The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1907-04-02
ORIGIN GOOD FRIDAY

Reproduced from Fridays Daily Mes
senger.
In regard to the closing on Good FRI
day the following appropriate commu-
nication has been given the Messenger
for publication:
at is a growing custom for the bus
mess houses to close for at least a part
of Good Friday. Is it asking too much
of our business men to observe this
custom and pay this small mark Of
respect in memory of their cruciffed
Master? Shall they shut up their
houses Of business only at the dictate
of legal holidays and never at the call
of Christian holy days? May not even
those who are not Christians pay this
small act of respect to Him through
whose influence most of the blessings
of life in his Christian country and
community have come, the purity and
power of whose lif, regardless Of mems
creeds, hold the admiration of the civ
iliZed universe?"
,"WH WE SUFFER"
why We Suffer is the title Of an
impressive and interesting article, a
Good Friday thought, prepared by one
Of the best loved and most prominent
ministers in the city. The Messenger
feels gratified that it car give publica-
ton to the article which follows:
Phil. 1-29. For unto you it is
given in behalf of Christ, not only to
believe on Him, but to suffer for His
sake"
To gather the full force of these
words, We must look back to the scene
of their writing. It was at a time when
the fury of Christ's enemies was at its
highest, when the powers of a wicked,
wealthy world were most Jealous to
crush the lives of the Savior's few and
scattered followers.
Awaiting death in a prison cell in
Rome is Paul, once the arrogant per.
secutor Of Christians, now the gray
haired martyr for Christ. Facing the
suffering of the dungeon and martyr
dom as fearlessly as his Master, he
spends his prison hours writing letters
to the Christian churches, letters of
warning, hope and counsel, breathing
upon their daily lives the inspiration
of his heroic life, with it's power to die
an heroic death.
In the first part of his letter to the
church at Phillippi, our text appears.
1T was as if he said to his absent
fellow-Christians: while I was with
you, you listened gladly to my preach
ing and declared your belief in Christ.
But that is not enough. Mere profession
of belief is but shallow evidence of
sincerity. Your thoughts, your speech
your deeds, must be given to your
SaviOur'S Service-yOu must be willing
to suffer. if needs be for His sake. Then
you will be worthy the nam Of dis
ciples."
1t is not our purpose to dwell on the
ways in which those Christians of old
did gladly and heroically suffer for
their Masters sake. We shall simply
make brief application of st. Paul's
words to ourselves, that at the close OF
this Lenten season, SO many centuries
from this day, we may breathe afresh'
the inspiration of his life and words
in our daily lives.
Human nature is endowed with 2
wonderful capacity for suffering. Hun
ger, fatigue, wounds and death are the
common lot of the patriot who fights
for the love of country.
In ~unnumbered instances parents are
suffering poverty, voluntarily doing
without comforts and even necessities
of life, for the education of children.
Take Bulwer Lytton or many another
writer of the story of life in it's COM
plicated forms and read the history
of the father who suffers imprisonment,
is outcast from society and branded as
a criminal to save the son who is the
real criminal. See the eagerEess with
which members of a family give parts
Of their living flesh to supply what has
been burned from the body of a loved
one.
If such be the love Of weak human
nature, how infinitely greater is the
divine love Of God for us. Like as a
father pitieth his children, SO the
Lord pitieth them that fear him"
eff We then being evil know how to
give good gifts unto your children,
how much more shall your Father
which is in Heaven give good things
to them that ask him?"
How countless are His gooG gifts.
The elements of nature and herbs Of
the earth, the day for work and the
night for rest, the sun and the showers.
seed time and harvest. the foliage OF
the forest and the depths Of the sea,
the flowers of the field and stars Of the
firmament-all things in the heaven
above, the earth beneath and the
waters under the earth, for the pleas
ure, the benefit and the comfort OF
! man. These are our heritage as the