The Washington herald., 1910-09-11
SUNDAY. SEPTEMBER IL. 1910.
No Time for Signing.

No Time for Signing.
In this materiaIistic age very many OF
US are prone to think that sorrow and
pain are unmitigated evils in the world;
serving no useful end; simply adding TO
the sum OF human misery. Richard Steele,
in one OF his Spectator essays, had some
thing to say on this head:
1T is a very melancholy reflection that
men are usually so weak that II Is
absolutely necessary for them 10 know
sorrow and pain to be in their right
senses. Prosperous people Qor happy
there are none) are hurried away with
a fond sense Of their present condition,
and thoughtless Of the mutability Of for
tune"
Few Of us will go 50 Ear with the essay
ist as 70 say that there are no happy
men. Mr.. Steele himself. as we see him
in his works and read about HIS life
seems, IN spite. Of some debt and duns, to
have been tolerably happy. But we can
all agree with him when he says that
sorrow and pain are by no means evils
for it is. indeed, through such aids as
these that a man comes truly 10 know
himself his own limitations. his own
powers. Horace Bushnell wrote:
"And so it is that by this fact Of pain
we arrive at the only sufficient discovery
of the goodness Of God. He could not
be more tenderly close TO us or more
adorably great than He is in this most
earnest way Of fidelity Thus it is that
great many Of the best and hottest ex-
amples Of piety are such as have been
tried and finished in the crucible Of suf-
fering"
It was In something OF the same thought
and spirit that Whittier wrote
over the crucIbo Of pain
Watches the tender eye of love.
The slow transmitting Of the chain
Whose links are iron below. to gold above
1t Is only to the thoughtless man that
these things-pain and sorrow-seem TO
be unnitiGated Ills, grumblngly to be
endured. It was through his sufferings
that Job came 20 be the man he was at
last. and in all literature we have no
such other example OF continual growing
and kicking against the pricks. In his
Journal, Amlel wrote:
so long as Job murmurs and as Provi-
dence is thought to be too severe. so long
as there is any inner protestation against
fate. or doubt as TO the perfect Justice
Of God. there is not entire humility or
sincere repentance. 1t is when we accent
the eXpiatiOn that 10 can be spared us.
Il is when we submit sincerely that grace
may be granted US. Only when grief
finds It's work done can God dispense us
from It."
The chief antidote against sorrow IS
employment, and the true philosopher is
he who can perceive that sorrow sent to
him driving him 10 busy-ness was, in spite
of his first resentfuI thoughts. a blessing
in disguise. Sorrow, we believe, comes
oftenest and hardest to the soul that IS
still and practically dead in life, as stag
nation comes 70 the sheltered pool I'M
RULED by the winds, unmoved by ebb and
flow. Byron wrote:
Sorrow rreys upon
It's solitude. and nothing more diverts Il
From its sad visions Of the other world
Than calling II at moments back 10 this;
The busy have no time for tears"
We people Of this workaday world must
leave to the poets and dreamers, the SEN
timentallsts who live in the clouds. the
privilege Of crying
but. Oh for the touch Of a vanished hand
And the sound Of a voice that is stilI.'S
We have no time for signing: the hours
are too short and too precious, while there
IS work 20 be done in the world. for In
dulging in emotional regrets. We need.
II we are to fulfil our mission on earth.
10 armor our souls against the fears and
terrors Of what may chance to befaIl: we
need to look happily forward, not back;
TO leave signing and set about the work
we have TO do in the world; 70 do II hon
estly in faith and in hope and trust In
God for the rest.
''Tully tells us a story after Pompev
which gives US a good taste Of the pleas-
ant manner the men OF wit and philos-
ophy had in the olden time of allievat-
ing the distresses Of life by the force OF
reason and philosophy. Pompey, when
he came to Rhodes. had curiosity TO
visit the famous philosopher. Posdonius.
walled his misfortune that he should not
hear discourse from him. But you may.
answered POsidonius; and Immediately
entered into the point OF Stoical philos-
ophy which says pain is not an evil.
During the discourse, upon every puncture
he felt from his distemper, he smiled
and cried out: Pain. Paint Be as i'm
pertinent and as troublesome as you
please. I shall never own that thou art
an evilp
Sorrow and pain must come, Into each
life some rain must fall" But once we
have acknowledged that fact and accepted
IT, we must accept too. the philosophy
that, whether we can see It or not. under
stand ii or not everything works with
God for the best. Then. and not TIL then,
may We be able TO turn pain and sorrow
to our great advantage. and find glorious
Iife and boundless opportunity in spite
Of these.