The Penn's Grove record., 1914-01-02
MEANING IN FAILURE
Surely There Must Be a Place for
the Defeats as Well as
the Victories.


GO small q thing has prevented
~ achievement. A man has been sue
cessfui In a moderate way in business
for a number Of years, and a moment
Of weak judgment scatters his gains
and reduces him to q condition Of
a beginner. Or it may be that health
gives way One waits In the rain
a few minutes, OF gets a chill at 8
station. or slips crossing the road, and
the hopes of a life are frustrated
Sometimes, Of course, the failure Is
not smaIl-in fact, small and great
in such a matter are largely mean
service in writing or speech with much
promise Of success. Good influences
seem to attend first efforts, and for
a time work is fruitful. Men and won
en- welcome what promises to be a
new lead. But By and by the first
influences fade, the fruit is no longer
forthcoming. The speech ceases to
be an inner weakness unconQuered,
a spirit unsancti1ed-and the man
takes his place among those concern
ing whom the prophecies which vent
before them remain unfuidlled.
The point is that for those who DeF
heve In what Stevenson called IAN
ultimate decency Of things" q NEAR
ing In failure must exist II there
is a rational scheme Of the universe
It must have a place for the defeats
as wen as the victories Of the indi
viduaI.
TWO Points of View.
TO fail is not to be a failure One
must distinguish Did failure come
from within or from without? This
is the first question for the man who
has been defeated to answer. It
means at bottom. was the defeat real
or not? TO fail is not to be a failure.
But to take the case Of failure that is
real, where there has been unfaithful-
ness, d~isloyalty, yielding to besetting
sin. Then is much gained to have
fastened on the root OF the failure;
it requires honesty with oneself. And
such a search has surprises. Just
where a man thought he had no need
to guard. he may ind the enemy has
come in.
Sometimes the first intImations Of
failure may arise within ourselves
Falling short is one thing. transgres-
SIGN is another; both are defects, for
both are sin. There is no such de-
feat ais this. When a man has made
a good fight against harsh circum-
stances and failed, there IL no dis
grace; he has not lost honor. The
battle is his Pavia- But when we
have been untrue to conscience. there
is no citadel of peace into which to
enter.
Is there gain out Of the loss Of fail
ura2 Ifmsn are driven from unsouna
confidence to true. something has been
won. 1t need not nave been won at
such cost. There is no reason why
our experience generation after gen
GRAFTON should go on verifying with
a dull regularity the lessons Of the
past, yet it does. But it is better 50
learned than not learned at all.
And out of the recovered life 50
much may come. When thou art
converted, strengthen thy brethren"
Sometimes a proud man can learn
humility no other way than by humiE
iation. Sometimes very strong. ten
der help can be given to a tempted
life by one who has once fallen him
self, being tempted" but has 0
learned to stand. John Wesley w
knew what evil living was, or swear
ing or any form Of vice, and God
used him to convert soma Of the low
est sinners. Samuel Hadley had been
an offender himself, and God used his
bitter experience Of the hardness Of
the tra~nsgressor's way. and bis joy
GUS experience of the Christian faith
to save many who had sunk lower
than he had once done.
Striving Never In Vain.
The land Of u~nfulnIled desire Is not
a wholly barren country; the life
learns to look beyond itself. What
troubles muItitudes is not the sense Of
disloyalty. but of utility. They feel
they have done nothing, but the striv-
ings of such lives are not in vain. II
a souls force has been largely used up
up in maintaining the moral average
and atmosphere SC as to make the ex-
cellence possible for another, the life
has not been in vain. Gods purpose
In its greatness zones to be more to
the soul than personal success
The wonder Of the gospel is that It
is the message Of new opportunity
opportunity not ending here. We can
not remake the past: but God can set
open the gates Of new life to a soul
that through faith rises from past
baf1ing to flight better" Once Peter
denied Jesus: he repented, and Christ
restored his soul, and gave him back
his glory of Christian manhood by
telling him that the day would come
when he would stand In the hottest
battle, and die. with all his wounds in
front, for him he had once denied. The
question for us is not whether we have
failed or not IN the past, but whether
o,rw ovoa oro cot fauard him uho non