Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-02-11
Sunday School Lesson and
Young Peoples Meetings

Nv - AF4G1LLsLS -
of them were the friends who pro-
fessed to know all about the reason
for them
No trouble Is too hard to bear, If
one Is assured that it is Gods send
ing.
1t is not how much one stands, but
how one stands it, that counts to the
credit of character
Snap judgments upon other persons
and their affairs proved to be unwisc
and discreditable in the case of Jobs
friends; and they have rarely since
ceased to be anything else. 1t is al
ways we'll to respect your neighbours
personality. Seldom are his problems
as simple, as you deem them. WholA-
sale opinions and conventional advice
are merely meddlesome and useless.
Every mans perplexities are personal
and individual; stock solutions will
not serve. The best help that can us.
ually be offered one In trouble is a
respectful sympathy, an appreciation
of the sacredness of his sorrow, and
frank expression of interest and of
readiness to stand by, in any way
that offers.
The professional advice-giver, with
MS perfunctory and conventional plati
tudes, Is one of the most aggravating
consequences of trouble.
Job could lose all he possessed, and
still be Job. His real wealth was not
in his flocks and herds and other ma
terial possessions, but in the character
which could Withstand all kinds of adj
vers1ty. He could say, with mol
ern poet,
1T matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishment the
scroll,
am the master of my fate,
am the captain of my soul"
God sstestings, Satan's wiles, and the
mistaken counsel of long-winded
friends, could not shake the soul of
this man. Therefore he has become
one of the immortal figures of litera-
ture, and true counselor and com
forter of the afflicted through all the
ages since
The blessing of Gods favor usually
brings lesser blessings in it's train; but
even though these be lacking or lost
the greater and sufficient reward, the
favor Of Jehovah, abides through all
storm and stress,
Satan was right in his proposition
] that the man whose service of God is
for self-gain is an unworthy servant
But he was wrong, as the world ever
since has been wrong, in assuming
that the gains of goodness are the pri
mary goal of the godly Doth JoS
fear God for naught?'' he sneered, and
that sheer has been echoing through
the ages since, from the. lips Of per
sons too selfish or cynical themselves
to recognize the quality Of SINGER,
/ goodness and piety when they see it
TO them IT means nothing that my
riads of Gods friends have sacrificed
all for his sake, and that the number
of those whose heart-cry is Though
he Stay me yet will I trust him" is be
yond all human computation.
/ y
The note Of gertrude has departed
from modern theological thinking. Mer
used to be assured of all of Gods ways
In heaven and in earth, as were Jobs
foolish friends. They had simple anG
sufficient explanation for everything
Now they know more and are sure O
less The modern religious teacher Is
more of Jobs mind; he is not certain
of Gods reasons for what he does
| I,,f hn ic. OF IF Gods 40 fa-,
He knows that God is good, and means
only good for his children. SO he I:
content to look UP. amid every expert
ence and say confidingly, Even SO
Father, for SO it seemed good in til!
sight"
| SEVEN SENTENCE SERMONS.
The key to noble life Is to SCI
clearly and then to act in absolute
obedience to the highest vision.--W
!, j. Dawson.
spirituality is seeking God in com
mon things, and showing God in com
mon tasks.-Babcock
1t is a comely fashion to be glad;
Joy is the grace we say to God.
| -JCdll llSClo"
: You must take life; the only choic
Is how.-Beecher.
; He that allows himself everythin
) that is permitted is very near to tina
) which is forbidden.-Augustin
If I have faltered more or less
: In my great task Of happiness;
If I have moved among my race
And shown no glorious morning face
: If beams from happy. human eyes
! Have moved me not; If morning skie
/ Books, and my food, and summer rair
!, Knocked on my sullen heart in vain
, Lord. Thy most pointed pleasure tax.
! And stab my spirit broad awake.
l Robert Louis Stevenson.
If you see fault in others, thin
: Of two Of your own, and do not add
: third one by your hasty Judgment
Y Flamner.
g News and Notes.