The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1905-03-24

find it ont for himself, and as each
source OF power was discovered he
must learn how 10 harness IL Alright
that II may do his bidding and relieve
him OF toll. Go to Niagara falls and
take your stand on the ledge Of rock
called Observation Point and watch
that rush Of water descending from the
heights. What power is there TO light
our cities, 10 bear our burdens. TO H.
Illuminate our habltations. Yet for
countless ages Il has been running
10 waste because man did not know
how TO harness il Alright.
All, my friends. this problem that
/ perpleXes us. this distressing question
Of why God permits us 10 struggle
along i'm poverty and hardship. finds
It's solution in the Bible. II was not
I'm vindictiveness or for his own sake
that he cursed the ground The sen
tence was beneficial and remedial.
Cursed is the ground for thy sake"
| God is allowing the thoms AMI the
/ thistles 10 grow wild instead Of the
] W AAf tAt anu NAAN NfAAAfNs W llN AfN AlNf
/ bay0net thruSts OF those thorns God Is
/ driving US closer and closer to him
self BY putting MS i'm the treadmil Of
unceasing daily toll God is teaching MS
10 turn our eyes away from tcmpta-
tion. lie is also teaching us TO turn
| them m-toward himself Work serves a
useful purpose. our toll and difficulty
and sorrow are intended TO draw us
nearer 10 himself, When trust in God
and love of him have filled the hearts
Of men. when the knowledge Of God
covers the earth as the waters cover
the sea. then poverty will have fulfilled
| its mission and will be eliminated from
this weary world. for then, says Isai-
all. Instead of the thorn shall come
up the fir tree and instead of the brier
shall come up the myrtle tree. and il
shall be TO the Lord for q name. for an
everlasting sign that shall not be cut
Off Oh sinner. thank God today that
he makes your callous hand stick TO
the plow of daily toll in order that your
feet shall follow the narrow and
straight groove Of virtue and truth and
purity and gospel consccration and
right.
God could easily take ont Of this
world all physical ailments if he would.
lie could change the invalid chairs Of
the homes, the operating tables Of the
hospitals, the medicine bottles Of the
drug stores. the ear trumpets Of the
deaf, the ambulance wagons and the
anaesthetics and the splints and the
bandages of "a military surgeons outfit
and make teen as unsuitable and anti
quated articles for modern use as the
chopsticks Of the Chinese would be for
the Caucasian race or the sandals OF
an Arab chief would be for the short
leggel Eskimo of the arctic. he could
at a mere word stralghten the crooked
limbs and loosen the dumb lips and
strengthen the weak lungs. God did it
in the past: he can do II now. God IS
the same yesterday, today and forey-
ermOre." But God does not take all
sickness out Of this world because he
does net wish physical pain and suffer
ing 10 cease TO perform their spiritual
mission IN the world.
"a benefcent influence for pain and
physical ailments" "Oh," says some
one, Il do not believe that can be true.
Can any good come from a flushed,
fevered cheek or from hacking cough
Or from a sleepless nlghtl God is
good God is love Therefore a good
and a loving God does not wish his
children 10 suffer any more than an
earthly parent would want his children
to be physically sick or in pain. Ask
that mother as she gets up IN the mid
die Of the night TO pH cool bandages
upon the hot brow Of her child If she
sees any blessing in sickness. Ask
that father who takes his lovely daugh
ter down TO southern climes 10 burn
out with the hot rays Of the sun the
microbes Of a diseased lung II he can
see any blessing IN one Of his dear chill
dren slowly fading away as beautiful
flower will fade and wither before the
NlllllIllE UltNAAl Va Anf AMANnAAAhA AAWrNHs
Ask that child If she sees any blessing
i'm pain when night after night she
must hear her mother grOan under the
gnawing advancement Of a fatal can
Ger. When Christ was upon earth he
never heard the suppliant cry Of a
leper but his hands cleansed away the
scales. He never saw one possessed
with the devils Of disease mental or
physical. unless he cast them forth,
even though they were legion How
can there now be any blessing in phys
zeal pain when Chrlst's mission on
earth was TO heal the sick and be a
divine physician TO the body as well
as TO the soulY
Yes. my brother. blessings can come
and do come from physical pain in two
ways. First. I'm 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
passershy would stop and look at him
and IN awe say, "There goes 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. blistcring
sands where dwelt and agonized the
multitudes of the "lost and the de
str0yed" 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. II was at
an early part of my life. Sickness |
brought II back. and hope have new |
er lost # since" o man. Is not this /