Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1922-06-19
BEARING BURDENS
is PART OF LIFE
Rev. Russell Booker Says We
Should Not Shake
Them.
M A NY ALREADY FIXED
Care, Sickness, Sorrows, Soil
iudes, Regrets and Disap-
poinlments Inevitable.
M AN ~ ALREADY FIXED

Burden Bearing was the subject
OF the sermon delivered Yesterday
morning In the Seventh street Chris
tlan Church By Rev. Russell L. Book
or. assistant pastor.
The sermon. in part. follow:
Bear sc one anothcr's burdens and
so fulnll tho law OF Christ. FOR each
man shall bear his own BURDEN
Gal. vi. 2-5.
II these two vcrses were !ittic
further apart one might fancy the
apostle had forgotten on. saying
While he uttered the Other Seems
almost contradiction. RUt not 80.
they arc ono proposition, opposite
aspects OF the same teaching
l.ifc Ia load. make 40 mistake
about II. To all IL Is more or less
pack. usually more. II is neither
song nor curse. but a burden. Al
times u seems utterly futile. Just
tho dropping OF buckets into empty
wells and growing Old In drawing
nothing up" Seldom Is ~ IT surg. or
Joy. Never IL IT bliss without alloy.
Life is neither the dance OF the fairies
nor the dance OF children around TIA.
May pole. Life is the bearing OF
burden.
ST. Paui's teaching Is plainly this
--tI.at here is Il world where bur
dens have TO be borne. Not hard
or bad or sad world. but simply a
world OF responsibility. Where hap
piness and usefulness are found not
by ShakinR on burdens. but by learn
ing how TO bear them. Aud wisdom
lies just herein adjusting III. paci.
20 our shoulders and tightening Il
in what wayg we can.
This Is where many Of us make
our first mistake. We try 10 md hap
piness In escaping burdens Burdens
are intolcrahlc only when wc would
fain get rid OF them. Look az tn.
great crowd today who seek amusa-
ineni. the cry always for on. NOR.
stimulant The countless numbers
who shift responsibility. who make
work out o. play. We must learn
that burdens are bcarablc when they
ar" bravely borne. In Cunstant;nOplc.
:: city without trucks, ono constantly
wonders at the huge loads the por-
ters bear. But trained from youth
20 bear them. the porters do not won
dor. nor are they unduiy scif-pitying.
Great water Jars borne on the heads
OF the women OF the Orient seem
over heavy only TO occidental cyss.
These eastern women accept the bur
cen and sing and Jest OH the way.
Many nurdrns Unavoidable.
In addition TO the burdens which
one can shake OH. bu. had better
bear. there are others from which no
!ife can escape. Responsibilities that
are fixed. certain, unavoidable. in
cvitablc. The trials of l!fe which are
common to all and have To be borne.
care. sickness. sorrows. solitudes. re-
Erets. iisappointmcnts OF which each
life has his share. With these trials
comes one az the hardest Of mans cN-
perience-thc discovery that one has
been living under false theory OF
life. Thought this was II soft world.
How pathetic to see such Il one
smitten by great blow. and the bur
dcns OF life laid on shoulders which
have not been used To having any
burden at all. Life is not easy, aud
one who is playing 1t is easy, is sim
ply counting disaster and despair.
our text before us signifies that
the world OF responsibility is two
fold. There is the tightening OF 9th
ers burdens. and the manly bearing
OF ones own. There is the outer
sympathy and the inner solitude.
What makes owe "N'r go 81 moth
er's burdcL MINT in"n,s one able
10 bear his own" No sooner does one
ask these questions than tho tests
which seemed To oppose each other
begin to approach each other. Each
needs the other. each is the key TO
che other.
Here is a man who has discovered
the joylessness OF tina self-ccntercd
lfo. He is utterly unhappy and
wretched He answers the call Of the
first responsibility to bear the bur
denS OF others. So he plunges into
the phiianthropies and reforms of
his time. But what a strange dis
covery he makes. He is not able TO
accomplish what he wants TO do. He
cannot reach the poor and sad with
his own experience or interpret their
needs.
have friend who is burdcn.d
with an uncontrolled temper. is al
ways getting into difficult situations.
IS constantly worried and burdencd.
Can help him bear his burden? Not
If /, too, have an uncontrolled temper.
Here is mother stricken with
grief. the burden OF great sorrow
her baby has died. ! go TO the
house OF sorrow with offered hand
and heart. But can answer her
need? No. because my baby is living
and Is the Joy of my home.
Not All Able to Help.
Not every one who wants to help
is capable of helping. Bear We one
another's burdens" says ST. Paul. All.
yes. but who can obey this command?
Listen TO the answer OF the Master
IL any man Will come after Me
let him first of all take MP his own
cross and carry IT." Only the bearer
OF crosses are capable of saving souls
Why is 1t that so few people in life
are capable OF helping us? So few
who can answer the needs OF our
hearts! HOW very rare that personal
itiy OF whom we can say-this man
understands me and l yield TO him.
He has borne his own burden and 50
he helps me bear mine.
This is the browning power OF the
life OF Jesus Christ over the hearts
OF men. He might have done the
great deeds and uttered all the great
truths reported OF Him, and yet failed
10 hold His unique relation to all
experience OF trouble. duty and need.
He would have remained a teacher
and preacher instead OF a Savior. He
entered deeply into every human ex-
perienoe Of temptation. mis!nterpro-
tation and suffering.
Christ leads me through no darker
room
Than he went through before"