternesses
and hatreds that you were led into the
| realization of the truth that God is
love and that we must forgive men
their trespasses, even az our Father
in heaven forgives US our trespasses
Oh, yes, injusticeS have their spiritual
mission. They have taught us that the
true gospel does not consist simply II
showing how we should reach out oul
hands to our friends, but also how We
, should reach out loving hands to oul
enemies In triumphing over tht
wrongs by which we are surrounded
God is teaching us how, for his sake WI
; can triumph over our own evil selves
Death Might BE Abolished.