The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1905-04-21
IS SUFFERING A BLESSING?
A Question Asked, But Variously Az
swered-Not All Suffering
a Blessing.

No. not always. The world is bur-
dened with much needless suffering
Who was # that said: My life has been
full Of sorrow, and most Of II never hap
/ pened?' Many Of our troubles are like
those OF the Scotchman-"hame made"
There are persons who delight to be
miserable. The whole machinery or
pain. from anxiety 20 rheumatism. may
be Of no use to some lives. and under
some circumstances. II Is a sin 10 be
wretched for nothing.
Many that talk piously Of the virtue
Of suffering would not think Of pray
Ag for IT, Pains that hurt TO no pur-
pose would better be lodged. That was
a very sensible man in Peter Pindar's
The Pilgrims and the Peas" his church
demanding that all who would attain the
blessings at the mecca must walk thither
with peas in their shoes. he took the
wise precaution TO boil his peas before
starting. The early Quakers OF New
England who made broad the phylac-
teries Of their fanaticism in the public
gaze with a 'please-hangme' spirit de-
served the early graves on which the
grass grew green. They we're not mar
tvs; they were disturbers Of the peace
l knew Of woman, says Arthur 5.
Phelps, in Baptist Standard, who
drowned out the minister's remarks at
her mothers funeral with the evident
purpose Of calling attention TO her own
grief. This did neither her nor her
mother any good.
Pain Is as various as the tempera-
ments of man, and the resources Of ma
ture and environment. Ii is like any |
other drug; it may be remedial, or it |
may be poisonous. There is a good deal /
Of sorrow I'm this world that seems to
come by chance, hit or miss Some
families are always having sickness and
death; some are pursued by a continual
run of bad luck. Whether pain shall be
a blessing or a curse 10 them, or
neither one nor the other. depends a
good deal on temperament and grace.
It rests with them whether the flowers
Of sympathy or the weeds Of hate shall
sprOut in the heart after the plow Some
men are made stronger by being knocked
down; Others never get up. Job says:
Blessed be the name Of the LOrd!'
while Jonah growls: Il do well to be
angry" Fathers know how 1t is with
heir children. One gets spunky when
'ou give him a good whipping: with
he other, the wind drives away the
LIQUIDS, and out comes the sun like a
Nay morning.
II may be remarked in passing, that
rouble is not distributed according to
esert in this world. Think We that
he Is on whom the tower OF Sloan
Ell were sinners above all others? The
ale Of sorrow bloweth where It listeth,
nd thou nearest the voice thereof, but
anst not tell whence IL cometh nor
'hither II goeth. 1t Is a mystery, and
be only thing to do is to make the best
ne can out Of IT, just as one does with
II the other queer things that come up.
Suffering IS sometimes a blessing
'ithout disguise. All the great phil
sophers have said so, and even philos-
pliers are right sometimes. When one
4cks his hand into the fire, it's a good
ling for him to get his skin scorched
'hen your baby wanders too near the
Ice of the pool and falls in. and is
rOwned. you may think at the time that
~ wish God would change His laws
II your sake, but you DO not really
ish 1t. You are glad that you live In
world that Is under law. When q
an does a mean thing and suffers for
he is better man forever after. His
nering is help to him. Vengeance
mine, ! will repay, saith the Lord.
But how is Il with that suffering which
e sins Of others load upon innocent
cks, TIL they are ready to break with
2 load? All. that Is the most blessed
hering Of all! To suffer with the sin
a drunken husband. TO bear on ones
art the leaden weight Of a runaway q
~ what anguish in all the world opens y
the gates Of Heaven like that? This
the only suffering We are TO court
be wounded for the worlds trans
sss.ons, TO be bruised for their ini-
tiles. TO be numbered among the trans
essors for their redemptlon-this Is 4
be little Christs' Without she'd v
g Of blood there is no redemption. :
e sins, another sufers-this is the his &
y Of the worlds progress from hell
Heaven. Weep with them that weep. &
groan with those that do not care
Themselves. This Is the only u-ar 81