b'LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. \n\n\n\nSlielfvM-4- \n\n\n\nUNITED STATES OF AMERICA. \n\n\n\nINSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\n\n\nINSPIRED THROUGH \nSUFFERING \n\n\n\nBY \n\nRev. DAVID O. MEARS, D. D. \n\nAuthor of \' \'Life of Edw. N. Kh\'k, D.D.," " The Deathless Book^ \' \' \n\'\'Oberlin Lectures^" etc. \n\n\n\nf \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY \n\nNew York Chicago Toronto \n\nPublishers of Evangelical Literature \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCopyright, 1895, \n\nby \n\nFleming H. Revell Company. \n\n\n\nPREFATORY \n\nThis volume is an essay to indicate the \nvalue of courage in the hard paths of Hfe. A \ngreat deal that goes by the name of comfort \nis mere sentiment. \n\nWe have not limited the realm of sorrow to \nthe death-chamber; living sorrows are some- \ntimes, perhaps always, hardest to bear. Bitter \nanguish cuts into manly hearts in every-day \nlife. Hard times crowd upon the most de- \nserving. Deep anxiety plows its furrows in \nhomes unmarked by crape. Hardships and \nsorrows are as varied as human experiences. \n\nComfort is as much demanded in the battle \nof life as in the loneliness following the fin- \nish of the fight. We need comfort almost \nmore when hope alternates with fear than \nwhen the object of hope is gone ; in the sick- \n\n5 \n\n\n\n6 PREFATORY \n\nchamber more than in the lonely room. The \nthoughts of these chapters take in the strong \nand the weak, the well and the sick, the \nstruggling and the desolate. \n\nAn ounce of comfort is worth tons of pity. \nPity discourages ; comfort strengthens. Pity \nkeeps hands off; comfort lifts up the trem- \nbling. Pity plays upon the feelings ; comfort \ngives impulse to the strength. Pity repels ; \ncomfort wins. \n\nA central thought concerns the greatness \nof human nature enduring or patiently bear- \ning hardships. Strength needs the testing- \ntime to declare it. Elijah was never commis- \nsioned to sit under a juniper-tree and moan. \nChrist fainted under his cross, but was never \nfaint in courage. In like manner it is not \nmanly to give up the battle when meeting \nsome defeat. The immortal spirit of man \nwas never made to fret itself away under \nadversity. It was a poor prayer of Elijah, \n*\' Take away my life.*\' God has made us to \nrise above troubles; to make each one of \n\n\n\nPREFATORY 7 \n\nthese a stepping-stone to higher service. \nThe lessons we learn make us stronger to \nhelp others. Sad experiences are severe \nteachers. \n\nThat life only is worth living that is lived \nfor others. What we suffer is no excuse for \nclosing our eyes against others\' sufferings. \nBecause we are driven to a lonely experience \nwe are not therefore to keep away from those \nwho are lonely. Because death comes to any \nhome it is not that its occupants shall be \ndead to others\' needs. We learn, to teach. \nWe get wisdom, to give. We find paths, to \nshow to others. We are fashioned through \nsorrows and hardships and difficulties, to be \nwiser, stronger, and better neighbors and \nfriends. We are inspired to inspire. Our \nsufferings are teachers as truly as the inspired \nScriptures. \n\nGod designs our troubles to make us larger \nand stronger. Christ was perfected through \nsufferings. Sufferers of the centuries have \nclung to him because of his being \'\' touched \n\n\n\n8 PREFATORY \n\nwith the feeling of our infirmities.** What \nhe was we in a measure must be : accessible \nto those who need our help. \n\nIf these pages shall inspire the troubled \nand bereaved and struggling to larger pur- \nposes, the writer\'s aim will have been reached. \n\nCleveland, Ohio, \nSeptember, 1895. \n\n\n\nCONTENTS \n\nPAGE \n\nI. Greater than our Burdens ii \n\nII. The Immortal Life 35 \n\nIII. Spiritual Helps in Earthly Hindrances. 55 \n\nIV. Patience 77 \n\nV. Sympathy 95 \n\nVI. Comfort 115 \n\nVII. Inspired to Inspire 137 \n\n\n\nI \n\nGREATER THAN OUR BURDENS \n\n\n\nII \n\n\n\nMan the personation of power. \xe2\x80\x94 Natur-al obstacles over- \ncome. \xe2\x80\x94 Moral also. \xe2\x80\x94 Life, "labor and sorrow." \xe2\x80\x94 Moses\' \nexperience: he "endured." \xe2\x80\x94 Paul\'s testimony: "tribula- \ntions." \xe2\x80\x94 What his life-work cost him. \xe2\x80\x94 "Weariness and \npainfulness." \xe2\x80\x94 These men not pessimists. \xe2\x80\x94 These distin- \nguished men examples. \n\nMan stronger than his environment. \xe2\x80\x94 Burdens cannot \ncrush. \xe2\x80\x94 Argument of Book of Job. \xe2\x80\x94 God has given us \ncourage.\xe2\x80\x94 Life greater than its losses. \xe2\x80\x94 "Endurance" a \nquality of character. \xe2\x80\x94 We endure hard and disagreeable \nthings, not the pleasant. \n\nTest of human strength seen in what it can endure. \xe2\x80\x94 \nAdversity, test of life. \xe2\x80\x94 Financial panic tests the merchant. \n\xe2\x80\x94 Christ\'s seeming defeat a conquest. \xe2\x80\x94 Man preeminent \nover his conditions. \n\nSurroundings no test of judgment ; John Brown, Huss, \nSavonarola, Stephen, Paul. \xe2\x80\x94 Grandeur of human power. \n\nHardships and sorrows not removed by " endurance." \xe2\x80\x94 \nNo two sorrows alike. \xe2\x80\x94 Each sorrow an individual burden. \n\xe2\x80\x94 Earthly limitations revealing human power. \xe2\x80\x94 Examples. \n\xe2\x80\x94 Hope depends upon what is unseen ; Moses, Jenny Lind. \n\xe2\x80\x94 Man made to live even without sympathy. \xe2\x80\x94 Can " sub- \nmit" and live. \n\nEndurance of burdens a product of something higher. \xe2\x80\x94 \nSeeing the invisible. \xe2\x80\x94 Hope inspires "endurance." \xe2\x80\x94 Its \ndeeds. \xe2\x80\x94 Things "not seen," the eternal. \xe2\x80\x94 The "image of \nGod." \n\n\n\n12 \n\n\n\n\nGREATER THAN OUR BURDENS \n\n|AN is the personation of power. \nThe scriptural record marks his \npreeminence : to subdue the earth \nand have dominion over every Hving thing. \nEven death is not defeat ; man is immortal. \nHuman history records this power and \ndominion. Man builds roads over the Alps, \nand tunnels mountains for convenience. He \nspans broad rivers with cobwebs of steel, over \nwhich pass heaviest-loaded trains. He makes \noceans his highways. He strings networks \nof wires over continents that shall communi- \ncate his wishes. He cables ocean-beds for \nuse. He utilizes Niagara for power; and \nwith this power stores the lightnings of the \n13 \n\n\n\n14 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nclouds to drive his factories and to forge his \nmachines. He makes clouds and rivers and \nmountains and oceans his servants. \n\nDominion Hke this is not gained without \ntoil, weariness, and cost; but these do not \nharm. Shall weariness of other kinds bring \ndefeat? Are there not other \'\'costs** of \nsuccess ? Is not man made to bear burdens, \nnot to be crushed by them ? \n\nWithout attempting any analysis just here \nof the common burdens in life, we notice the \ngeneral fact. We borrow the testimony of \ntwo men whose success is beyond question. \nHistory, sacred and secular, records their \nnames with reverence. Each speaks of the \ncosts of his life, and of what life is. The one \nstood at the twilight of modern history ; the \nother In the dawning day of the Christian \ncivilization. \n\nThe first witness, in the Ninetieth Psalm, \ncharacterizes life as \'\'labor and sorrow.** This \nwas Moses, the greatest name of humankind. \nRevelation exalts his rank in the immortal \n\n\n\nGREATER THAN OUR BURDENS 15 \n\nlife in the sublime reference, \'\' the song of \nMoses and of the Lamb." No other life has \nequaled his. \n\nModern civiHzation finds its earliest ex- \nponent in his teachings. His fame dims that \nof Abraham. He was the founder of the \npeculiar nation that has had its hand upon all \ngovernments. Grotius, that prodigy of learn- \ning, attributes the laws of Attica to those of \nMoses. He is the predecessor of Blackstone. \nHis wisdom infinitely exceeds that of Solon. \nHe is the world\'s first historian. As eman- \ncipator, statesm.an, lawgiver, historian, Moses \nmerits the declaration of Dean Milman : \'\'The \nHebrew lawgiver has exercised a more ex- \ntensive and permanent influence over the des- \ntinies of mankind than any other individual \nin the annals of the world.** \n\nIt was this preeminently successful charac- \nter who wrote out of his own experience, and \nfrom observation, that human life, even under \nthe most auspicious environment, is \'\'labor \nand sorrow.** The writer to the Hebrews \n\n\n\n16 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nmakes one word describe him \xe2\x80\x94 he " en- \ndured." \n\nRecall a few facts. He was born poor. \nHis life was saved from murder by the strat- \nagem of his mother. By a remarkable provi- \ndence, when he stood heir to the throne of \nthe Pharaohs, he abandoned all claim to the \npalace. He chose \'\'to suffer affliction with \nthe people of God." He rejected the ease \nand pleasures of royalty. He preferred *\' the \nreproach of Christ " to \'\' the pleasures of \nEgypt." He bore the unending complaints \nand murmurings of the people in all his active \ncareer. Whether we look upon him at \'* the \nback side of the desert " for forty years, or \nfollow him during the extended wanderings, \nthe conclusion is the same : \'\' labor and sor- \nrow." Moses lost what the world prizes, and \ngained what it shuns. Is he a fair example \namong men ? \n\nThe same experience was met by Paul. He \ndid not really begin to live until he cast away \nwhat he had once prized. He became an out- \n\n\n\nGREATER THAN OUR BURDENS 17 \n\ncast. His family deserted him ; more easily \ncould he have mourned their death. He lost \nhis enviable popularity in the great church of \nhis fathers. He described his life as a continu- \nance of \'\'perils." The recital baffles descrip- \ntion. He was whipped five times w^th thongs \nswung by the hands of Jews ; and the mad- \nness of the whipper\'s heart gave full strength \nto every blow. He was stoned once ; and \nfanatical hatred made the bruises deep. \nThree classes of men did their best to kill \nhim \xe2\x80\x94 robbers, his own countrymen, and \nheathen. His life in wilderness and city was \nimperiled. He knew what it meant to be \nhungry and cold. \'\' Weariness and painful- \nness " were frequent burdens. Storms of the \ndeep waters w^ere no greater perils than false \nbrethren. Paul names his pathway \'\' tribu- \nlations.\'* \n\nThus these two greatest men of Scripture \nfame designate life as \'\'labor and sorrow" and \n"tribulations." Both were the furthest re- \nmove from being pessimists. They abounded \n\n\n\n18 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nin hope. They were never cast down. Paul \nsaid of his tribulations, \'\'I glory in them/\' \nMoses once almost gave way under the des- \nperate strain of his burdens, even praying \nthat he might die. But the despondency \nwas only for a moment; his magnificent \nearthly life was ended with a song of tri- \numph under a seeming defeat. Burdens mul- \ntiply according as the work becomes greater. \nPresident Lincoln, during the war, probably \nsuffered more than any other hundred men. \nWe are not, therefore, saying that all men \nwill have the amount of sorrow and tribula- \ntion that Moses and Paul knew, since all have \nnot their responsibilities. It is not the amount \nthat demands attention, but the fact. \n\nThe principle toward which such examples \npoint, and In which they are involved, is evi- \ndent: man is larger and stronger than his \nenvironment. No burden was ever heavy \nenough to crush manhood out. No sorrow \nwas ever greater than the heart can bear. \nGod never made a coward, nor has he any- \n\n\n\nGREATER THAN OUR BURDENS 19 \n\nwhere held up as a model a nature that would \nbreak under sorrow. The whole Book of Job \ncenters around this single test: that no afflic- \ntion or evil could crush him. Man is not a \nw^orm to be trodden down, but a child of \nGod. He is made to have dominion, to put \nall things under his feet. The agonies of \nGethsemane may fall with frightful weight, \nbut they cannot crush him. The cross will \nhurt, but cannot harm. \n\nGod has fibered us with courage, not with \ncowardice. \'\' Ye shall have tribulation," the \nMaster said: \'\'but be of good cheer." He \nreminded his disciples of what they should \nsuffer, but told them that their sorrow should \nbe turned into joy. Physical pain may be- \ncome torture ; but manhood does not die with \nthe pain. Loss of earthly goods will produce \nregrets; but there is an existence that does \nnot depend upon earthly sustenance. Loss \nof loved ones shrouds the house in darkness ; \nbut the real life does not depend upon the \nbeating of the pulse. There are living griefs \n\n\n\n20 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nfar heavier than death ; these bring sad- \nness, but they cannot kill. The seer of Pat- \nmos caught the vision of multitudes who \nhad come *\' out of great tribulation," not of \nthose crushed by their burdens. Multitudes \nhad become martyrs rather than surrender \ntruth. Courage is the watchword of God to \nmen. \n\nIt is not the kind of hardship that demands \nthe endurance. Lives of Moses and Paul and \nmilHons upon milHons of others prove that \nendurance is a quality of character. What- \never Moses met he endured. \n\nThe word \'\' endure \'\' refers to what is hard \nand disliked. We may patiently and lovingly \nendure those who hate us; but we never \nspeak of enduring those we love. Christ \nendured the cross; it was hard. The word \nmeans more than patience. We must endure \nwhat we shall never like. Sorrows cut deep \nand are never pleasant. Paul was never \npleased with his thorn in the flesh, and it was \nnever intended he should be. God has given \n\n\n\nGREATER THAN OUR BURDENS 21 \n\nUS the capacity to endure what we cannot \nhelp. In this power man is a king. \n\nNotice just at this point that the test of \nhuman strength is seen in what it can endure, \nnot in what it avoids. A small sail-boat \nmight possibly cross the Atlantic from New \nYork to Liverpool, provided there were no \ngales nor storms. This would not make it \nvaluable for a winter\'s voyage. The strength \nof the suspension-bridge is measured by its \nweakest arch. The strength of the chain is \njust equal to its weakest link. \n\nIn a sense this is true of human life. One \nmay pass easily along when things are smooth ; \nyet the real test of strength is in hard times. \nAll success depends upon endurance of hard- \nships, not upon avoiding them. The sharper \nthe financial panic the keener the test of the \nmerchant\'s ability. The heavier the sorrow \nthe severer the trial of manhood. Yet multi- \ntudes endure such a test. The world admires \nthe heroism displayed in such a conflict. Men \nask of one in financial trouble, \'\' Will he sue- \n\n\n\n22 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nceed ? " The inquiry concerning those pass- \ning through heavy affliction is, \'\' How do \nthey bear it?" Harder yet the Hving sor- \nrow, that neither wealth nor position can \nassuage; yet all admit the heroism of those \nenduring it. \n\nThis is the severe way of reasoning to those \nwhose hearts are breaking ; yet it recognizes \nthe preeminence of man over his conditions. \nIn a sense this is conquest. There were \nprophecy, admonition, and assurance in the \nwords of Christ : \'^ In the world ye shall have \ntribulation : but be of good cheer ; I have \novercome the world.\'\' When he spoke the \ntramping of the soldiers under the leadership \nof Judas was already begun. The swaying \nof the lanterns and torches was in the direc- \ntion of Gethsemane, whither Jesus was accus- \ntomed to resort. While the moonbeams \nlighted up with glory the trees of Olivet, the \ndarkness around him was to cover agony \nitself. \n\nIt was in such an hour, under such condi- \n\n\n\nGREATER THAN OUR BURDENS 23 \n\ntions, the Master said, \'\' I have conquered \nthe world." Was this conquering \xe2\x80\x94 to be \nbetrayed ; to be forsaken by the Twelve ; to \nbe put to death? Was it conquering \xe2\x80\x94 to \npass into Gethsemane, and to faint under the \ncompelled burden of carrying his own cross \nup Calvary? The seeming paradox was the \ntruth. Judas would succeed in deHvering \nhim into the hands of his murderers ; but the \ninfamous traitor must confess, *\' I have shed \ninnocent blood/* Peter would deny him \nwith oaths, but before the first gray Hght of \nthe morning he would bitterly weep. Pilate \nwould try to wash his hands of their stains, \nbut in vain. \n\nWe cannot always judge of men by their \nsurroundings. John Brown conquered, though \nhe was hung on the gallows ; appearances \nwere against him, but he had won immortal \nfame. John Huss conquered, though his \nwinding-sheet was the flames that ended his \nlife. Savonarola conquered, though the last \nsounds driven into his hearing were the hisses \n\n\n\n24 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nand curses of men calling themselves priests \nof the most high God. Stephen conquered, \nthough his fading sight was upon the frantic \nefforts of infuriated men to rid the earth of \nhis presence. The step of Paul was that of \na conqueror even when he was led outside \nthe Ostian Gate. Men cannot kill the truth \nwith axes, nor burn it to ashes and cinders. \nThe truth cannot be destroyed by fagots, \nnor cut by steel that can be sharpened upon \ngrindstones. \n\nThe endurance of hardships and sorrows \ndoes not take them away nor make them \nmore easy to carry. The home of those who \nonce lived in affluence may at last be one of \npoverty. The wealth once owned may have \nshifted into the hands of sharpers. Disease \nmay have paralyzed those whose ambitions \nare high, and life thus have become a burden. \nSufferings in the family may have darkened \nall earthly pleasures by anxiety over the \npatient loved one in the enforced seclusion. \nThe nights may increase the weariness be- \n\n\n\nGREATER THAN OUR BURDENS 25 \n\ncause of the remembrance of some wanderer \ngone out from the home. Or the crape may- \nhave been taken from the door, while the \nhome that misses the voice whose daily words \nwere richer than music may seem empty for- \never. \n\nThe complexion of trouble is as varied as \nthe leaves. No two sorrows are ever alike. \nThe peculiar character, the strength of the \nlove, the relations between the once loved \nand now gone \xe2\x80\x94 all enter into the peculiarity \nof each sorrow or hardship. No one is per- \nmitted to say to another, \'\' I have felt the \nvery sorrow you are passing through.^\' Sor- \nrows are as varied as have been the faces of \nour beloved. Our little child differs from \nevery other child. Our parents differ from \nthe parents of others. No two companions \nin life are alike. Since this is evident the \nsorrow of each heart must be as different \nfrom that of others as the personality has \nbeen. \n\nEach sorrow is thus an individual burden. \n\n\n\n26 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nIts anguish marks the degree of the love. \nThe endurance of the burden indicates the \nability of man above his environment. We \nneed sympathy ; but even if sympathy were \nwithheld, man can live without it. Friend- \nship is a mighty help; but even though all \nfriends should fail, man can struggle on alone. \nHe is able to endure a thousand burdens that \ncrowd upon him. He can endure crushing \nweights that ought to be spared him. He \ncan submit \xe2\x80\x94 that hard word expressive of a \nsevere experience \xe2\x80\x94 to what he cannot ex- \nplain. Jesus of Nazareth trod the wine-press \nalone ; in this he was a pattern for multitudes. \nThis grandeur of human power is manifest \nin the every-day success of men whom early \ndeprivations schooled into self-reliance. Bar- \nrenest pastures and fields have seemed to \nturn out strongest men and women. Nearly \nall our most illustrious statesmen have grown \nstrong through the limitations of poverty. It \nwould be almost invidious to name them \xe2\x80\x94 \nWebster, Clay, Garfield, Lincoln, and hosts \n\n\n\nGREATER THAN OUR BURDENS 27 \n\nlike them. Republics and lesser organiza- \ntions do not place reliance upon any who are \nnot self-reliant first; and self-reliance thrives \nbest when others fail to help. \n\nIt was the prayer of Luther written into \nhis \'\' will " : \'^ I thank thee, O God, that thou \nhast made me a poor man on the earth. \'* \nThe great reformers have nearly all been \nchildren of poverty, whose sufferings could \nnot crush them. Literature is a fruit of \nsufferings in countless instances. It seems \nstrange that \'\' Rasselas " was written to de- \nfray the funeral expenses of the famous \nwriter\'s mother. During the time of Sir \nIsaac Newton\'s greatest discoveries his tax \nof two shillings a week to the Royal Society \nwas a positive burden. Millions charmed by \nthe \'\'Wizard of the North\'\' do not ponder \nthe burdens of debt overcome by the work \nof his magic pen. While princes, bearing the \nname of rulers, have been whiling away their \ntime upon trifles, many a subject has risen \nabove and out of hardships into greater than \n\n\n\n28 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nkings. The most illustrious names in West- \nminster Abbey are not of those who have \nworn crowns. \n\nThe annals of the world\'s benefactors con- \ntain the names of those who have conquered \nsharpest difficulties and proved themselves \ngreater than all their burdens. Whatever \nthe condition or environment, man is superior \nto it. \n\nHuman endurance is largely a product of \nsomething above and beyond itself. Moses \nsaw the throne of the Pharaohs, yet knew of \nanother infinitely higher, and so refused the \nlower. He recognized the pleasures of sin, \nyet saw a far higher enjoyment in doing his \nduty \xe2\x80\x94 that word so often meaning drudgery \nand pain. He saw the riches of Egypt, yet \nlooked upon rich treasures that Pharaohs \nnever can handle or count. \'\' He endured, \nas seeing Him who is invisible. \'\' \n\nModern life is not wholly barren of such \nsacrifice for principle. The biographer of \nJenny Lind has pictured her sitting close by \n\n\n\nGREATER THAN OUR BURDENS 29 \n\nthe surfs that were rolling in from the ocean. \nUpon her knee was a Lutheran Bible ; while \nclosing down upon the westward waters was \na sunset of surpassing splendor and beauty. \n\nThe world had been entranced by this \ngentle woman, whose voice gave hints of \nwhat angels\' voices may be. Crowded as- \nsemblies had called and recalled her again \nand again to look upon her face and hear \nsuch notes as other human lips have never \nrendered. The wealth of continents had \nstriven to give its owners a place where the \nenchantress of song ruled. It was a friend \nwho asked why it was she had abandoned the \nstage in her early career, when at the very \nheight of the most brilliant successes. To \nthe question the great artist quietly replied, \n*\' When every day it made me think less of \nthis " (laying her finger on the Bible) \'\' and \nnothing at all of that" (pointing to the sun- \nset), \'\' what else could I do? " \n\nIn that gentle answer breathes a principle \nno one can neglect. The most winsome, flat- \n\n\n\n30 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\ntering enchantments of life must never be \nallowed to usurp the place God holds. The \npresence of the great singer had been sought \nby the royal houses of Europe; kings and \nqueens had given her the homage of unsullied \nadmiration; millions had crowded the halls \nwhere she sang; but whatever should draw \nher thoughts from God\'s Book, or turn her \nattention from the sunset splendors, must be \nsurrendered. \n\nThere is a divine compensation for every \ntrue sacrifice. Why is it men can endure \ncrushing burdens ? How is it they can bear \nlosses without flinching? Can there be en- \ndurance without hope ? If there is no object \nahead in life, can we endure the drudgery? \nIs there comfort to those who know no future \nlife? Hope is an inspiration. It banishes \nfear. To lose hope would be to lose all. \n\nThe pathway of each life is strewn with \nbroken plans and unfulfilled expectations; \nbut the things now shattered inspired at first. \nWe Hve in hope. It is the cheer underlying \n\n\n\nGREATER THAN OUR BURDENS 31 \n\nevery great action. It is proven in every \nship of commerce plowing the seas. It stim- \nulates all courage in business. It quickens \nthe deeds of the plowman, preparing his \nharvest. Hope never dies till the man dies. \nYet even hope may be false. It may be \nbright in youth ; in prosperity, when time \nflows smoothly ; but if it fails in sickness, or \nloses its grip in discouraging times, its false- \nness is manifest. It has followed a rushlight, \nsupposing it a beacon. \n\nEndurance of burdens depends upon seeing \nthe unseen. When wealth is swept away, \nseeing Him who is invisible means see- \ning greater riches and treasures than gold. \nWhen earthly honors are lost, seeing the in- \nvisible means looking upon the higher throne \nof power. When grief rolls in its floods of \nagony, seeing the invisible keeps our thoughts \nabove the terrible darkness. The rainbow is \nbrightest on the blackest cloud; so the \nstrongest hope and courage may rest over \nhearts that are plowed by heaviest griefs. \n\n\n\n32 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nSeeing Him who is invisible means that this \nHfe is not ended by death. No more hun- \nger; no more pain. All tears shall be wiped \naway. No more need of sunlight; God is \nthe sun. \n\nThe best part of the true life comes after \nthis life is finished. The things that are seen \nare temporal; those not seen are eternal. \nThe revelations of Scripture agree with man\'s \nown nature; he is larger than his troubles, \nsuperior to his environment. Made in the \nimage of God, he can endure and work, en- \ndure and wait. He can bear labor and sor- \nrow, and at last catch the vision of Beulah. \nHe can say all through the pathway of labor \nand sorrow, \'\' I have conquered.*\' When he \ntreads the last dark valley, it will be the \nassurance of conviction he speaks : *\' I have \nconquered the world.*\' He can live without \nreceiving pity. Though sympathy were \ndenied him, yet the strength is in him. Man \nis greater than all he suffers ; larger than his \nlargest sorrows. \n\n\n\nGREATER THAN OUR BURDENS 33 \n\n*\' How wonderful is man! \nConnection exquisite of distant worlds! \nDistinguished link in Being\'s endless chain! \nMidway from nothing to the Deity! \nA being ethereal, sullied, and absorbed! \nThough sullied and dishonored, still divine! \nDim miniature of greatness absolute! \nAn heir of glory! a frail child of dust! \nHelpless Immortal! Insect infinite! \nA Worm! a God!" \n\n\n\nII \n\nTHE IMMORTAL LIFE \n\n\n\n35 \n\n\n\nProfit and loss of life real or fictitious. \xe2\x80\x94 If death ends \nall! \xe2\x80\x94 Immortality as a motive. \n\nTwo facts : our weakness and possibilities. \xe2\x80\x94 Tabernacles \nto be taken down. \xe2\x80\x94 Materialism borrows language of the \nspiritual. \xe2\x80\x94 Comparison between the temporal and lasting. \n\xe2\x80\x94 Mansions outlast the occupants. \xe2\x80\x94 Immortality in the \nhuman face. \n\nUndying desire for undying life. \xe2\x80\x94 Death the history of \nthe race. \xe2\x80\x94 Christ conquered death. \xe2\x80\x94 Immortality a human \nintuition. \xe2\x80\x94 This conviction gives power. \n\nFirst : Every-day burdens. \xe2\x80\x94 Living troubles. \xe2\x80\x94 The im- \nmortal not dependent upon temporal things. \xe2\x80\x94 World power- \nless in making weak man strong or strong man weak. \n\nImmortality makes great hope ; develops abilities. \xe2\x80\x94 This \nintuition met by Christ\'s assurance. \xe2\x80\x94 Life of Jesus ; Paul. \xe2\x80\x94 \nIf life ends with the flesh, most helpful and wisest of the \nrace have been deceived. \n\nThe immortal and earthly \'^ goods." \xe2\x80\x94 Immortal man in- \nfinitely superior to all he can handle. \n\nSecondly: The burden of grief. \xe2\x80\x94 The lonely home. \xe2\x80\x94 \nStoicism hard; Jesus wept. \xe2\x80\x94 Christian to love; Christian \nto weep. \xe2\x80\x94 Life not ended here. \xe2\x80\x94 Hope, compensation for \nbroken homes. \xe2\x80\x94 Love makes heavy burdens. \xe2\x80\x94 Max MUller \nquoted. \n\n\n\n36 \n\n\n\nII \n\n\n\nTHE IMMORTAL LIFE \n\n\n\n\n|HE \'\' profit and loss ^\' of life is real \nor fictitious, according to our stan- \ndard. If death ends all, life is all a \nloss. It would then endure its hardships, \ncarry its burdens, and pass away with no \nsatisfaction to itself. It would endure hard \nstruggles in commercial or other directions, \nand die unsatisfied. It would deny itself for \nthe children, only to leave them forever. It \nwould stand by the bedside of the idoHzed \nchild, and turn away from the beautiful \nthough lifeless form without one ray of hope. \nIf there were no continuation of life indepen- \ndent of this physical body, it would not be \nworth living. \n\n37 \n\n\n\n38 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nThe conviction of the immortal Hfe changes \nour estimate of everything. It impels hope. \nThe poor anticipate a balancing of seeming \ninequalities. Sufferers speak of a world \nwhere there is no pain; where they never \nsay, \'\' I am sick/\' where there is no hunger \nnor thirst. In such a hope and conviction the \ndying assure us we shall meet again. The \nadded years do not bring dismay. The \nweary and the aged speak complacently of \nlaying down their burdens for the burdenless \nexistence. \n\nTwo great facts confront each one of us, \nour weakness and our possibilities. The one \npertains to the body of flesh, the other to our \nspiritual nature. We dwell in this tent of the \nflesh. We have a body ; it is our possession, \nnot ourself. It is not the hand that thinks, \nnor the eye that plans, nor the face that \nloves; hand, heart, and face declare in a \nphysical sense what the spiritual being within \nwills and controls. \n\nTake human existence, called life : it begins \n\n\n\nTHE IMMORTAL LIFE 39 \n\ncramped by the weakness of infancy; it \ngrows up under the bounding impulses of \nyouth ; it braves the burdens of what is called \nmaturity; it seems to droop under the weari- \nness of age ; the steps become more slow, the \nframe begins to totter and tremble ; slowly \nbut surely the mortal powers give way, until \nthe strength is all gone ; yet through it all \nthere has been but one life lived. No human \neye has seen the life ; no ear has heard it \nthrob ; no hand has touched its vibrations. \nThe body drops through decay into the \ngrave, but the life does not die. The spirit- \nual nature or body occupies for a season the \nearthly, material body that is always dying. \nThe Apostle reminds us that we are Hving in \ntabernacles that must be taken down; but \nthe real life does not depend upon the tent. \n\nThere is not a materialist who will not, in \nhis denial of the spiritual, say, \'\' When I was \na child," or \'* When I was a youth," or \n*\'When I became a man." Infidelity and \nmaterialism beg the very language of the \n\n\n\n40 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nspiritual in their self-assertions. The real \nnature, the immortal or spiritual, retains its \nperfect identity unchanged in an ever-chang- \ning body. In other words, the unseen in \nman, the ego, is himself. Individual human \nhistory is thus summed up : \'\'I was born ; I \nhave spent my youth ; I have passed through \nmanhood; I am sick; I am dying.** And \nyet with the man of great intellect, when \ndeath had clutched his vitals, every one can \nsay, even in the last moment, \'\'I still live.*\' \nDropping this body of flesh is not death; it \nis only the true and higher nature breaking \naway from that which was made to perish. \n\nIt is strange that so many forget the dis- \ntinction between the temporal and the lasting. \nThe houses we live in, the trees under whose \nshadows we rest from the heat of the sun, the \ngardens we plant, the orchards we cultivate, \nthe highways we tread \xe2\x80\x94 everything upon \nwhich our vision rests is temporal and is pass- \ning away. Time never ceases carving its lines \ninto granite and marble. It is relentless; it \n\n\n\nTHE IMMORTAL LIFE 41 \n\nplants its mosses over names upon the tablets \nof the dead. It is a power, sweeping whole \ncities out of sight. \n\nStill, the mansions outlast the occupants. \nThe buildings survive the builders. Com- \npared with the human frame, granite is \nalmost eternal. Flesh is perishable as grass. \nThe heart tires out before time has gnawed \ninto the granite. The fleshly body is temporal, \nlike the house under whose roof it rests, only \nfar more frail. The body dies, but the man \nnever. The mansion decays, but the occu- \npant lives. Our real life is the immortal. \n\nIt was said of a distinguished scholar of \nthis generation that no man could look into \nhis face without believing in immortality. \nThere is nothing so expressive as the human \nface. It may be a child\'s face ; yet there are \nseen depths of eternity in the child\'s eyes. \nMan is more than a walking pillar of dust. \nThere is an infinite pathos back of the human \nvoice. Thought is at an infinite remove from \nthe organs that give it utterance. \n\n\n\n42 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nIn this conviction of the dual nature of \nman the latest science and the Scriptures \nagree. Man is preeminently an immortal \nbeing dwelling for his earthly life in material \nform. We who briefly deal with material \naffairs are to live on when the last of earth \nhas come. \n\nWithin every one dwells this undying de- \nsire for an undying life ; but after the most \nhas been said, the history of human life is \nequally the history of death. There has \nalways been a shrinking from the great \nchange. It has made the gloom of Egypt \ndeeper; it has put out the light of Athens; \nit has darkened the snowy summit of Olym- \npus; it has bated the breath of men pro- \nfessing no timidity. Men have feared the \nHannibals of history, but they have feared \ndeath more. They have shivered within \nsound of Alva\'s sword, but have preferred a \nlife amid cruelties rather than a silence in \ndeath. With all the strength of hope there \nlingers yet in every human breast a shrink- \n\n\n\nTHE IMMORTAL LIFE 43 \n\ning which the power of God alone can \nremedy. \n\nUnless Christ had allayed this fear; unless \nhe had revealed an immortal life transcending \nthis, before whose splendor the brightness of \nthis world is as a cloud ; unless he could, and \ndid, prove himself mightier than death, his \nmission would have been a comparative fail- \nure. He might have given sight to all the \nblind in that ophthalmic climate ; have swept \nthe hectic flush from every fevered face ; have \nbanished all leprosy from the paths he trod ; \nhe might have left neither lame nor halt \nwithin the walls of any town whose streets \nechoed his footsteps ; and yet, if he had not \nconquered death \xe2\x80\x94 that greater than fever or \ndeformity or leprosy \xe2\x80\x94 his mission would have \ngained no hold upon the race. Passing into \nthe hour of the great change, he could well \nsay, \'\'It is finished.\'\' If he had never cast \noff his transfigured raiment for the \'\' decease \nhe should accomplish at Jerusalem," we would \nstill have been shrouded in the terrible mys- \n\n\n\n44 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\ntery which the great fact of the resurrection \nfrom his tomb has dispelled. Our life is in \nthe temporary house, but not of\\t. \n\nEvery race, from the most rude to those \nmost cultured, has intuitively beHeved in \nimmortality. The Scriptures assume it from \nfirst to last. Experts in science accept the \nsame fact. Man is an immortal, a citizen of \nanother world than this. \n\nWe have previously observed man\'s ability \nto endure hardships and disappointments and \nsorrows; this conviction of his immortal na- \nture gives yet greater power. We notice \ntwo particulars. \n\nFirst, the every-day burdens. Just as over \nnature cyclones and fierce storms sweep their \ndestructive paths, so is it in common life. \nPanics disturb the commercial centers. Un- \nscrupulous men imperil the credit of the \nhonorable and just. Knaves ply their trade. \nVile characters plot to defame the pure. \nTrusted companions prove themselves ene- \n\n\n\nTHE IMMORTAL LIFE 45 \n\nmies. Living troubles crowd into the home. \nHardship falls where once was ease. \n\nThe full enumeration of human ills baffles \nrecital. What shall the \'\' man immortal \'\' do \nwith these? Shall he grow timid because \nmen clinging to commercial prosperity are \nafraid? Shall he weaken his manhood be- \ncause men who have abandoned their man- \nhood trouble him? Shall he forget his \nimmortal destiny and its rewards because \nknaves do not know they are brutish ? Shall \nhe quail if any look askance, when he knows \nhis purity of motive and conduct? Shall \nhe fear when the once trusted reveal their \nmeanness? Shall he shrink from his accus- \ntomed duties because others, whom he loves, \ndestroy for themselves their promising future ? \n\nHuman strength does not grow from the \nsoil where thistles grow, nor come down from \nclouds where lightnings play. The magnifi- \ncent forces of the republic cannot make a \nweak man strong nor a strong man weak. \n\n\n\n46 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nOne man with God is a majority. It is so \nordered in the nature of things that every one \nmay keep the place for which his character fits \nhim. What, therefore, does this immortal do \namid the burdens surrounding him and im- \npeding his path? \n\nA great hope makes great deeds. Cramp \nHfe to its existence here, and human aspira- \ntions are all dwarfed. Given larger possi- \nbilities for this existence, there are corre- \nsponding abilities developed. Strike away \nhope, and death begins. Let the idea that \nthis life is all obtain, and the crowding evils \nand cares will bring despair. \n\nThis assurance of an endless life is a \ncharacteristic belief of the largest benefactors \nof the race. Christ met this longing for a \nhigher life by his words, \'\' If it were not so, \nI would have told you." If there is no end- \nless life, the words of Christ in his dying \nbreath were those of delusion : \'\' Father, into \nthy hands I commend my spirit." If there \nis no continuity of life, the life of Christ in \n\n\n\nTHE IMMORTAL LIFE 47 \n\nits self-sacrifice was a tremendous mistake. \nIf the teachings of Paul were, and are, false, \nhis magnificent career was only that of a fool. \nIf the hfe we live goes down with the flesh, \nthe best men of the world have been deceived. \nIn such a case Paul was courageous for \nnothing; martyrs and heroes were acting a \nfoolish part. Does there not seem an incon- \ngruity in the idea of the wisest and most \nhelpful of the race being those who have \nbeen the most deceived? \n\nOur exalted conception of the immortal \nlife makes even the legitimate affairs of this \nlife seem tawdry and gross. How would an \nangel look counting money? We should \ndoubt him as an angel. How would Gabriel \nappear giving his angelic attention to organ- \nizing a \'\' trust " ? The quaint dreamer pictures \nearthly things as refuse gathered with muck- \nrakes. In themselves, all these are worth- \nless beyond the limitations of earth. As \ninhabitants of the earth, however, we have \nto do with them. All are valuable in their \n\n\n\n48 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nplace. Yet, if the loss comes, shall the im- \nmortal mourn? When bank-stocks grow \nless in value, shall this immortal imagine that \nGod is leaving his throne? When knaves \ndestroy his credit, shall he think that God*s \npromise is failing? The wealth of a Roths- \nchild is not of as much value to an immortal \nspirit as are our old broken playthings of \nchildhood valuable to us. Who can imagine \none of the redeemed sighing to come back to \nearth to take up a few mortgages? None \ncould suggest any comparison between the \nmansion Christ has prepared and the mansion \nleft behind on earth. We are to use these \nthings as not abusing them ; but we shall \ntake none away with us. Why not, then, \ntreat them at their worth, or worthlessness ? \nA kind word can do more for us than can \nthe national treasury. The tear of sympathy \nIs more resplendent of beauty than the most \nbrilliant rainbow. \'\' Crown me with flowers,\'* \nsaid the dying Mirabeau ; \'\' I have within me \na hundred years of life, but not a moment\'s \n\n\n\nTHE IMMORTAL LIFE 49 \n\nThe courage he lacked was what \nthe Christian faith would have given. When \nCollingwood, the old English admiral, was \nbreathing his last, the captain expressed the \nfear that the tossing of the ship disturbed him. \n" No, Thomas,\'* he replied, *\' I am now in \nthat state in which nothing in this world can \ndisturb me more.\'\' Immortal man need not \nwait till the dying-hour to learn of his infinite \nsuperiority to all he can look upon and handle. \nImmortals have to deal with perishable things, \nbut we can live \xe2\x80\x94 at last we must live \xe2\x80\x94 with- \nout them. \n\nSecondly, the burden of grief , Every home \ncan appreciate the utter darkness possible \neven in the brightest day. Sunshine is \nsometimes almost a mockery. The music \nof birds, piercing the silent room, hurts. \nVoices of passers-by seem harsh. Traffic \nwill not stop even if the crape is on the door. \nTwilight in its splendors brings imaginings \nof the city with its walls of precious stones. \nCreeping darkness makes a chill in the heat \n\n\n\n50 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nof summer. Glittering stars of night attract \nthe aching hearts sighing for those who \nhave taken the long, silent journey. Griefs \ncome rolling over the heart as waves dash \nover the bather on the shore of the sea. It \nis terrible, this grief. No two days alike; \nlistening always for the voice we cannot \nhear; speaking to ourselves the names of \nthe loved and gone. Do they see us? Do \nthey pity us? Will they not welcome us \nwhen we leave the earth ? What rest in the \nthought that they know our unspoken suf- \nferings ! \n\nThis is the darker side. Stoicism does not \nweep ; but Jesus wept. In the moment of the \ndivine call Jesus knew his friend would come \nforth ; but even he wept. Weep on, beloved. \nMothers and fathers have wept upon the \nleaving of their children for school. Friends \nhave parted at the wharf, their tears expres- \nsive of affection, even though expecting to \nmeet again. We send after them our love- \nfilled missives, whose writing is blurred with \n\n\n\nTHE IMMORTAL LIFE 51 \n\nour tears. It is Christian to love ; therefore \nit is Christian to weep. The enforced parting \nis hard to endure. The disappointment is \nbitter. We can never be as before. A part \nof our Hfe seems gone. We find ourselves \nthinking when around us are busy tongues. \nWe grow absent-minded. Grief is freaky \nand strange. But there is another side. \n\nThe conviction of immortality reminds us \nwe shall meet again. We cannot sorrow as \nthose who have no hope. Life is not ended \nwith the last breath. The future claims the \nthoughts of the silent chamber. The im- \nmortal hope reaches forward. What else \ncould give the needed consolation? \n\nThe home may have everything beautiful. \nWealth may have lavished its luxuries upon \neach Hfe ; loving hearts have vied with one an- \nother in devotion. The almost idolized child \nis beyond the reach of highest medical skill. \nHer active mind has grown in power under \nmost careful instruction. Her voice has \ncharmed with its sweetest notes of song. \n\n\n\n52 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nMusic, as from harps of gold, has thrilled \nunder her touch of the strings. Ornaments \nof her choice beautify each room in the \nhome. She has been the companion of the \nmother, the comfort of the father. Her face \nhas brightened the home, has given happiness \nto those she has met on the street. The \npoor have kissed her shadow in passing. The \naged have wondered how she gave them \nsuch joy. Little children have flocked to her \nside for recognition. Can she be spared? \nA sweetness unearthly rests upon the beauti- \nful face. Lingering love draws in closer em- \nbrace those who would gladly die for her. \nNo tear on her cheek; she is going home. \nHers is the only brave heart. Fond hopes \nof parents broken ; cherished plans for life \ndestroyed! Is this all of life? Can such \nas she die? Is that growing character and \npower to end ? The world to come is larger \nthan this. Its ministrations are ceaseless, its \ncompanionships eternal. Only immortal hope \nhas power to give comfort in such surround- \n\n\n\nTHE IMMORTAL LIFE 53 \n\nings, and to make the desolate calm. How \nelse can the parents take up the heavy burdens \nconnected with that sad home ? Nothing but \nthe assurance of *\' the better land " can solve \nthe mystery of their bravery. \n\nMany a home has been softened and blessed \nin the memory of its promising son, too early \ngone. Tears dim the eyes of the lonely \nparents, waiting to meet him again. Threads \nof silver are crowding in more quickly since \nthe last good-by. The father had expected \nto lean upon him ; but every nook and cor- \nner of the homestead are vocal of him they \ncannot see. The mother\'s heart was almost \nbreaking when she kissed him the last time. \nThe conversation constantly recalls his name, \nas the two, stricken with grief, muse alone \nthe long winter evenings. Their boy is not \ndead, only gone before. They wonder if \nimmortals change with the passing roll of \nexistence. They question how he will appear \nwhen they shall meet him again. They \nv/onder if the active spirit finds time to think \n\n\n\n54 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nof them. Dreamy questions crowd one upon \nanother in quick succession, but all explain \ntheir conviction of his immortality. Love \nmakes heavy burdens, burdens we would \nnever forget. We cherish memories that \nbend us down; but our thoughts are strong \nin the immortal life. \n\n\'\'Without such a belief,\'\' remarks Max \nMiiller, \'\' religion surely is like an arch resting \non one pillar, like a bridge ending in an \nabyss." \n\n\n\nIll \n\n\n\nSPIRITUAL HELPS IN EARTHLY \nHINDRANCES \n\n\n\n55 \n\n\n\nDaily perplexities and cares spiritually helpful. \n\nThree sources of troubles. \xe2\x80\x94 From outside interference. \xe2\x80\x94 \nBlunders. \xe2\x80\x94 Innocent involved. \n\nTroubles increase with our duties. \xe2\x80\x94 Thrift follows \npiety. \xe2\x80\x94 Most devout will have most care. \n\nOur double service, to God and men. \xe2\x80\x94 Love met by \njealous antagonisms. \xe2\x80\x94 Greatest troubles come to greatest \nhelpers. \n\nTroubles in proportion to affection. \xe2\x80\x94 Love produces anxi- \nety. \n\nThe stronger the love the heavier the coming grief. \xe2\x80\x94 \nBurdens and hindrances a logical necessity of a loving, useful \nlife. \n\nRelation of hindrances and trials to the spiritual life. \xe2\x80\x94 \nGrowth by overcoming. \xe2\x80\x94 Adversity a school. \n\nPiety helped by common drudgery of life. \xe2\x80\x94 Best people \nthe hardest worked. \xe2\x80\x94 Paul\'s tent-making. \xe2\x80\x94 Wilberforce. \n\nAnnoyances better borne than removed. \xe2\x80\x94 Washington. \nWaterloo the fruit of reverses. \n\nThe mission of pain and trouble. \n\nGolden experiences grown in dark days. \xe2\x80\x94 ^Joseph; Bun- \nyan ; David. \n\nGod never unjust. \xe2\x80\x94 Reaping what we have sown. \xe2\x80\x94 Every- \nday things God\'s instruments. \n\nWellesley College, fruit of grief. \xe2\x80\x94 Life a battle. \xe2\x80\x94 Best \nlovers of their kind those who have lost most. \n\n\n\n56 \n\n\n\nIll \n\nSPIRITUAL HELPS IN EARTHLY HIN- \nDRANCES \n\n\n\n\nT is one of the commonest mistakes \nto assume that our daily cares and \nperplexities hinder the growth of \nthe spiritual life. The prayer is for prosper- \nity, while adversity may have the best lessons \nto teach. Many assume that people are good \nin proportion as their cares and anxieties are \nless ; while the truth often is these very cares \nand perplexities help them to nobler living. \nWe turn our attention to this seeming para- \ndox. The chiefest saints have often been the \nchiefest sufferers; is this the law? \n\nThree sources of troubles demand recog- \nnition. \n\n57 \n\n\n\n58 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nTroubles arise from outside interference. \nPeople are always blundering somewhere. \nThe innocent are involved in the consequences \nof others\' wrong-doings. Many have seen the \nsavings of a lifetime swept away by some de- \nfaulter. \n\nIt is a sad story the world has to repeat. \nCareless deeds bring death to many a home. \nSo-called circumstantial evidence has some- \ntimes imprisoned the innocent. Things are \nnot always as they seem. Places of infamy \nbreed their destruction upon communities \nthat beg in vain for their removal. Legisla- \ntures sometimes enact laws framed by law- \nbreakers, making immorality legal. Public \nopinion vacillates under strange leaders, \nwhose vagaries mean unrest to the law- \nabiding. \n\nBurdens multiply upon multitudes innocent \nof their cause. The inflictions are direct and \nindirect, but the fruits are often alike. Self- \nishness seeks a vantage-ground for its dep- \nredations. Sharpers rob the unsuspecting. \n\n\n\nHELPS IN HINDRANCES 59 \n\nChildren are not safe from human fiends. \nYoung and old share in the results of out- \nside annoyances. It is the consequence of \nsin. \n\nYet, aside from the environment others \nhave made, we observe the burdens and \nhindrances incident to our own callings. \n\nTroubles increase with our duties. It is \njust as necessary to be faithful in temporal \nas in spiritual things. It is just as much a \nChristian duty to be diligent in business as \nto be fervent in spirit. It may be truly \naffirmed that God abhors a lazy man. The \nbest Christians are they who have the most \nto do every day. Faithfulness in the larger \nduties of the spiritual life will be manifest in \nfaithfulness in the least things of every-day \nlife. It is a fair question whether a mere \ntramp can be much of a Christian. Thrift \nfollows piety. Awakening the mind to \neternal things in their boundless grandeur \ncompels more attention to the affairs of \nevery-day life. \n\n\n\n60 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nIn other words, since the religious hope \ndemands greater progress and attention in \nreference to earthly things, and since hin- \ndrances increase with the efforts required, \nour obHgations to duty will doubtless increase \nthe hindrances in the way of the most de- \nvoted Christian. They who attempt least \nwill probably suffer least. Easy-going peo- \nple make little effort and find few hindrances. \nThe larger the business the heavier the \ndifficulties to be overcome. The larger the \nambition to do good the more the way will \nbe hedged about. The more careful the \nhousekeeper the more perplexities she will \nhave. Troubles multiply according to the \nheight of the ideal. \n\nThe most devout among men will therefore \nhave more cares rather than less. DiHgence \nin business requires the putting forth of \ngreater efforts, and these efforts bring on \ngreater solicitude. \n\nScriptural teaching requires of us a double \nservice, love to God and to men. If we love \n\n\n\nHELPS IN HINDRANCES 61 \n\nGod we shall do our best for those about us. \nAs spiritual beings we are compelled to live \naccording to such a standard. This is no \neasy task. The living means doing and pro- \ngressing. It means becoming better ourselves \nand making others better. It demands \nobedience to the moral rather than to the \nmerely economical. It will probably clash \nagainst popular theories. It may cut down \ndividends as abolitionism did the profits of \nthe mill-owners of New England. It may \ninvoke the hatred of the rum-power when \none tries to save the drunkard. It will exas- \nperate the corrupter of morals when pernicious \nHterature is destroyed. \n\nThe point we notice is: the higher the \nstandard of Hving the heavier the hindrances. \nCorrupt men will fight against whatever \ntouches their avarice or appetite. And yet \nmore timid advisers may seek to intimidate \nalso. The very line of every known duty \nleads through great obstacles. \n\nHistory emphasizes such a fact in all its \n\n\n\n62 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nchapters. Human envy and jealousy alone \ncrucified Christ. James was beheaded to \nplease the Jews, and for the same reason \nPeter was cast into prison. The Herods have \nbeen jealous of their thrones. Organized \nwickedness has always counted life cheap \nthat has stood in its way. Upholders of \nhuman slavery inaugurated our civil rebellion. \nEcclesiastical despotism kept up its Thirty \nYears\' War. Reformers are always martyrs \nunder hardships. Personal sacrifice is the \nprice of doing good. In the line of such \na certainty the great Teacher exclaimed: \n*\' Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well \nof you ! \'* Such a \'\' good feeling \'\' would indi- \ncate that nothing was being done or attempted \nbecause there were no obstacles. \n\nTroubles arise in proportio7i to the depth of \noitr affection. The deeper our love the \ngreater our anxiety for the object loved. \nThey who have none to love have none to \nworry over. It is love that keeps the mother \nawake night after night, week after week, \n\n\n\nHELPS IN HINDRANCES 63 \n\nwhile the child is tossing with pain. Unnat- \nural mothers give themselves no concern for \ntheir children. The degree of love measures \nout the mother\'s care. \n\nUpon the same principle sorrows are pro- \nportioned to the degree of the love. We do \nnot mourn for strangers whom we do not \nknow. The stronger the love the heavier the \ngrief that must some time come. Griefs, \nheavy and oppressive, result from a natural \nlaw. \n\nIn suggesting the sources of troubles we \nhave not referred to seeming providences, \nwith which man has nothing to do. Cyclones \nplow their destructive paths, and often life \nis sacrificed. Earthquakes tremble beneath \ndwellings whose occupants cannot escape. \nLightnings strike from the skies where but an \nhour ago the sunshine gleamed. Volcanoes \nheave forth lava and ashes upon whole towns, \nburying them from the sight of the living. \nThere is much that we cannot avoid; yet \npeople move into earthquake countries, and \n\n\n\n64 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\ntake up reservations that are subject to \ndeathly harm, and build close to the volcano\'s \ncrater. A large number of the so-called \nprovidences are chiefly human risks know- \ningly taken. But concerning providences we \ndo not discriminate. \n\nIn the order of nature burdens and hin- \ndrances are a necessity. Since the path of \nduty compels more burdens, and since love \nmakes sorrows, it would seem that they must \nhave some power upon the sufi\'erers them- \nselves. \n\nWhat relation is there between the spiritual \nlife and these inevitable hindrances and \ntrials? The hindrances and burdens help \nrather than hinder. We grow by overcom- \ning. Every difficulty overcome by the busi- \nness man makes him stronger. There were \nseemingly insurmountable obstacles to the \ndevelopment of the steamship; yet these \nmade Fulton stronger, as he conquered them \none by one. Every assault against John \nHoward gave him stronger resolutions. The \n\n\n\nHELPS IN HINDRANCES Q^ \n\nearly hardships of Livingstone were an abso- \nlute necessity in the discipline fitting him for \nhis magnificent work. \n\nBusiness adversity does not produce pros- \nperity, but it makes the courageous man \nstrong enough to succeed when he tries again. \nConditions and things are not separated into \nsecular and spiritual, as regards their effects. \nPatience may be demanded alike by depriva- \ntion of churchly privileges or by an insect\'s \nsting. Under either contingency it is a \nChristian virtue to be patient. Christian \nendurance and resignation may be called for \nas much by what we personally cannot do as \nby what others may do. \n\nPiety is not necessarily increased by avoid- \ning the common drudgery of life. We could \nnot become better Christians by going into \nthe desert where there is nothing to be done. \nThe very best people are they who are hard- \nest worked in common affairs. Some one, \nmeeting Wilberforce on the street, asked him, \n\'\'Brother, how is i^ with your soul?*\' \n\n\n\n66 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\n*\' Really/\' replied the great philanthropist, \n^* I have been so busy about these poor \nnegroes I had forgotten that I had a soul/\' \nCan one doubt that such unconscious labors \nfor those poor slaves made Wilberforce a \nlarger and better man than could any amount \nof meditation? Paul\'s tent-making never \nhurt his piety. \n\nThe ten thousand annoyances and anxious \ncares are borne by those whose heavenly title \nis the clearest. There is an important disci- \npline in these common things. Personal de- \nvelopment under such is vastly better than \nthe removal of them from our paths. The \nwearying cares of home may be brightening \nmany a mother\'s crown of glory. The faithful \nman of business, in all his perplexities, can \ndiscern the perfect harmony and mutual help- \nfulness of every-day activities and spiritual \ngrowth in the apostolic injunction to be \'\' dili- \ngent in business; fervent in spirit; serving \nthe Lord.\'\' \n\nWashington had more defeats than victo- \n\n\n\nHELPS IN HINDRANCES 67 \n\nries ; but the defeats schooled the army into \nbetter discipHne. Waterloo was the magnifi- \ncent flower growing out of the soil of Well- \nington\'s many reverses. He is the best \nmariner w^ho has met successfully the most \ngales and tempests, not the one who has \nkept by the wharf. All this is true in \nindividual experience. The mistakes of the \nproud have often brought the perpetrator \nto the beauty of humility. Adversity has \nsubdued rough natures into childHke sweet- \nness. These annoyances are often the \nsharpest chisels in creating symmetry of \ncharacter. \n\nWe could not be trustful unless compelled \nto look elsewhere for help. We should not \nlearn patience unless severely tested in bear- \ning burdens; thus the burdens are blessings \nin disguise. We should not be gentle unless \nwe were first made to feel our own weakness. \nFalse friendships should make us know better \nthe worth of real love. \n\nWe do not speak of small troubles; all \n\n\n\n68 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\ntroubles are hard enough to bear at the best. \nA speck of dust in the eye can make misery. \nOne little pain can cause a sleepless night. \nOne harsh, thoughtless word can make \nanother suffer days and weeks of torture. \nOne expression of ingratitude causes a burden \nof crushing force. \n\nGentle, loving hearts often suffer most \nkeenly when they do not understand how \nvery beautiful those very sufferings are mak- \ning their characters. Cripples who have \nnever been moved from their chambers for a \ngeneration have among their number those \nwhose faces are angelic. The greatest com- \nforters of the poor are they who have met \nwith greatest losses themselves, and who \nknow the two extremes. The most welcome \nhelpers in the chambers of sickness are they \nwho have known best the meaning of pain. \nThe truest comforters in homes of sorrow \nare they who have had the most of sorrow \nthemselves, provided they have profited by \nthe experience. Volumes might be written \n\n\n\nHELPS IN HINDRANCES 69 \n\nupon the mission of pain and trouble. Such \nbiographies would touch every human life. \nSometimes these hard experiences are needed \nto stir people up to a perception of what they \nought to be and do. Even injustice may \nbecome a goad to the development of \ncourage. \n\nWe must not be understood as saying that \nthe benefit is in the pain or hindrance or \nsorrow. Such discipline is profitable only to \nthose who try to learn the lessons. All the \nstorms, mingled with the sunlight, cannot \nmake flowers grow upon the Sahara. The \nmellowest sunshine and the gentlest rain upon \nthe rock will leave it only a rock. To catch \nthe meaning and value of these things our \nspiritual natures must devoutly meditate and \npray for help. \n\nMany people discount even the sunshine. \nThere are those who are always cynical and \nsour. We must make every trouble helpful \nto ourselves, or it will make us morose and \nunapproachable. The hard things are calcu- \n\n\n\n70 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nlated to make us grow better. In one sense \nthey are as important in the development of \nour characters as is the revelation of God in \nScripture. The Bible tells us how to grow; \nreminds us of the great principles underlying \nthe successful life ; gives the reasons for much \nwe could not otherwise understand; but the \nthings we daily meet are the practical tests \nfound in our way. The earthly dark day \nought to make a golden spiritual experience. \n\nThe brightest days have followed the \nblackest in history. Had Joseph not been \nsold as a slave and cast into prison, he would \nnever have been the Bismarck of Egypt. \nHad Paul not been repeatedly dungeoned, he \nmight not have found time to write the epis- \ntles that have inspired the centuries. Had \nBunyan not been thrown into Bedford jail, \nthe world would have forever missed his \nimmortal \'\'Pilgrim." The Psalms of David \nwere written out of his sufferings. \'\'The \nsongs in the night \'\' count up the longest list. \n\nWe are not inquiring into the origin of evil. \n\n\n\nHELPS IN HINDRANCES 71 \n\nOne fact is sure : God never has been cruel. \nHe has never done an unjust thing. He has \nnever needlessly caused a single tear. He \nhas never inflicted one hardship upon even \nhis weakest child. Scriptural philosophy \nteaches us that death has come by human \nsin. Divine laws have been interfered with. \nMan reaps the harvest of his own sowing. \nHeredity carries with it consequences of what \nothers have done. This is the inevitable, \ninexorable law. The sufferings of Job are \nall under a divine permission, not creation. \n^\' God cannot be tempted with evil, neither \ntempteth he any man." Our thought is in \nthe line of Paul\'s assertion: ^\' We know that \nto them that love God all things work to- \ngether for good.\'\' Burke truly spoke of \n\'\' that great chain of causes which, linking \none to another, even to the throne of God \nhimself, can never be unraveled by any \nindustry of ours.*\' \n\nThese things ** work together for good.*\' \nAll belong together, and each helps interpret \n\n\n\n72 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nthe rest. Hammers and saws and planes are \nall necessary under the architect\'s supervi- \nsion; but the great Architect uses every-day \nthings for chisels and hammers and imple- \nments to smooth down the roughnesses that \nwould otherwise be left in our nature. \n\nIt was a severe disappointment when a \nyoung man, because of impaired eyesight, \nfelt impelled to give up the chosen profession \nof his life \xe2\x80\x94 the Christian ministry ; but this \ndisappointment gave him power in other \ndirections. Williston Academy of learning \nbears his name, while many other institutions \nattest his munificence. His disappointment \nwas for his personal good and a benefit to \nothers. \n\nThe beautiful college on the banks of the \nWaban owes its foundation to sorrow. \nDeath took from two loving hearts their \nidolized son. The desolation of that sump- \ntuous home has ever since been changing \nmultitudes of lives. The father found in that \nsorrow his abiding faith. He had been a \n\n\n\nHELPS IN HINDRANCES 73 \n\nleading member of the brilliant Suffolk bar; \nbut he closed his law office. Heavy retainers \nhad been his every-day possibilities ; but \nthese he took no longer. His equipment for \nlife had been wholly in his profession ; but he \nturned his face from all this. The sorrows \nthrough which he passed led him to plan for \nothers\' good. The pain he suffered led him \nto live for what he might give, not for what \nhe might get. The father\'s and mother\'s \nsorrow gave the world its Wellesley College. \n\nSorrow in a palace made possible the \nfurther exploration of Africa, in order that its \nmysterious history should be brought into \nthe light of men. The heart of the king was \nturned from the death-chamber of his beloved \nson to enfranchise the continent by opening \nits doors to the world. \n\nWe are not made to sit alone in sorrow \nor wilt under hardship or trial. The hard \nthings, the hindrances, the trials, the obsta- \ncles, we must accept as a part of our schooling. \nOut from such a discipUne we must come \n\n\n\nT4 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nstronger and better. There is something \nmagnificent in a manhood that will not flinch \nin adversity; that has a strength within \nmightier than all the forces of opposition \nwithout; that braves storms until the skies \nhave become clear again. This is strength \nin exercise. \n\nAdd a few years and the fascination \ndeepens. Time has made havoc with the \nsmoothness of the face ; the hair is white with \nglory ; the slower step reminds of the weari- \nness in walking rough places ; the subdued \nvoice echoes the attained wisdom. Like the \nship that has breasted the wintry storms \nof the Atlantic, Hke the eagle that has \nwinged his serenest, loftiest flight, like the cHff \nwhose deep-seamed rifts declare what waves \nof wrath have dashed upon it in vain \xe2\x80\x94 such is \nlife going out of this school of discipline into \nan existence where angels walk with the re- \ndeemed. \n\nThe losses of this life, the companions gone, \nthe homes broken, the memories left \xe2\x80\x94 all \n\n\n\nHELPS IN HINDRANCES 75 \n\nthese give a tenderer affection for the living. \nThe best lovers of their kind are usually they \nwho have lost the most. \n\n** Let us be patient; these severe afflictions \nNot from the ground arise, \nBut oftentimes celestial benedictions \nAssume this dark disguise. \n\n** We see but dimly through the mists and vapors ; \nAmid these earthly damps \nWhat seem to us but sad, funereal tapers \nMay be heaven\'s distant lamps. \n\n** There is no death; what seems so is transition; \nThis life of mortal breath \nIs but the suburb of the life elysian, \nWhose portal we call death." \n\n\n\nIV \nPATIENCE \n\n\n\n77 \n\n\n\nRuskin\'s " rests " of life. \xe2\x80\x94 Patience hard to exercise. \xe2\x80\x94 \nSeverer test than faith. \xe2\x80\x94 Endurance a necessity ; patience a \nvirtue. \xe2\x80\x94 Its character. \xe2\x80\x94 Illustrations. \n\nPatience more than love. \xe2\x80\x94 Hardest lesson. \xe2\x80\x94 Does not \nblunt the sensibilities. \n\nFirst, patience needed because of the unattained. \xe2\x80\x94 \nThe ideal; sacrifices for reaching it. \xe2\x80\x94 Not natural to antici- \npate obstacles. \xe2\x80\x94 Life never as we plan it. \xe2\x80\x94 Patient or im- \npatient under griefs. \xe2\x80\x94 Fascination in character softened by \npatience. \xe2\x80\x94 Hearts beautified by sorrow. \xe2\x80\x94 Patience winning \nothers to itself. \n\nSecondly, patience under discipline accords with purest \nreason. \xe2\x80\x94 Compels appreciation of endless life. \xe2\x80\x94 Impatience \nunreasonable and unmanly. \n\nThirdly, patience is the method of personal development. \n\xe2\x80\x94 God never frets. \xe2\x80\x94 Slow process of creation. \xe2\x80\x94 No haste in \nthe divine plans. \n\nHuman perfection hard fruit to ripen. \xe2\x80\x94 Ideal always \nahead of attainment. \xe2\x80\x94 Struggle is serious. \xe2\x80\x94 Thoughtless \nwords ; opportunities neglected ; anger expressed. \n\nPatience under our own weaknesses. \xe2\x80\x94 A noble life a slow \ngrowth. \xe2\x80\x94 Patience begins at home. \xe2\x80\x94 Fault-finders. \xe2\x80\x94 Patient \nheart serene under trials. \xe2\x80\x94 Provocations from without. \n\nPatience means suffering. \xe2\x80\x94 If the occasion is removed no \npatience needed. \xe2\x80\x94 It keeps suffering. \xe2\x80\x94 Poor and rich need \nit. \xe2\x80\x94 It is heroism. \xe2\x80\x94 Its virtue shown from its opposite, \nimpatience. \n\nReligious hope better seen in patience than in love. \xe2\x80\x94 \nDiffering temperaments. \n\n\n\n78 \n\n\n\nIV \n\n\n\nPATIENCE \n\n\n\n\n|T is a beautiful thought of Ruskin \nthat in the music of our Hves God \nhas inserted \'\' rests." The imagery- \nis of the chorus all silent, the artists waiting \nto sweep the strings again. The great audi- \nence is almost breathless until orchestra and \nchorus shall burst into the grand harmonies \nfrom which they have rested. There is no \nmusic in the \'\' rest/\' but it helps the music. \n\nPatience is that \'\'rest." It is harder to \ntime the \'\' rest " than to follow the leader\'s \nbaton in the music itself. It is natural to be \ndoing, to be heard, to carry along the waiting \nones who depend upon our deeds. To sit \nwhen we wish to move; to rest when our \n79 \n\n\n\n80 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nhearts throb to give help ; to wait when so \nmuch needs doing\xe2\x80\x94 this is hard. Inspiration \nreminds us that the husbandman has long \npatience waiting for the harvest; shall we \nhave less ? He sees the vines put forth their \ntendrils and leaves. The harvest seems as- \nsured, but he must wait whether or not frosts \nshall come, or mildews blight. His faith sees \nthe har^-est, but he must patiently toil on. \nPatience is a greater test of character than \nmere faith. \n\nWe are made to endure hardships and sor- \nrows ; but patience is a virtue, while endur- \nance is a necessity. Endurance pertains to \nour natural strength; but patience belongs \nto the moral. People may endure burdens \nimpatiently; but there is no virtue in this. \nPatience means bearing human weaknesses \nwith a loving heart. It involves gentleness. \nIt bears wrongs with sweetness. It will \nneither fret nor complain. It is the only \nvirtue that will carry out the good will of the \nheart. It is an ornament of character. \n\n\n\nPATIENCE 81 \n\nPatience is regnant when the merchant can \nlook bankruptcy in the face and calmly bear \nthe loss. It soothes a nature fretting under \nill health, and gently accepts the disappoint- \nment in the failure to carry out carefully laid \nplans. It dwells in the home whose desolate \nrooms echo the voice now gone ; looks out of \nwindows where loved ones once looked; re- \nmembers with keenest love the blessings of \nthe Hfe now silent; yet waits to understand \nthe reasons by and by. Pain gnaws upon \nthe nerves, but patience rises above the \npain. \n\nPatience is more than love, since even \nmothers have sometimes been impatient. \nMost loving fathers have fretted when they \nshould have soothed the childish hearts. \nPatience is the hardest lesson given in the \nschool of life. It is not insensibility to things \nthat hurt ; it does not blunt the faculties ; it \nfeels injustice most keenly. It does not make \nthe grief less, but bears the heavy burdens \nwithout complaint. \n\n\n\n82 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nWe notice in a practical way the need of \npatience : \n\nFirst, we need patience because of the unat- \ntained. Human ambitions are almost as far- \nreaching as the imagination. Large plans \nare made to be completed. Splendid castles \nare planned far ahead. The ideal stimulates \nlife. Men deny themselves luxuries for the \npresent, anticipating them by and by. They \nsacrifice ease and comforts for that which \nthey seek. They toil early and late. So- \nciety is in this feverish haste. \n\nCalculations of obstacles to the plans are \nnot magnified. We imagine the delights that \nwill come to the loved ones when the good \nday comes. Yet how few carry out their cher- \nished purposes without obstructions ! Wealth \nhas wings and sometimes flies away. The \ncrape on the door signifies thwarted hopes. \nThe full ideal is not attained. Life never \ncomes out as we plan its paths. People \neverywhere are speaking of what might have \nbeen. They are telling where they made the \n\n\n\nPATIENCE 83 \n\nmiscalculation, or they remind of the griefs \nthat blasted every ambition. \n\nIt requires patience to bear these obstruc- \ntions and changes with composure. We may \nendure them; but are we patient? Do they \nmake us grow morose and complaining ? Or \ndo they make us more serene? They ought \nto help us become more loving; do they? \nOne of these two characters follows each \ngrief and disappointment; which is it? \n\nThere is something fascinating in the suc- \ncessful business man\'s career, when prosperity \nincreases and prospects brighten; yet there \nis greater fascination in one who has suffered \nearthly losses, but whose character is softened \nand subdued into the beauty of patience. \n\nThere is nowhere a scene more beautiful \nthan the home bright with activities of life \nand love. Center of attraction for young \nand old, it stands a joy in the community. \nParental love vies with that of the children \nto give one another joy. But somehow the \nmost loving hearts may be beautified by sor- \n\n\n\n84 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nrow. Did you ever notice the change upon \nthe mother\'s face whose heart keeps close to \nthe beautiful child gone before? Is there \nsculptor\'s chisel that can work such changes \nupon purest marble as sorrows can fashion \nupon the human face? Was there ever \npainter\'s brush that could bring such fascina- \ntion into the face on the canvas as patience \nbrings to the original? How quickly the \ntimid and troubled find their way to such for \nadvice and consolation! How lovingly the \neyes of all follow their steps! The heart- \nbroken linger at their hearthstone. The \nthoughtless ask the secret of their power. \nWhat inspiration is it holding such sway over \nall hearts? Is it their love, or their faith? \nWrite the word large ; there is love and faith \nback of it \xe2\x80\x94 Patience, \n\nSecondly, patience under discipline accords \nwith purest reason. We repeat the thought : \nman is greater than his burdens. As an im- \nmortal none of these things can move him. \nPatience rests upon faith in God. Faith \n\n\n\nI \n\n\n\nPATIENCE 85 \n\nnever questions that God does all things \nwell. That there are things we cannot yet \nunderstand all admit. But aside from events \nthat come, our independence of them is \nevident. \n\nShall one give way to despair if riches take \nto themselves wings ? Not even one speck of \nour gold-dust ghtters on the eternal streets. \nWith all the terrible depths of grief, shall the \nChristian complain when the immortal visions \nburst upon the beloved? Reason compels an \nappreciation of our endless life and hope, and \ncommands us to trust in patience. Reason \naccords with Scripture in asserting the nobil- \nity of man. It is unreasonable to fret and \ncomplain. Such are not signs of greatness or \nof deeper love. Impatience is unreasonable \nand unmanly. \n\nThirdly, patience is the method of personal \ndevelopment. It is the divine method. God \nis never in a hurry and is never late. He \nnever frets. The slow processes of creation \nbaffle our conceptions. A single coal-seam \n\n\n\n86 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nsix inches thick contains more vegetable \nmatter than a thousand years could possi- \nbly grow. The coal period alone counts up \namong hundreds of thousands of years. Geo- \nlogical research through all the periods and \nages is but an unfolding of the divine pa- \ntience. The almighty God waits for islands \nto rise from the ocean whose builders are only \ninsects. He has builded continents by add- \ning the slow deposits of sand, grain by grain. \nThe book of nature is a demonstration of the \npatience of God. \n\nThe lesser things of every- day life remind \nof the same fact. Men get nervous and wish \neverything done in a day; but God\'s day is \nsometimes a thousand years. It requires \nmonths * for the Almighty to perfect the \nflower that we tread underfoot in our haste. \nIt takes him a whole season to finish the \ngolden fruit that we can waste in a moment\'s \ntime. He puts a thousand years into the \nmajestic growth of the oak that the wood- \nman can spoil in an hour. Though nations \n\n\n\nPATIENCE 87 \n\nare suffering with famine, the wheat-fields \ngrow not one day earher. Though the ripen- \ning of the fruit by a week\'s time would vastly \nincrease its value, yet man must patiently \nwait God\'s slower way. The conditions of \nhaste do not enter into the divine plans. \n\nHuman moral perfection is a more difficult \nfruit to raise than orchards produce from \nthriftiest trees. Patience is more beautiful \nthan any lily that has ever sprung from the soil. \nSo long as we know better than we do, we \nhave not reached the highest state. The \nideal is always ahead of the attainment. \nGoodness as a limit is infinite as God, and \nno one can fully attain that which will com- \npletely satisfy. No one has yet attained, nor \nis already perfect. \n\nFrom this discrepancy between the ideal \nand the attained we can understand the daily \ntax upon patience. We know what we ought \nto be, but are still far short of the standard \nwe have set. The struggle is serious. It \nrequires a stern control for these imperious \n\n\n\n88 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nnatures of ours to keep still. We know the \nsacredness of our neighbor\'s rights ; his faults \nare not at the disposal of our tongue, nor is \nhis sensitive spirit open to our shafts of wit; \nyet the thoughtless word slips off our tongue, \nand we are further from the ideal than ever. \nWe firmly resolve to help those who are \ntruly in need ; the resolution agrees with the \nideal; it is the expression of our higher na- \nture ; but somehow we neglect the opportu- \nnity, and the sufferers can lay their woes at \nour doors, and the distance between the ideal \nand the attained is great. Again, we resolve \nthat anger shall be kept down; but in some \npassing moment the virtuous resolve is broken \nin stinging words that fly from our lips. \n\nWe need patience more because of our \nown weaknesses than because of the weak- \nnesses and encroachments of others. A high \nand noble life is no growth of a day. Re- \npentance from sin is only the first step at the \nbeginning of a better life. Conversion of the \nmotive is profoundly important; but the \n\n\n\nPATIENCE 89 \n\nChristian life is far more than mere conver- \nsion. We are converted to grow stronger \nand better. The deepest convictions of sin \ncome to those who are the most pure. The \nclearer our apprehension of God\'s infinite \npatience the more ugly will our spirit of im- \npatience appear. A frown seen upon our \nfaces by an angel\'s vision must seem worse \nto him than would the breaking of the ten \ncommandments seem to us ; so far more \nkeenly sensitive is his sinless nature above \nour own. The purest hope will not undo the \nnecessity of this larger virtue, patience. \n\nPatience, like charity, begins at home. If \nthe person is undisturbed within he will be \nlittle moved by things outside. A cloud in \nthe sky will float over two persons, the one \nfinding fault, the other calm and thankful. \nThe difference is in the men, not in the \ncloud. The summer\'s sun finds some com- \nplaining and others peaceful; the secret of \ndifference is not in the sun. Outside provo- \ncations will likewise have little effect upon \n\n\n\n90 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nthose who are right themselves. Unruffled \ndispositions are not easily disturbed by un- \nkindness or assaults of others. There are \nmany who have more to contend with in \ntheir own dispositions personally than with \nwhole regiments of people outside. Patience \nis largely a personal matter. \n\nStill there are provocations from without. \nThere are severe and unlooked-for disap- \npointments. There are sad partings. Our \nbearing under these will largely indicate how \npatient we are; and the degree of our pa- \ntience will indicate how great or how little is \nour trust. Analyze this whole question, and \nthe result will compel us to look in upon self \nat last. \n\nWhen tempted to impatience, think how \ngreat is God\'s patience with us. Since he \nbears with us so kindly, it is but our duty to \nbear the same kindness toward others. How \nhard to carry this principle out ! \n\nPatience means suffering; this is its der- \nivation from its Latin verb. The suffering \n\n\n\nPATIENCE 91 \n\ncontinues all the while. If the occasion or \ncause is removed, there is no need of patience. \nPatience means suffering under what we are \ncalled to bear. It is much easier to have \nfaith than patience; more natural to have \nhope than to suffer for such a hope. \n\nWe may apply this meaning to the home \nof sorrow. Patience remembers; feels the \nagony there is in the silent rooms ; recalls the \npast. If the sorrow did not press heavily, \nthere would be no call for suffering. Pa- \ntience is suffering ; it is the burden of aching \nhearts. It is not rebellious. It does not \ndull the aching grief. It suffers on, in loving \nconfidence and trust.\' It never, never forgets. \nIt keeps to itself night and day the name for \nwhich it suffers. It never forgets the beau- \ntiful life that has given a radiance to the \nhome in which the sufferers remain. \n\nThe more common affairs of life also de- \nmand patience. The poor have need of it, to \nkeep them from giving up in despair. The \nrich need it, to give courage against the \n\n\n\n92 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nthousand annoyances on every side. Those \nhigh in position need it, to hold them up \nagainst a surrender of their trusts in the line \nof duty. It is the assurance that success will \ncome. There is a French proverb that says, \n\'\' He who does not tire, tires adversity. All \ncomes right to him who can wait.** Patience \nis heroism. \n\nIt is sometimes worth while to take a view \nof a subject from its opposite side. Impa- \ntience is an argument in favor of the virtue it \nbreaks. It bears the mark of unbelief and \ndoubt. It indicates that there is no rest \nupon God. It reveals a weakness unworthy \nour nature. It is childish for men to fret and \ncomplain. It is pitiable to see those appa- \nrently strong lose the guidance of reason. \n\nThe power of religion is better seen through \npatience than through love. While saying \nthis we do not forget the difference in the na- \ntures of men. There are those of phlegmatic \ntemperaments who might almost go to sleep \nunder severe annoyances; these are not \n\n\n\nPATIENCE 93 \n\nmodels; they have little sensibility. The \npower of divine grace is not recognized \nbetween men so much as between the two \nconditions of the same man, that of unbelief \nand that of faith. More grace is demanded to \nkeep one of quick and over-sanguine tempera- \nment quiet and patient than for another who \nhas no specially impatient temperament to \ncombat. What grace will make of the disso- \nlute Bunyan or the blasphemous John Newton \nis the test ; not at all is it the question whether \nit will make the two behave just alike. It \ntakes divine grace, however, to keep the \naverage man from fretting; but the fretting \nreveals the lack. \n\nIt is our lack of faith that would allow our \nburdens to gain the advantage over us. As \nchildren of God we must exercise our lives in \npatience, and thus declare our abiding trust \nin him. \n\n\n\nV \nSYMPATHY \n\n\n\n95 \n\n\n\nPatience and sympathy compared. \xe2\x80\x94 Sympathy greater \nthan pity. \xe2\x80\x94 Sympathy more than compassion. \xe2\x80\x94 The **prod- \nigal son." \n\nSympathy and compassion illustrated by recent cholera \nscourge in Naples. \xe2\x80\x94 Desperation of the sufferers ; hatred \nshown those free from the scourge. \xe2\x80\x94 Greek nobleman and \nKing Humbert. \n\nGreat character gives sympathy. \xe2\x80\x94 Christ\'s path thronged \nwith sufferers. \xe2\x80\x94 Parable of the good Samaritan; its char- \nacters. \n\nDeepest wounds not bandaged. \xe2\x80\x94 Anger back of words and \nknives the same. \xe2\x80\x94 Jericho road girdles the globe; avenues \ncover it; mansions built over it. \xe2\x80\x94 Sufferers in luxurious \nsurroundings. \n\nSympathy proportioned to degree of degradation. \xe2\x80\x94 \nProsperity calls for congratulation; adversity for sym- \npathy. \xe2\x80\x94 Cause of degradation no excuse for refusal to \ngive sympathy. \xe2\x80\x94 Prisoners need it; the sick also. \n\nSympathy proportioned to the helplessness of its ob- \nject. \xe2\x80\x94 Multitudes helpless. \xe2\x80\x94 No question as to gratitude in \nreturn. \xe2\x80\x94 Cowardice to shun the object of suffering. \n\nSympathy means restoration of the lost. \xe2\x80\x94 Declares the \nworth of its object. \xe2\x80\x94 ** Image of God, not a worm." \xe2\x80\x94 Value \ndepends upon environment. \xe2\x80\x94 Prodigal lost because away \nfrom his natural environment. \xe2\x80\x94 Not reasonable to make \ngreat exertions for worthless things. \xe2\x80\x94 Sacrifice for gold. \xe2\x80\x94 \nThe divine Sacrifice declares human worth in God\'s sight. \xe2\x80\x94 \nLoss of jewel in watch destroys its usefulness; lost. \xe2\x80\x94 \nDrunkard father lost to his family. \n\nConvict in woman\'s prison. \xe2\x80\x94 Living sympathy demanded. \n\n\n\n96 \n\n\n\n\nSYMPATHY \n\nSHE fact of human suffering is woven \ninto two common, plain words, \'* pa- \ntience " and *\' sympathy.*\' Had \nthere been no torn and disturbed hearts the \nworld would never have coined them. Pa- \ntience denotes the bearing of personal suffer- \nings; sympathy, bearing the sufferings of \nothers. Burke defines sympathy as a sort \nof substitution. Patience means our own \nburdens; sympathy, suffering with others \nwho are burdened. \n\nSympathy is far greater than pity. Pity \n\nconducts itself as superior to its object. Pity \n\nlooks on and observes what it has never \n\nsuffered ; sympathy walks with the suffering. \n\n97 \n\n\n\n98 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nPity looks down ; sympathy goes down. Pity \ncan stand afar off; but sympathy stands by \nthe side of its object. Pity may even have \ncontempt for its object; but sympathy never. \nEven compassion may carry with it a cer- \ntain superiority over the object compas- \nsionated; yet compassion means a deep \ntenderness of feeHng for another. Sym- \npathy, however, is more than compassion. \nCompassion alone is not enough. In the \nmasterly drawn picture of the prodigal son, \nthe father is represented as \'\' having com- \npassion on him.\'\' But, with a rare touch of \ndescriptive power, the father not only ^^ saw \nhis son " and \'\' had compassion on him,\'\' but \nhe *\' ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed \nhim " ; this is sympathy. It is not only a \ndeep tenderness for others, but putting one\'s \nself into their position and circumstances. \nSympathy allows no lines of separation be- \ntween ourselves and those we would help; it \nillustrates a perfect equality of condition as \nregards the suffering. \n\n\n\nSYMPATHY 99 \n\nThe difference between compassion and \nsympathy has been illustrated in a recent \nterrible scourge of the cholera in Naples. \nThe deathly plague was confined to the filthi- \nest sections of the city. An English physician \ndescribes the resentment of the people toward \nthose who would give them help. Among the \nwould-be benefactors was a Greek nobleman \nwhose generosity was equal to his great \nkindness of heart. Day by day this noble- \nman went himself from house to house dis- \ntributing broths and luxuries and medicines \nfor the sick. To overcome their strange \nresentment he was compelled to hire them \nto take what his pity and compassion had \nprovided. \n\nThe resentment grew continually deeper \nuntil, angered because he was able to relieve \ntheir wants, they assaulted him, killed his \nhorses, broke his carriage into pieces, and al- \nmost succeeded in taking his life. Out from \nthat plague-stricken district rose the hoarse \ncries of desperate hatred toward those living \n\n\n\n100 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nin the better portions of the city. They \nactually planned to carry their dead inside \nthe mansions of the rich, that they might \nlaugh when the victims of the plague should \nbe carried from the homes where plenty and \nhealth were abundant. They determined to \nsweep the city with the dreadful pestilence. \n\nOfficers of the government were stationed \nwhere the awful threats proceeded, but even \nthe government came near failure. The mob \nwere almost in possession of means and power \nto carry out these threatenings against the \ncity, when King Humbert came down from \nRome. The wretched people hated the rich \nin Naples ; but the king was also rich. They \nbegrudged the health of the nobles; but \nHumbert was in good health. They hated \nthose higher in position; but here among \nthem was the one highest of all. He may \nhave had no kinder heart than many Hving \non the hill of the city. Yet they ran to him \nwith their sorrows; they stood with bowed \nheads when he entered their poverty-stricken \n\n\n\nSYMPATHY 101 \n\ndwellings; they hushed their own meanings \nin his presence. \n\nThe secret of the king\'s power is thus \ndepicted by the physician whom we quote : \n\'\' He came among them as one of themselves. \nHe shared their dangers. He spent his days \nin their poor hovels. He spoke to them in \ntheir own Neapolitan patois. He nursed \ntheir sick. He held them in his arms when \nthey were dying. He wept over them when \nthey w^ere dead. He was their brother in their \nsorrow, and they were ready to do his bidding \nlike little children.\'\' \n\nThe Greek benefactor showed compassion \nand pity; the king had sympathy. The \nGreek kept himself somewhat apart from \nthem, even In his bountiful kindness; but \nthe king dwelt with them and was one of \nthem. No reflection shall fall upon the gen- \nerosity of the nobleman who suffered at their \nhands ; but the perfect sympathy of Humbert \nconquered their bitter hatred and violence. \nCompassion and pity looked down from the \n\n\n\n102 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\n\n\nheights of Naples; sympathy came down \nfrom the palace in Rome. Sympathy is a \nmaster in assuaging bitter anguish and calm- \ning fierce hearts. Mere pity degrades. Pity \nmay do for brutes ; but men need sympathy. \nThis is godlike. \n\nIrrespective of the varying conditions of \nlife, that character is of greatest value that \nseeks to give rather than to receive sym- \npathy. The great Teacher was \'\' touched \nwith the feeling of our infirmities.\'\' His \nwhole example was that of one doing every- \nthing for others. Nothing moved him as did \nsuffering. His path could be traced by the \nflocking together of the poor and halt and \nmaimed and blind. Sympathy means an ac- \ntual realization of the golden rule, doing unto \nothers as we would that they should do unto \nus. It means the spirit of Sir Philip Sidney, \npassing to another the cup of cold water with \nhis dying hand, and uttering his memorable \nwords : \'* Thy necessity is yet greater than \n\n\n\n^ \n\n\n\nSYMPATHY 103 \n\nmine." The real sympathetic Hfe will give, \neven though it may not receive. \n\nNo such exquisite and comprehensive pic- \nture of sympathy has ever been given as that \ndrawn by the great Teacher in the parable of \nthe good Samaritan. Its outlines cover both \nthe giving and the receiving of help. It de- \nlineates in imperishable colors each disap- \npointing character. There lies the helpless \nman, wounded and in pain. Its actors are \nmen, and not dead Orientals. The passions \nof life breathe in the varying moods of its \ncharacters. It is a picture whose setting is the \nworld and not the narrow Jericho road. It \nbelongs to crowded highways everywhere as \ntruly as upon that desolate path. It points \nout what so-called \'\'good men\'\' may not do \nin the line of duty, and what \'\' bad men \'\' may \ndo. It reflects the results of suffering upon \nindividual character. \n\nWe may almost listen to the footsteps of \nthe coming travelers, as did the waiting \n\n\n\n104 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nsufferer. Perhaps the languid eyes saw that \nthe man approaching in the distance was a \npriest. Hope dawned in the heavy heart. \nFresh from sacrificial duties in the temple, \nthe wounded man must have looked to him for \nhelp. But this \'\' religious \'\' man cast a glance \nupon the sufferer and then passed on ; his re- \ntreating footsteps faded gradually away until \nnothing was heard but the sighing of the \nwind in the trees of palm, unless it were the \nsound of the sufferer\'s moans. \n\nSoon another traveler approached; it was \nthe Levite. His lips were accustomed to \nchant the holy psalms and anthems of the \ntemple service. Assemblies had wept over \nthe plaintiveness of his notes. His daily \nsongs were of One who should heal the \nbroken-hearted and relieve the distressed. \nAgain there was hope for the wounded \nsufferer, who might rightly imagine that de- \nliverance was at hand; but again the doom \nof disappointment. The telling words carry \na freight of meaning in them : \'\' He came \n\n\n\nSYMPATHY 105 \n\nand looked on him, and passed by on the \nother side." Are human hopes thus blasted? \nAre human hearts thus cold and unfeeling? \nAre the priests and Levites all dead? \n\nAgain the silence is broken, this time by \nthe hurried, measured tread of a burdened \nbeast. The rider is in haste. No hope here \n\xe2\x80\x94 the traveler is an enemy. The nations of \nthe two have no dealings with each other. \nPoor neighbors! But the traveler stops his \nbeast ; dismounts at first sight of the wounded \nman ; sets about caring for him ; and hope \nthat was banished returns. The last man \nfrom whom to expect hope is the first to \ngive it. How many times the like has been \nrepeated in human experience who can re- \ncount? Sympathy does not always come \nfrom those who have called themselves friends \nin the past. When the once prosperous meet \nadversity, havoc strikes away many a false \nfriendship. \n\nDeepest wounds are not those that ban- \ndages can cover. Broken hearts cause deeper \n\n\n\n106 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nsufferings than broken bones. Worse bruises \nare made by the thoughtless than ever rob- \nber\'s club has inflicted. A malicious word \ncan cut deeper than any knife. It is not the \nimplement that inflicts the suffering, but the \nmotive behind it. Anger back of the word \nis as cruel as anger behind the knife. There \nis hardship enough in every life without add- \ning to it ; enough wounds without adding to \ntheir smarting pains. \n\nIt is strange how many towns there are \non the Jericho road. It seems to girdle the \nglobe. So many have been beaten, wounded, \nand robbed, so many indifferent to the suf- \nferings of life, that one questions where the \nJericho road is not. Its paths have been mac- \nadamized into beautiful streets and avenues ; \nbut underneath fine pavements it still remains. \nCellars have been dug right over it; elegant \nmansions reared upon lasting foundations; \nrichest rugs have been laid upon floors \nof exquisite finish ; golden mirrors reflect \nthe sumptuous furnishings of tapestries and \n\n\n\nSYMPATHY 107 \n\nsilks. The sufferers may recline upon elegant \ncouches, but the Jericho road is there never- \ntheless. Silken pillows cannot soothe the \nwounded any more than can the rough \nstones of the highway itself. \n\nBuilders of warehouses have blindly dug \ndeep foundations without seeing how straight \nthe same road runs beneath them. Counting- \nrooms have been finished in richest woods; \nhuge safes have been rolled into their places; \nvaults for greater safety have been cemented \ninto security just where the Jericho road has \nits bounds. The merchant in luxurious office, \ncounting and sorting bonds of millions, may \nbe only the sufferer of the Jericho road trans- \nferred from the outside into the room \xe2\x80\x94 a \nsufferer all the while. Wherever there is a \nsufferer there runs, close beneath, the Jericho \nroad that Christ pictured for all coming \ncenturies to behold. \n\nThe philosophy of sympathy rests upon \ncertain great facts. \n\nSympathy is proportioned to the degree of \n\n\n\n108 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nthe degradation. It belongs to those in ad- \nversity. It is demanded in the line of suffer- \ning. It was when the multitudes were weary \nand faint that Christ had compassion on them. \nProsperity calls for congratulation ; adversity \nfor sympathy. \n\nWe are never to inquire into the cause of \nthe degradation before rendering the needed \nhelp. The criminal, for example, belongs \nrightly in the prison; yet his wilful acts do \nnot excuse us from carrying out the teaching \nof the Master to visit him. Agony of disease \nfollows the profligate ; strongest opiates may \nscarcely deaden the horrid convulsions; it is \nthe consequence of wilful guilt that knew \nno shame ; yet the cause of the degradation \ndoes not excuse from the divine words that \nare to be spoken : \'\' I was sick, and ye visited \nme not." Our college settlements in the \nheart of the slums are Christ-like. The \nprodigal\'s degradation only deepened the \ncompassion and sympathy of the father. \n\nSympathy is proportioned to the helplessness \n\n\n\nSYMPATHY 109 \n\nof its object. It is the divine rule to do for \nthose who cannot recompense again. The \nmost helpless being that comes into the \nworld is the little child; and if for a single \ngeneration all motherly sympathy should be \nsuppressed, there would no longer be an im- \nmortal being on the globe. But there is \nother helplessness than infantile weakness. \nPeople large in stature may be just as de- \npendent as the little child. Many a strong \nman has stood dazed and bewildered. Each \nlife has had its seasons w^hen it knew not \nwhich way to turn. \n\nWe are to be feet for the lame, speech for the \ndumb, hands for the maimed. We are never \nto ask whether the recipient will be grateful. \nBetter yet that our left hand know not to- \nward whom our right hand was stretched. \nWe may not always inquire just how much \nof the suffering has come from negligence or \nlack of thrift. Real suffering, according to its \ndepth, merits sympathy in return. The ob- \nject by the Jericho road must be cared for \n\n\n\n110 \n\n\n\nINSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\n\n\naccording to our ability. It is treachery to \nduty to leave such care to others. It is \ncowardice to shun the path that robbers of \nhappiness frequent, lest we may be called \nupon to deny ourselves for their sake. \n\nSympathy means the restoration of the lost. \nIts positive side is in the good it does be- \ncause of the worth of its object. There is \nan old adage that man is a worm; but the \n\'\' image of God ^* is not a worm. The coin \nthat is lying lost in the desert is worth no \nmore than the worthless sands on which it \nshines. Its value depends upon its environ- \nment. The sheep on the mountain has no \nmore commercial value than the scanty, \nworthless mosses on which he feeds. The \nprodigal, cast out and despised, is worse than \nuseless ; he is a curse to the community ; his \npitiable condition, eating husks, makes even \nheathen despise him; but the real worth of \nthe man depends upon getting home again as \na dutiful son. \n\nIt is not reasonable to make great exer- \n\n\n\nSYMPATHY 111 \n\ntions for worthless things. Men have rushed \nacross the continent to dig gold; but they \nwould not go across the street to dig sand, if \nthere were no value in it. Thousands upon \nthousands have left home and its comforts to \nbrave the perils of frontier life in order to \ngather in diamond-fields the shining bril- \nliants. It is the object of value that compels \nthe exertion. \n\nThe whole drift of Scripture leads us to \nsee how God has respected the splendid \nworth of man, provided he can be brought \ninto the environment for which he is fitted. \nThe gospel of Christ miust be declared in \nall the w^orld, wherever there can be found a \nsingle creature. The immense duty indicates \nhuman worth. No such message would be \nsent to mere worms. The gospel is the \nexpression of the divine sympathy. The \ngreater the degree of the expression the \nlarger is the value indicated in the one \nsought. \n\nThe watch in our pocket may lose its use \n\n\n\n112 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nsimply from the displacement of a single \njewel. So far as indicating the hour of the \nday, it may as well be a stone on the high- \nway. The drunkard has befogged and dulled \nhis reason; the man is lost. He ought to \ncare for his children ; but they have lost their \nfather. He ought to advance the interests of \nthe community; but he hinders them; he is \na lost citizen. Until the jewel is replaced in \nthe watch it is useless. Until the drunkard \nis restored to his right mind he has not the \nvalue to his home even of a dog to watch it. \n\nSympathy sees multitudes bewildered and \nlost; hears the moans of those who are not \nwhat they might have been in life ; and then \nseeks their uplifting. It is a positive virtue \nthat each one must exercise. \n\nUpon the wall of a woman\'s prison hangs \na picture of Christ before the woman who \nwas convicted of her deep guilt. Against \nher traces of sin the face of the Master mani- \nfests its dignity and love. He is represented \nas giving her a new hope. Under the picture \n\n\n\nSYMPATHY 113 \n\nare the memorable words, \'\' Go, and sin no \nmore." Some years ago one of the most in- \ntractable of the prisoners was seen to remain at \nthe close of the prayer-service. It was the \nsuspicion of the matron as she watched the \nhardened face that some new trouble was \nbrewing. Upon asking her reason for remain- \ning alone, the guilty, degraded woman made \nthe strange request that she might be put in \nthe solitary cell. The uplifted eyes of the cul- \nprit were still upon the picture. The matron \nreminded her that she had but just come \nfrom a week\'s confinement in the desolate \ncell. \'\' I want to go and be alone," said \nthe woman, \'\' where I can think about Him \nthat is in the picture." For a week she \nwas permitted to carry out her resolute desire, \nwhen she came out from the solitude to \nserve the rest of her sentence. The old \nlook of hatred was gone; her deportment \nwas above all criticism. She served her sen- \ntence and left the prison, living ever after an \nupright and pure life. \n\n\n\n114 \n\n\n\nINSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\n\n\nTrue sympathy in the heart will manifest \nitself outwardly. There is a gospel in the \nhuman face when the gospel is back of it. \nThat living power should be mightier than \npainter\'s skill in depiction. Greater than \nsuch skill on canvas should be the transform- \ning power in us to inspire those who have \nlost faith in the reality of a holy life. Sym- \npathy in action has a mightier power than \nhighest art can gain or can paint on canvas. \nWe must be living witnesses of this living \npower. \n\n\n\nVI \nCOMFORT \n\n\n\n"5 \n\n\n\nComfort more than compassion and sympathy. \xe2\x80\x94 Courage \nmore important than pity. \xe2\x80\x94 Physician between courage and \npity. \xe2\x80\x94 Business troubles. \xe2\x80\x94 Comfort means giving strength \nto the man, not relieving him of his burdens. \xe2\x80\x94 Comfort is a \npower given one under adversity. \xe2\x80\x94 Greatness, not in avoid- \ning hardships, but in bearing them. \xe2\x80\x94 Illustrated by Felicitas \nand her seven sons. \n\nGod our Comforter, Inspirer. \xe2\x80\x94 Severity of disciples\' lives \npointed out by Christ; needed no pity, but strength. \xe2\x80\x94 God \ndid not take away one of their hard duties. \xe2\x80\x94 Comfort is \ncourage to face the storm. \xe2\x80\x94 Value of this life in the good it \ndoes. \xe2\x80\x94 Savonarola and Luther in heavy labors. \n\nHuman comforters. \xe2\x80\x94 Paul\'s teaching. \xe2\x80\x94 Edifying men. \xe2\x80\x94 \nStrengthening needed from infancy to old age. \xe2\x80\x94 Webster \nand Napoleon ridiculed. \xe2\x80\x94 Great natures help. \n\nSmall men can destroy work of great artisans. \xe2\x80\x94 The \nyoung need strengthening or comfort. \n\nGod comforts that we may comfort others. \xe2\x80\x94 Paul\'s ex- \nperience. \xe2\x80\x94 The beautiful seen in what has been accom- \nplished through storms. \xe2\x80\x94 One who cannot stand without \nreceiving comfort cannot give it. \n\nUniversal need of receiving comfort. \xe2\x80\x94 Suffering universal. \n\xe2\x80\x94 Strongest men will grow infirm. \xe2\x80\x94 Every hero in the " roll- \ncall of faith" needed strengthening. \xe2\x80\x94 Grisi and Jenny \nLind. \n\nComfort in making the anchor of the ship ; made for use. \n\n\n\nii6 \n\n\n\nVI \n\n\n\nCOMFORT \n\n\n\n\n^LL men seek comfort. The word \nmeans far more than compassion or \npity. Pity tends to discourage; \ncomfort to strengthen. Compassion leads to \nsympathy ; but even sympathy may depress. \nPity given the sufferer would inspire no \nhope. Courage is a thousand times more \nimportant than the kindest commiseration in \nall conditions. Let the time come when \nbusiness is slow ; creditors are pushing hard ; \nevery energy is taxed to tide over the \nemergency ; it is a hard struggle. What, at \nsuch a time, would be the effect of express- \ning pity? It would indicate the impression \nof distrust on the other\'s part. Rather, at \n117 \n\n\n\n118 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nsuch a time, a word of courage is worth a \nvolume of sentiment. \n\nComfort means \'\'to strengthen/\' The \nphysician who should merely pity his patient \nwould kill him. Disease may leave but one \nhope in a hundred for life. Shall the physi- \ncian give ninety-nine hundredths in pity and \none stray hope of comfort? The skilful ex- \npert fastens the sufferer\'s attention upon that \none trembling chance ; he drives back every \nthought possible in the ninety-nine adverse \nconditions; he sheds no tear of sympathy, \nand will keep from the room those who \nshould thus despair. The strengthened cour- \nage in that one hope has saved many a life. \n\nThe man of business feels the pressure of \nnervous creditors. It is not the time yet to \nrealize the value of his assets. A few thou- \nsands would save him his credit and carry \nhim safely over. His books show a credit of \nhalf a miUion ; but he is a victim of the times. \nHe needs not the pity of other men who \nhave failed under like circumstances; he \n\n\n\nCOMFORT 119 \n\nmeans to keep his credit and his business. \nLet there come to him in this pinch one who \nhas successfully endured just such a strain, \nand one ounce of courage would be worth a \nthousand tons of pity. \n\nThis is the meaning of comfort. It puts \nstrength into one who is struggling on in the \nline of his duty. The business man might \nwish his neighbor would advance the small \namount that would give relief in tiding him \nover; yet a word that would give him \nstrength to do for himself would be of \ngreater value than thousands of dollars. \nComfort means giving strength to the man, \nrather than giving that which would save \nhim the exercise of his strength. \n\nThe Apostle does not teach that God gives \ncomfort by removing the stake in the flesh,\' \nbut by giving help to bear its sting. It is \nnot his method to give comfort by removing \ntrials, but by giving strength to bear them. \nIt may mean the parent watching over the \nweak and suffering child. All the world\'s \n\n\n\n120 \n\n\n\nINSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\n\n\nbrightness may seem centered in that one \nlife. Giving comfort may not mean the \nrestoration of the sufferer to health, but a \ndivinely imparted power to be a hero under \nthe terrible strain of anguish. Paul\'s comfort \ndid not consist in avoiding hardships, but in \novercoming them. The word does not mean \n\'\'to soothe\'* or \'\'console.\'* It has in it the \ninspiration of a bugle summoning to rise \nabove the conflict. It spurs on to death, if \nnecessary, in the line of duty. \n\nEarly Christian history records the scene \nin which a wealthy widowed mother, Felicitas, \nand her seven sons were summoned before \nPublius, and were commanded, under penalty \nof death, to renounce the name of Christ. \nHer eldest son was whipped with thongs \nuntil life was nearly gone. " Renounce the \nname and live,*\' said the officer, when the \naged mother bade her son stand fast and live \nin glory. Under the furious blows of the \nwhip he sank into death. In her tortured \npresence her next two sons were beaten with \n\n\n\nCOMFORT 121 \n\nclubs, while her voice bade them remember \nHim who died for them rather than yield to \nbrutish command. The fourth was taken \nfrom her embrace and flung from the rock \nnear which they stood. The other three, one \nby one, were beheaded, while to each her \nwords of courage were true to her faith. \nThis was more than courage ; it was comfort. \nIt was a strengthening for duty; urging a \nheroism she herself at last exemplified in \nbearing her own torture until her head fell \nunder the blow of the knife. \n\nComfort holds up the feeble hands, and \nboldly faces even hardships and death. Some \nof the world\'s greatest sufferers have a com- \nfort that keeps them strong in spite of the \nstaggering blows that have befallen them. \n\nThis word expresses more than mere human \ndeeds. It draws its meaning from God him- \nself, as the Comforter. Paul declares that the \ncomfort of God is given \'\' that we may be \nable to comfort them that are in any \naffliction.*\' We are to give the comfort that \n\n\n\n122 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nwe get. We are to strengthen others as we \nhave been strengthened. There is divinity in \nthe meaning of this word. \n\nIn order to a truer conception of the virility \nin this duty, we observe not only our relations \nto God, but also to one another. Our duty \nand its meaning are covered and explained in \nthe message of Christ to his disciples. The \nwhole address was a superb inspiration. \nThey should not be comfortless as orphans; \nnor should they be left alone. More stirring \nwords were never spoken; and never were \nmen in deeper darkness or in sorer need. \nWhat Christ meant in the term we must \naccept. \n\nNotice the application of the address and \nthe event to human necessities : \n\nFirst, t/te divine Comforter, This was the \ndescription of the Holy Ghost; not a mere \nconsoler of homesick men, but an inspirer of \ntheir great work. Christ held before his dis- \nciples the severity of their mission. They \nwere to be dragged before magistrates ; they \n\n\n\nCOMFORT 123 \n\nwere to suffer persecution; the world that \ncrucified him was to put them to death. \nSuch was the forecast ; but they were prom- \nised the Comforter. Did they need pity \nbecause of sufferings? They never asked it, \nand Christ never pitied them. They knew that \nthe promised success of the new faith would \nmadden the great church whose high priest \nhad sanctioned the murder of Christ. It \nwould be dangerous to preach the words he \nbade them preach. The advent of a Saul of \nTarsus, imprisoning and killing the innocent, \ncould be only a natural result of the new \ngospel they should declare. \n\nHence they needed comfort from the Com- \nforter. His office-work was not to take \naway the severe duties, not to excuse them \nfrom proclaiming a single doctrine, but to \nstrengthen them in these hard things. Com- \nfort did not mean singing them to sleep, but \ninspiring them to grander exertions in the \nmighty work of turning the world upside \ndown. The comfort of God means the cour- \n\n\n\n124 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nage to face the storm ; never to flinch even in \nthe presence of Herod or Agrippa. \n\nThe value of this Hfe does not consist in \nthe ease in which it is carried through, but in \nthe amount of good it does. The labors of a \nSavonarola are herculean, requiring not pity, \nbut strength from God ; but his work must \nbe done. The work of a Luther is impera- \ntive ; the overthrow of superstition demands \nsuch a giant; but in the gigantic work the \nbattle-hymn of the fatherland was the indica- \ntion of the source of Luther\'s power : \'\' God \nis our Refuge and Strength.\'\' This was but \nanother way of expressing what Paul said: \n*\' I can do all things through Christ which \nstrengtheneth me." \n\nSecondly, human comforters. This is Paul\'s \nconviction as to the duty of all : \'\'That we may \nbe able to comfort them that are in any afflic- \ntion, through the comfort wherewith we our- \nselves are comforted of God." In a word, as \nGod strengthens us, we must strengthen one \nanother. Our highest duty is not to have pity, \n\n\n\nCOMFORT 125 \n\nnor to exercise compassion, but to give \nstrength. Paul seemed to look upon every \none he met as needing to be builded up. \nNotice how often he speaks of edifying men. \nFor such a work he adapted himself to every \none. This is the scriptural method. You \ncannot build men up by the mass, but one \nby one. This is accomplished only by adding \nto their strength. \n\nThis is the only kind of life worth living. \nThere is nothing more debasing than its op- \nposite. There are those who make sport of \nthe ways of little children, raising a laugh at \ntheir expense. Is that adding strength to \nthe little ones? Youth struggles upward \nthrough an awkward age ; habits may not \nseem cultured; movements may sometimes \nbe ungainly ; thoughts may lack finish in \nexpression ; diffidence may obscure the real \nmetal of character within. Youth needs \nencouragement and strengthening in its pur- \npose; yet there are multitudes who give no \nhelp. They criticize where they ought to \n\n\n\n126 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nhelp ; they laugh where they should encour- \nage; they cry down where they should lift \nup. Townsmen used to joke over Webster\'s \nungainliness ; but in the passing of a few \nyears, when the farmers of Salisbury were \nstill hoeing weeds, the young man against \nwhom they had raised a laugh was holding \na nation enchanted with the display of his \nmagnificent powers, cultivated in spite of \nthem. The aristocrats of his neighborhood \ncast ridicule upon Napoleon in his youth be- \ncause of the plainness of his dress and his \npoverty; yet, acting upon his maxim, \'\'A \ncareer open to talent,\'\' he outweighed in his \nperson all the rest of France in its most criti- \ncal hour. The world at last gives honor only \nto those who have inspiringly helped others. \nNo one of great nature ridicules the weak or \nundeveloped. Paul saw uncouth natures ris- \ning out from heathenism and recognized his \nduty to help them to the highest usefulness. \nIs our duty less? \n\nA hod-carrier can deface a statue it has \n\n\n\nCOMFORT 127 \n\ntaken a Michael Angelo to create. Vandals \nhave destroyed some of the finest specimens \nof art the world has ever known. There is \nnot a successful man of prominence to-day \nwho has not achieved his success in spite of \nthose who would pull him down. In mer- \ncantile, professional, and literary life the \nrule has obtained. Small natures try to \nhurt others; great, noble natures try to \nbuild others up. It required the heroism of \nNehemiah to build the walls of the city of \nhis fathers; but while he was building San- \nballat became infamous in his meanness, try- \ning to keep the walls from being finished. \nNo patriotism, no grandeur of life and pur- \npose, in Nehemiah\'s mean critic! \n\nLook upon our young people in their en- \ndeavors to fit themselves for a larger useful- \nness; every one ought to receive help from \neach of us. There is not one doing a com- \nmendable work but needs the loyal help of \nall who love our Lord and Master. There \nis not one struggling to become better who \n\n\n\n128 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\ndoes not need our encouragement ; never our \nneglect. \n\nWhile giving comfort is our duty, it never- \ntheless remains true that the duty is not al- \nways done. Paul says that God gives us \nthis comfort that we may give comfort to \nothers. God strengthens us that we may \ngive strength. He inspires us that we may \ninspire. Everything is done through the \ncomfort wherewith we ourselves are com- \nforted of God. The greatest characters of \nthe race seem to have missed this human \nhelp. Aaron and Hur did once hold up \nMoses\' hands ; but how many times they left \nhim alone! In time of Paul\'s deepest need \nhe experienced what he afterward wrote \ndown: "No man stood with me.\'* One \nmay need that on which he does not depend. \nSome of the world\'s greatest benefactors have \ndied, as did Beethoven, with the question on \ntheir lips, \'\' Have I not some talent after all ? " \nThe ruggedest tree of the forest is that which \nthe tempests of a thousand years cannot break. \n\n\n\nCOMFORT 129 \n\nThe most beautiful ship of the ocean is not \nthe one of freshest paint, or whitest sails, or \nheaviest anchor that has never fluked the \nocean\'s bed; but rather it is that monster, \nresting at the end of the stormy voyage, \nwhose paint has been scraped by the ice \nit has tossed back; whose sails have been \nstretched and blackened by tempests ; whose \ndecks have been swept by the hurricane that \ncould not engulf its freight of a thousand \nsouls; whose anchor bears signs of the im- \nmense grip it held against hurricane and \nangry seas, below where deep-sea fishes \nswim. Every one, like that ship, is measured \nby what he endures alone. The agonies of \nGethsemane were met by the divinely given \nstrength ; but even more than in this angehc \nministry the divine character breathes in those \nutterly desolate words : \'\' My God, my God, \nwhy hast thou forsaken me?" No one can \ngive comfort who cannot stand without it, if \nnecessary. Though all men forsook Paul, the \nLord stood with him, \n\n\n\n130 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nThirdly, the universal need of comfort. \nEven Christ needed the companionship of \nthe three disciples in Gethsemane, and needed \nthe strength the angel gave. In a higher \nsense, however, we need comfort as a giving \nof strength. The saddest phase of personal \nbiography is that written by the wisest king. \nNo one is strong enough to tread the earth \nalone. The comfort of God does not release \nfrom the necessity for us to give comfort. \nFrom the nature of man suffering is universal. \nNo home escapes it, and no one. It may not \nfall upon all alike at the same time, but the \nhaughty spirit will some time bend, the loving \nheart will almost break, the strongest men \nwill grow infirm. Such is the sad, the uni- \nversal law. Some one may suffer to-day, \nbut somebody\'s turn will come next. The \ncomfort we give to-day we may crave for our- \nselves to-morrow. There is not a hero in all \nthe \'\'roll-call of faith\'\' but needed strength- \nening. The life of all is some time darkened. \nA tear is expression of heavy, bitter grief; \n\n\n\nCOMFORT 131 \n\nbut tears are too many to be counted. \nStruggles are the order of the day ; no one \nsucceeds who does not struggle ; and those \nstruggling need strengthening. Suffering \neverywhere. Troubles crowd the joys. Each \nhousehold in its turn is touched. The strong- \nest men wend their ways lonely and bereaved. \nGreat need is there that out from all these \ntroubles and all this darkness One should \nspeak: \'\' I am the God of all comfort.\'\' See \nwhat the Comforter made of the disciples, \nturning their cowardice into boldness without \na discount. See the cringing Peter, afraid of \nthe laughter of the servants, and emphasizing \nhis fear by blasphemy, only to become the \nherald of Pentecost in ushering in the Chris- \ntian church. See the Twelve who had fled in \nterror on the crucifixion day ever afterward \nready to face men \xe2\x80\x94 that meant facing death \nitself. The receiving of comfort is the re- \nceiving of strength to help others. Bear \nwitness, ye whose hearts have been torn \nwith sorrows; only they who have known \n\n\n\n132 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nstrength given in suffering can impart strength \nof comfort. The brilliant jurist, William Wirt, \nwas made a Christian by one of his slaves ; so \nin sorrows it is not the dignity of station, nor \nthe degree of learning, nor the brilliancy of \nacquirements, but the suffering hearts that \ngive us strength and hope. \n\nA little incident in the life of Grisi, upon \nfirst meeting Jenny Lind, illustrates the \npower of the same heart for scorn or for com- \nfort. It was in the presence of the royal \nhousehold of Britain. By command of the \nqueen each was to sing. The impulsive blood \nof the tropics was to be met by the favorite \nof the northern kingdom. Haughty with her \nbrilliant triumphs, the Italian face of Grisi re- \nflected her contempt of the gentle girl beside \nher. The proud daughter of Italy chilled \nthe confiding heart of the \'\' nightingale of \nSweden." She had not learned the pro- \nfound secret underlying the strength of char- \nacter in the greatest of the prophets : \'\' He \nmust increase, but I must decrease/\' \n\n\n\nCOMFORT 133 \n\nThe young singer took her place with \ntrembhng before the royal audience, only to \nshrink in fear before the scorn of the one who \nshould have given courage. The accom- \npanist had struck the opening chords, and \nin the breathless expectation all were sur- \nprised to see Jenny Lind turn and request \nhim to rise. The music she was to sing she \nlaid one side. Seating herself at the instru- \nment with downcast gaze, she swept its keys \nwith sweetest, gentlest touch. In another \nmoment she breathed forth in song a sim- \nple prayer of her childhood. The Hearer of \nthe singer was a greater than Victoria. The \nagony of the hour made her petition vocal \nwith plaintive pleadings. As she lifted her \nface toward heights her prayer was reaching, \nthe silence, except of her voice, seemed almost \nvocal with angelic notes. No strains like these \nhad ever before been heard in the royal hall. \nShe did not look upon Grisi or upon the queen \nand the royal family. She was the lonely girl \nof Sweden amid the royal pomp and splendor. \n\n\n\n134 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nNot once did Grisi take her gaze from the \nyoung girl \xe2\x80\x94 not even to catch the absorbing \nfascination expressed by the queen. Upon \nthe dark eyelashes of the Italian tears stood \nlike pendent jewels. The flush on her cheeks \nhad melted into radiant beauty. Her breath \nwas choked back by inarticulate sobs. \n\nWhen the singer had ceased her prayer no \nroyal applause broke the silence. With an \nimpulsiveness like her nature, with eyelashes \nsuffused with weeping, with forgetfulness of \ncourtly etiquette, Grisi hastened forward to \ndraw the beautiful rival within her embrace, \nwhile she kissed the upturned lips. There \nwas admiration in place of scorn, gentleness in \nplace of pride. The same heart could scorn \nor comfort, hate or love. \n\nThe refusal to give comfort reveals our \nown base motives, while the desire to render \nhelp indicates a true character. God has \nmade each of us a possible human comforter. \n\nComfort results from real excellence and \nstrength. The men may be unknown who \n\n\n\nCOMFORT 135 \n\nforge the anchor for the ship. Through heat \nand smoke and wearying din the work is car- \nried on. No flaws are allowed to mar the \nworkmanship. A single brush of paint might \ncover up any such defect; but the men are \ndoing good work. What if a bubble w^ere \nleft in the welding \xe2\x80\x94 the owner of the ship \ncould not detect it under the paint. \n\nThe huge contrivance is finally transferred \nfrom the foundry to the ship. There it rests, \nadmired by crew and passengers voyage after \nvoyage. Perhaps for months it is never \nwetted by the waters of the seas, except as \nthey are sweeping the deck in heavy gales. \nThe ship holds the monster fabric that was \nmade to hold the ship. The men clean it of \nrust as though it were some showy thing, \nuntil the day of heaviest tempest comes. \nAgainst winds and mountain waves the \ntrembling monarch of the ocean becomes \na toy, as impotent as the tiny boats that \nchildhood sails in glee. It is then the order \nis given to cast from its carriage the long- \n\n\n\n136 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nunused workmanship. In such a moment \neverything depends upon that single anchor. \nThe terrific gale tautens the massive cable \nas though It were a thread in more than a \ngiant\'s grasp. In vain the tempest shrieks \nthrough the cables of the ship as if they were \nstrings of some ^olian harp builded by furies. \nThe rolling mountain waves lash themselves \ninto spray white as the shroud they threaten \nfor the tossing ship. Faces of those longing \nfor home are almost as colorless as the surfs \noutside. The captain\'s skill and courage are \nuseless ; he only watches in hope. It is the \nconflict of the anchor against the tempest \nand the sea; but the anchor holds. Had \nthere been a flaw the splendid ship must have \nsunk to where the anchor held its mighty grip. \nThe anchor was the comfort of the ship. \nThe comforters were the makers of that flaw- \nless anchor. The comforted were they whom \nthe anchor saved. The anchor, like the ship, has \nbecome a thing of surpassing beauty. There \nis no comfort where there is not strength. \n\n\n\nVII \n\nINSPIRED TO INSPIRE \n\n\n\n137 \n\n\n\ni \n\n\n\nUseless man practically dead. \xe2\x80\x94 Self-denial for the sake \nof others the law of life. \n\nFirst, world needs inspiring men. \xe2\x80\x94 Sheridan at Win- \nchester. \n\nSecondly, inspiration depends upon our ability to get \naway from self. \xe2\x80\x94 All conquest begins with conquest of self. \n\nValue of each life is in the good done, not in the years \nlived. \xe2\x80\x94 Not size of the object that marks the power. \n\nThe weak have inspired the strong. \xe2\x80\x94 Children ; invalids ; \nsufferers. \xe2\x80\x94 Phillips inspired by his devoted invalid wife. \n\nThirdly, the world drops those who withhold help from \nothers. \xe2\x80\x94 Memory takes care of those worth remembering. \n\xe2\x80\x94 Examples. \n\nThe inspiration we have measures how much we shall \ngive. \xe2\x80\x94 Examples. \n\nTwo sources of inspiration : God and the immortal life. \xe2\x80\x94 \nDeniers of God and immortality cannot inspire others. \n\nWe grow toward what we believe. \xe2\x80\x94 They who live nearest \nGod can lift others nearest him. \n\nWhat we have learned in sorrows helps inspire others. \xe2\x80\x94 \nChalmers. \xe2\x80\x94 Morrison. \xe2\x80\x94 The \'* Fresh-air Fund." \n\n\n\nDiscipline of life. \xe2\x80\x94 God needs inspired men. \xe2\x80\x94 Inspired \nlives and inspired writings.\xe2\x80\x94 Nothing right is secular. \xe2\x80\x94 Life \nworth living. \n\n\n\n138 \n\n\n\n\nVII \n\nINSPIRED TO INSPIRE \n\nINSPIRATION is given to inspire. \nWe give what we receive. We \npersonify for others what we are \nourselves. The man who is useless is practi- \ncally dead, like water-soaked timber that will \nnot burn and that builders will not use. In \nmore senses than one \'\'\' no man liveth to \nhimself." \n\nNature in her abundance has nothing that \nexists for itself alone. Orchards grow to give \nfruit. Gardens bloom in exquisite beauty \nfor the race. No one of least intelligence \nimagines that the sun shines for itself. Even \nthe moon, dead and burned out, gives light. \nWere the ocean to leave its beaches dry, \nhuman life could not be sustained upon the \n139 \n\n\n\n140 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nglobe. Fiercest storms are besoms to sweep \nthe atmosphere ; a land without storms of \nwind or rain would be a land of death. Vul- \ntures feeding upon carrion are scavengers of \nhealth. Insects are guardians against pes- \ntilence. Were our knowledge only broad \nenough we should observe that everything \nGod has made is good. Each has its use. \nGod is the great utilitarian. \n\nIt is not reasonable to assume that the \nfinished work of God reverses this law. Is \nman exempt? Altruism is a terrn as recent \nas the French philosopher Comte ; but its \nprinciple is as ancient as the race. Must we \nleave consolation of the suffering to voices of \ninanimate flowers? Can we, made in God\'s \nimage, be dumb? Shall we leave the bright- \nening and refreshing of the needy and deserv- \ning to the fruits that depend upon the dews \nand rains? Will God excuse our negligence \nof duty? Must all the sunshine in the cham- \nber of pain come from the sun ? Have we no \nlight to shine ? Must trembling hands be left \n\n\n\nINSPIRED TO INSPIRE 141 \n\nto carry their own burdens? Is our strength \nnot given to help the weary? \n\nHe whose hand was the first reddened \nwith human blood attempted to evade the \nlaw by his interrogation, \'\'Am I my brother\'s \nkeeper? " The keen questioner of Christ felt \nthe rebound of his own query when the \nMaster reversed his words, \'\' Who is my \nneighbor?" into the personal inquiry, \'\'Am \nI neighborly?" Parable and direct teaching \nof the great Teacher, cumulative digests of \napostolic advice, all declare the unmistakable \nnecessity laid upon every one to be faithful \nto duty. Our Hght must shine. We must \ndo good unto all men. We must bear others* \nburdens. We must go into all the world for \nChrist\'s sake. Self-denial for the sake of \nothers is the law of Christ. \n\nNotice, first, inspiratio7i as a factor in \nhuman well-being. We use the term in its \ngeneral sense, not theological. The world \nneeds inspired men just as truly as it needs \nthe inspired Book. Inspiration is not crea- \n\n\n\n142 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\ntion. It is the parent\'s duty to inspire ; he \ndoes not create new powers in the child. It \nis the physician\'s duty to inspire his patient ; \nhe does not give strength, but helps the pa- \ntient recover what was sinking lower and \nlower. \n\nChildren take their troubles to the mother \nfor the inspiration she shall give. Pupils with \nhard problems go to the teacher, not to have \nhim work out the problem, but to give them \ninspiration to work on. People in difficulties \ngo to neighbors to get the same stimulat- \ning help. Sheridan at Winchester, riding his \nfoam-swept horse, turned the retreating army \ninto victors. He did not receive another \nrecruit; the army was strong enough, but \nthe hosts needed inspiration. The wife of \nDisraeli bore in silence the torturing pain \nfrom the careless driver\'s act of closing the \ncarriage door upon her fingers, rather than de- \npress the premier on his way to Parliament. \n\nWe may need inspiration ourselves one \nhour, and be called upon to give inspiration \n\n\n\nINSPIRED TO INSPIRE 143 \n\nto others the next. The individual cannot \ntear himself away from the mutual obligations \nwhich make such helpfulness imperative. \n\nSecondly, this inspiration depends upon oicr \nability to get azvay from self. There is an \ninfinite distance between the self-seeking \nman and the man of self-denial. The self- \nseeking man is ever suspicious that others \nwill not give him what he imagines he de- \nserves. He is sensitive lest his judgment \nshall be belittled. He who looks out for self \nfirst makes others\' good an inferior matter. \nReal greatness begins as we get away from \nself and selfish desires. \n\nReason alike with Scripture emphasizes \nthis fact. All true conquest begins with the \nconquest of one\'s self. Unless we school \nourselves into obedience to what is right and \ntrue we cannot lead others into the truth. \nHe who does not control himself cannot con- \ntrol others. All success begins with personal \nsuccess. No one can be to others what he is \nnot in hirnself first He will not harm others \n\n\n\n144 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nuntil he has first harmed himself. Whatever \nour condition, this principle holds true. \n\nNo amount of labor or depression or sorrow \ncan release us from duty. We cannot shut \nduty out by shutting ourselves away from it. \nOur obligations linger with our Hfe. \n\nAgain, the value of our life is not in the \nyears, but in the work done. *\' How old art \nthou?" is the least important question that \ncan be asked. \'\'What hast thou done?" is \nfar greater. The finished life does not always \ntremble with the weight of the years. This \nRepublic owes more to Hamilton than to al- \nmost any other man; and yet his work was \nfinished at the age of forty-seven. Few \nlives have given greater power to the church \nthan that of the scholarly missionary, Henry \nMartyn ; but his earthly life was ended at \nthirty-one. The founder of modern missions \nin our churches, Samuel J. Mills, died at \nthirty-five. The consecrated name of Har- \nriet Newell has done more in carrying out \nthe last command of the Master to go into \n\n\n\nINSPIRED TO INSPIRE 145 \n\nall the world with the gospel than many a \nveteran has done ; and yet she died at the \nage of nineteen years. \n\nLife is great or small according to what it \nhas done. It is not the size of the object \nthat marks the intrinsic power. If we could \nmake a buttercup \xe2\x80\x94 just one \xe2\x80\x94 we could make \nthe world. An infinite creative power \xe2\x80\x94 the \nsame power \xe2\x80\x94 is necessarily back of each \ncreation. The buttercup demands and de- \nclares the creative power as truly as does the \nswinging world. Life does not consist in \ndoing one great thing, but in doing all things \nin the best way. Whether we do large things \nor small, the quality indicates what we are. \n\nIn other words, the truest life is not mea- \nsured by the size or conspicuousness of the \nthings done, but by the way of doing them. \nThe life is in the doer, not in the thing. The \ncup of cold water will indicate many a great \nlife in the fiqal day. The visits to the sick \nor imprisoned will then unfold much of per- \nsonal character. \n\n\n\nINSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\n\n\nWe are not to fall back upon our lack of \nefficiency ; we are simply to use what abilities \nwe have at every opportunity. A grateful \nchild is a perpetual inspiration to the father \nin his toils and cares. An invalid companion \nhas been a constant loving inspiration to \nthe one who spares no strength in his care \nfor her. The abihty to inspire others does \nnot necessarily require great physical strength \nor health. The feeblest sufferer may enthuse \nthe popular hero in his unremitting responsi- \nbiHties. The name of Phillips has in it the \nluster of immortal fame; yet the inspiration \nbecause of which he faced mobs unappalled \ncame largely from the suffering wife in his \nown home. Threats of burning the house \nover her head did not cause a moment\'s \nhesitation in her heroic consecration to the \nfreedom of which her husband was the re- \nnowned advocate. \n\nThirdly, the world drops from memory those \nwho forget their kind. People drop those \nwho drop them. The world admires dignity, \n\n\n\nINSPIRED TO INSPIRE 147 \n\nbut responds to love. It salutes royalty in \noffice, but is swayed by royalty of character. \nIt does not put itself out for those who are \nbound up in themselves. It recognizes that \nthe ruling factor in all society is love; and \nwhere love is, there is the constant doing for \nothers. The real test is, not the magnificence \nof the house in which one lives, but how \nmany homes one has made happier. There \nare such philanthropists in every community. \nTheir overflowing sympathy is for those who \nsuffer. They are always thinking of others. \nMemory takes care of those worth remem- \nbering. The man who forgets others will \ndrop out of memory with his burial. A \ngood memory depends upon a useful life. \nThe world gives its heart only to those \nwhose hearts were broad and sympathetic. \nGood deeds inspire remembrance in return. \nNot how much one is to himself, but what \nhe is to others, is the test. Not how much \nhe gets for himself, but in what measure he \nshares his good things with others \xe2\x80\x94 this is \n\n\n\n148 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nthe true worth of each. God has so fash- \nioned us that the infirmities of the honorable \ndead slowly pass back into oblivion, while \ntheir excellences appear in increasing beauty. \n\'\' Their works do follow them.\'\' \n\nIt is impossible to free ourselves frond this \nobligation to help others to the fullest extent \nof our abihty. God has written his purpose \ninto our very natures. Reason agrees with \nrevelation in confirming this law of our being. \nThe total value of our life consists in what \nwe shall have done for others. So universal \nis this obHgation that the world drops out \nfrom its memory those who are comparatively \nuseless to its progress. \n\nSuppose the prophets of God had halted \nin their message; the wheels of progress \nwould have gone back. Suppose Garrison \nhad kept silence, fearing the mob raging \naround him more than he feared injustice; \nthe liberation of a race would have been im- \nperiled. Suppose Whittier had turned away \nfrom the slave to make his verses attractive \n\n\n\nINSPIRED TO INSPIRE 149 \n\nto those whom slaves were serving; where \nwould history be? What if the great re- \nformers had abandoned their struggles for \nliberty ; civilization would have been crushed \nunder a relentless tyranny. The only lives \nworth the paper on which their names are \nwritten are of those who have spent their \nenergies in self-sacrifice for others\' good. \nCommonplace men \xe2\x80\x94 men who float with the \ntide of public opinion or of their own ease \xe2\x80\x94 \nare beginning to be forgotten with the going \ndown of the earHest setting sun. They who \nlive for self are dropped from memory when \nthe undertaker has finished his work. \n\nWe are not to carry others\' burdens that \nthey can carry as well as ourselves. True \nhelpfulness consists in giving comfort; and \ncomfort means giving strength to those who \nare weary by inspiring them when they \nhesitate or fail. \n\nConfronting such an obligation to helpful- \nness IS our utter inability of ourselves. We \ncan pity, but that will not help. We may \n\n\n\n150 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nshow sympathy, but men need far more than \nsympathy. How is such power gained ? We \ncannot inspire others above the inspiration \nwe have ourselves received. The inspiration \nof Columbus in a measure inspired his men \nabove even their superstitions. The absolute \nconviction of Cyrus W. Field inspired men to \nrisk their wealth in a wire touching two con- \ntinents and buried purposely in the ocean. \nSamuel Adams, catching a vision of liberty \non the bloody field of Lexington, helped \ninspire a continent to achieve its freedom. \nThe vision of Paul on the Damascus road \nnever grew dim. In the vision he saw the \ncoming triumph of a greater than Caesar. \nHe was to suffer untold sufferings, but the \nvision was above them. He was to be \nbrought before kings, but the vision of the \ngreater than Agrippa made him bold. He \nstood among peoples reeking with the vices \nof heathenism ; but the heavenly vision in- \nspired him to inspire them to a nobler life. \nHis power lay not in his bodily presence \xe2\x80\x94 \n\n\n\nINSPIRED TO INSPIRE 151 \n\nthat was weak. It was not in excellence of \nspeech \xe2\x80\x94 men called that contemptible. His \nmarvelous power in rousing cities, in forming \nchurches, in fixing the attention of kings, lay \nin his obedience to the heavenly vision and \nthe Christ of his faith. The source of inspira- \ntion is outside and above us. \n\nThe strange fascination of Napoleon lay in \nhis power to enthuse his army with the glory \nof France. Nelson at Trafalgar led his fleet \ninto the battle with the ringing reminder \nthat England expected every man in that \nfleet to do his duty. The watchword of \nWelHngton was \'\' duty " \xe2\x80\x94 and duty means \nsomething higher than the man urging its \nclaims. \n\nThe two sources of human power and in- \nspiration are the convictions, God and the \nimmortal life. The two belong together. \nThey hold above us the greater Being and \ndeclare an unending life. Men complain of \nthe injustice of this life; the assurance of the \nother declares the righting of the wrongs. \n\n\n\n152 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nSad hearts take up the every-day burdens; \nbut the Hfe to come does not subsist upon \nthe conditions of this. Aching hearts sigh \nover the departed ; but our loss is their gain. \nIt is this conviction of God and immortaHty \nthat comforts the poor who struggle for \nbread while the tables of the affluent are \nloaded with more than can be used. Shiver- \ning honest sufferers gaze wistfully upon furs \nwhose warmth might save them from wast- \ning hectic ; but thoughts of the immortal life \ncheer them on while multitudes pass them \nby unnoticed. Take away from hope these \ntwo convictions and earth would become a \nbedlam. \n\nThey who deny God and immortality can- \nnot inspire others. They may have brilliancy \nof intellect worthy better thoughts; their \nspeech may be as coming from lips touched \nwith the honey of Hymettus; they may be \ngifted with sympathy tinged with pity; yet \nso long as they know not God, and intimate \nthat there is no life beyond this life, they \n\n\n\nINSPIRED TO INSPIRE 153 \n\ncannot inspire the weary and the poor and \nthe bereaved. Human nature can become a \ndrudge ; it can endure privations ; it can enter \nhomes darkened by death. But to inspire \nsuch as these requires more than mere human \nwords from intellects that do not know, and \nguesses from hearts that do not believe. \n\nWe grow toward what we believe. We \ngrow up or we grow down, according to the \nobjects we follow. Egypt represented her \ndeity by beasts, and has sunk back to them. \nRome made her gods vacillating and coarse ; \nand nothing in the range of her debasing be- \nlief could keep the mighty empire from sink- \ning back into the dirt. One may dwarf \nhimself into a pygmy when he ought to be \na giant. If it were possible to keep one \nthrough full-grown manhood wrapped up \nin childish playthings, he might grow to a \ngiant\'s stature, but he would always remain \na travesty on human nature. \n\nThought expands when it sees other villages \nthan the one in which it lives. Allegiance to \n\n\n\n154 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nthe nation broadens us beyond that which \ncomes from allegiance to the State. Plans \nlaid involving other continents than the one \noceans have bounded for our own broaden us \nyet more. The provincial has become a cos- \nmopolitan with his knowledge. \n\nRemember there are uncounted worlds \namong which this little earth is one. Re- \nmember there is another Hfe somewhere. \nLet imagination wing itself to farthest possi- \nble outreach. The expanding vista broadens \nand deepens the mind and heart that takes it \nin. He who knows God and feels within his \nbreast the throbbings of immortal life has \nsomething by which to inspire and stimu- \nlate others to a new purpose. The lever of \nArchimedes, by whose adjustment he prom- \nised to move the world, cannot compare with \nthis power. They who Hve nearest God can \nlift others nearest to him. \n\nIs it said we are too weak ourselves to \nhelp ; we are too cast down to inspire ; we \nare too broken-hearted to heal the breaking \n\n\n\nINSPIRED TO INSPIRE 155 \n\nhearts of others ? These are the very reasons \nwhy we can help and inspire others. Has \nGod given you help ? Tell others. Has \ncomfort come to your dark hours? Tell \nothers where it may be found for them. \nHas there come into your desolation the in- \nfinite compassion ? Then stimulate others to \nfind for themselves the same strength. If \nthe believers of Christ would each begin with \nthe first sufferer near them, and continue in \nsuch a work of inspiration for others, the \nworld w^ould take on a new appearance \nwithin less than twelve months. \n\nThe Christian world has not ceased to \nspeak of Chalmers thrilling Scotland and \nChristendom from his Tron parish ; pictures \nof his power are indelibly impressed upon the \nhistory of the influence of man upon men ; \nyet who can tell us the name of the poor \nwoman whose transcendent Christian Hfe gave \nhim week after week such inspiration? Yet \nthis is history. \n\nNarrators of what missions have done re- \n\n\n\n156 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nmind of Morrison\'s devotion to China : preach- \ning the everlasting gospel, translating into \nthe tongue of the empire the Word of God, \nlaboring unceasingly with his two watch- \nwords \xe2\x80\x94 the first, \'\' It is my duty,\'\' the second, \n\'\'Look up, look up;\'\' yet who recalls the \nname of the faithful teacher in the ragged- \nschool whose persistence won and inspired \nhim to the life of usefulness that monumented \nher love? \n\nYears ago a lady from the country visited \na large city near her home. She was an \ninvalid, and was touched by the sufferings \nof a little sick child whom she saw in the \nmother\'s arms in a filthy street. The thought \ncame to her, \'\' Why not take the child and \nits mother to my home?" She gave the \ninvitation, which was gladly accepted. From \nthe refreshing country life the weary mother \nand child went back well and strong. Some \nof the lady\'s neighbors, convinced of their \nprivilege, followed her example. The next \nsummer hundreds of children and their \n\n\n\nINSPIRED TO INSPIRE 157 \n\nmothers were cared for in the same way ; \nthe following summer thousands more. \n\nA neighbor of such a benefactor, poor \nand helpless herself, unable to care for even \none, said she could at least give others the \nstory of the charity. She wrote the account \nin a New York paper. The simple recital in \nthe paper caught the attention of a lady of \nwealth, who sent her check for a thousand \ndollars to the editor, initiating the so-called \n\'\'Fresh-air Fund." All over the United \nStates, in England, and on the Continent, the \nwork of caring for poor children has ever \nsince that time been kept up. Had that in- \nvalid, as she passed the pale, sickly child, ex- \ncused herself by saying she could not save \nall \xe2\x80\x94 \'\' Why should I trouble myself with \none?" \xe2\x80\x94 how much the world would have \nmissed ! \n\nInspiration is sympathy put into action. \nIt makes the good of others our highest \nmotive. It is Christ-like. Its method is to \nallow the divine will full power through us. \n\n\n\n158 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\n\'* Bear ye one another\'s burdens, and so fulfil \nthe law of Christ/\' The inspiration and \npower imparted to each life must be divinely- \ngiven. We cannot do our work well by- \nleaving God out. \n\nCONCLUSION. \n\nIn summing up the line of our thoughts we \nrecognize the fact that self-denial is the cost \nof success. Self-discipline is the prerequisite \nto usefulness. We secure teachers who shall \nadvise as to what we shall deny ourselves, \nand who shall administer discipline. Athletes \nand scholars agree in this method of prep- \naration. \n\nThe burdens and deprivations of life are \nsuch conditions enforced. The denials and \ndiscipline we will not choose we are some- \ntimes compelled to bear. Rightly used, they \nincrease our power. \n\nCollege life means a certain discipline, and \nthe results tell. Life is a broader college, \n\n\n\nINSPIRED TO INSPIRE 151) \n\nwhose instruction makes larger, stronger men. \nWhatever God orders or permits leads to the \nsame results. The true scholar is inspired by \nwhat he has learned ; so in the larger life they \nw^ho have profited by the severest lessons of \ndivine ordering or permission are the most \nuseful. \n\nGod needs inspired men and women. It is \nas needful that men shall be inspired to teach \nthe inspired Book of God as it is to have the \nBook of God to teach. \n\nThe Bible itself is the best evidence that \nGod inspires men other than those who were \nto make up the sacred writings. Who was \nthe friend of God, the father of the faithful ? \nAnd yet Abraham, thus distinguished, has \nnot left us a single chapter. Take the whole \nhistory of Joseph, the incarnation of purity. \nTo what scriptural character has there ever \nbeen given a diviner insight than to him? \nWhat life can we hold higher for a model? \nAnd yet this God-inspired man, this model \nfor all ages, has not left a single line of his \n\n\n\n160 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nown writing upon either the shafts of Egypt \nor the pages of the sacred Word. Look at \nJacob gaining such power with God that even \nhis old deceitful nature became so changed as \nto require for him the better name of Israel ; \nand yet even Israel never penned a line of \nScripture. Where is there a single line writ- \nten by that magnificent prophet of reform, \nElijah ? Where is there a Gospel according \nto Thomas? And yet he ranks first among \nthe discoverers of the real nature of Christ. \n\nWere not Abraham and Joseph and Israel \nin their living as truly inspired of God as was \nMoses, who recorded their history? Was a \nGod- given inspiration lacking in Elijah, that \nexample of greatest prophetic insight, while \nit was given to Samuel, who wrote his life? \nWas Thomas untouched by the Spirit of God \nwhen he broke forth in exclamation, *\' My \nLord and my God \'\' ? \n\nAll through the Scriptures are the biog- \nraphies of men who walked with God ; their \nlives embalmed by other men commissioned \n\n\n\nINSPIRED TO INSPIRE 161 \n\nas divine scribes. What is inspiration but \nbeing moved and animated by a supernatu- \nral influence, and that supernatural influence \ndirect from God ? \n\nA special divine illumination is as much \nrequired for understanding the Word as was \ndemanded in writing it. The doctrine of \nprayer is really an emphasis to an inspiration \ndirect from God. The world is to be saved \nby inspired men. Bezaleel was as truly \ndivinely chosen for his art as was Isaiah \nchosen to teach. God needs and demands \ninspired men to carry on his transcendent \nwork in the saving and redeeming of the \nworld. \n\nRecall again among modern names that \nof Garrison, and the odds against him. The \nillustration will indicate the possible power \nin a strong, determined life. Two generations \nago we were a slave nation. Our laws were \nin favor of the slave-driver. Our judges is- \nsued decrees against the slave. Our North- \nern free States, so called, were open for the \n\n\n\n162 INSPIRED THROUGH SUFFERING \n\nsheriffs of slavery. The boast was openly \nmade that the roll of a plantation\'s slaves \nwould be called from Bunker Hill. Many \nchurches were timid. Politicians were boldly \non the side of the South. Merchants feared \nfailure if agitation were kept up. Liberty was \npinioned. \n\nAt such a time Garrison began his life- \nwork. His was the consciousness of strength \nthat comes from being right and doing a \ndivine work. He stood alone, yet not alone. \nHe was mightier than all the forces opposing \nhim. His decision was greater than those of \nthe supreme bench. Beside him Presidents \nwere almost pygmies. While he worked on \nCongresses kept compromising. He was \nstronger than all the laws they made, and \nwould snap these apart like hempen cords \nsinged with fire. \n\nHe was a prophet indeed. He was doing \nGod\'s work. He was inspired, and his in- \nspiration inspired others until a nation gave \nhim honor. \n\n\n\nI \n\n\n\nINSPIRED TO INSPIRE 163 \n\nIn God\'s sight nothing that tends to help \nothers is secular. Every-day duties are \ndivine, Hke larger obligations. To do well \nour work we must \'\' be endued with power \nfrom on high.\'\' What is this but inspiration? \nWe need the discipline of the schools. We \nimperatively require the divine help. We \ngain larger abilities by the severest discipHne. \nWe are inspired by suffering to make life \neasier for others. This possibiHty makes life \nworth living, even when days would otherwise \nbe dark and the years desolate. \n\n\'\'Not to be ministered unto, but \nto minister." \n\n\n\nII \n\n\n\nAddresses, Sermons, and Essays. \n\n\n\nEssential Christianity, By Rev. Hugh Price Hughes, lamo, \n\ncloth,.. Si. 25 \n\nFully sustains the reputation of this famous London \npreacher. \n\nTen Minute Sermons, By Rev. W. Robertson Nicoll, D.D. \n\ni2mo, cloth, gilt top 1.50 \n\nBrilliant sermonettes by the editor of " The Expositor\'s \nBible." \n\nThree Gates on a Side, and Other Sermons. By Rev. Charles \n\nH. Parkhurt. i2mo, cloth, gilt top 1.25 \n\n*\' Dr. Parkhurst is certainly a preacher of unusual power, \nand a thinker of marked originality." \xe2\x80\x94 T/ie Churchman. \n\nThe Ideal of Humanity in the Old Times and New. By Prof. \n\nJohn Stuart Blackie, author of " On Self Culture." i2mo, \n\ncloth i.oo \n\n" Fresh, forcible and practical. In close and helpful touch \nwith everyday life." \xe2\x80\x94 The Congregationalist, \n\nSermons by the Rev, John McNeill, Vols. I., H. and III., each \n\ncontaining 26 Sermons. i2mo, cloth, each 1.50 \n\n" The Rev. John McNeill has a firm hold of Gospel truth, a \nclear mind, and a peculiar and graphic method of expressing \nsound convictions. \xe2\x80\x94 Rev. John Hall. D.D. \n\nTwelve Sermons by the late Eugene Bersier, D.D., of I\'Eglise de \nI\'Etoile, Paris. Translated by Mrs. Alexander Waugh. With \n\nportrait. i2mo, cloth 1.25 \n\n"We have read these sermons with very great delight. \nBersier was a preacher of eloquence, force, and profit." \xe2\x80\x94 The \nIndependent. \n\nPrinceton Sermons, Chiefly by Professors in Princeton Theo- \nlogical Seminary. i2mo, cloth 1.50 \n\nThe contributors are President Patten, and Professors Green, \n\nHodge, Warfield, Aiken, Murray, and Davis. \n\n"Scholarly,vigorous. and practical." \xe2\x80\x94 The Congregationalist, \n\'* Coin from the royal mint of the King of Heaven."\xe2\x80\x94 T^^ \n\nN. Y. Observer. \n\nPacific Coast Pulpit. Sermons by Representative Preachers on \nthe Pacific Coast. With 17 portraits. i2mo, cloth 2.00 \n\nDivine Balustrades, and other Sermons. By Rev. R. S. Mac- \nArthur, D.D. i2mo, cloth 1.25 \n\n\'\'Marked by mental precision, and an atmosphere of spirit- \nuality that is decidedly refreshing." \xe2\x80\x94 The Golden Rule. \n\nSermons, By Rev. John A. Boardus, D.D. i2mo, cloth i.oo \n\nBaccalaureate and Other Addresses, By Rev. E. A. Tanner, \nD.D., late President of Illinois College. i2mo, cloth 1.50 \n\n*** See also Moody ^ Meyer ^ he~t\'on^ Stalker., and Spurgeon. \n\n\n\nThe Life and Words of Christ. \n\n\n\nThe Public Life of Ctirist Being a Chart of Christ\'s Journeys \nand a Map of Palestine, so combined as to present to the eye the \nmutual relations of the Chronology and Geography of the \nrecorded events in the life of Christ, together with a harmony \nof the Gospels. By Rev. C. J. Kephart, A.M. Size, 24x36 \n\ninches. Pocket forms, cloth, 75c.; leather $1.00 \n\nWall map form 1.25 \n\n*\' Among the ingenious devices for the graphic description of \nour Lord\'s life and history we have seen nothing more effec- \ntive." \xe2\x80\x94 TAe Independent. \n\nBarthly Footprints of Our Risen Lord, Illumined, A Continu- \nous Narrative of the Four Gospels according to the Revised \nVersion, with introduction by Rev. John Hall, D.D. Illustrated \nby 113 full-page half-tone reproductions. Third Edition. Small \n4to, cloth, net, $1.50; gilt edge with silk book mark, boxed, \nnet, $2.00 ; full morocco, flexible, ^gilt edges, round corners, \n\nboxed net, 3.75 \n\n"To many the life of the Christ will be a new book in this \nform. Though beyond the introduction it contains no word \nexcept what is found in the four Gospels, yet when read con- \ntinuously the narrative takes on new force and lifelikeness." \xe2\x80\x94 \nThe Golden Rule. \n\nThe Life of Jesus Christ, By Rev. James Stalker, M.A. i2mo, \ncloth 60 \n\nA Critical Harmony of the Gospel (Christ in the Gospels). By \nJames P. Cadman, A.M. Introduction by Rev. P. S. Henson, \n\nD.D. 8vo, cloth 1.50 \n\n" By its ingenious arrangement a close comparison between \nthe narratives can be made with great facility."\xe2\x80\x94 Z)^^ Inde^ \npendent. \n\nA Harmony of the Pour Gospels, With Explanatory Notes and \nReferences to Parallel and Illustrative Passages. In the words \nof the authorized version. By Edward Robinson, D.D. Edited \nby Benj. Davies, Ph.D. i6mo, flexible cloth 60 \n\nThe Fifth Gospel The Land where Jesus Lived. By Rev. J. M. \nP. Otts, LL.D. Second Edition. With 4 maps and many other \n\nillustrations. i2mo, cloth 1.25 \n\n*\' It claims to be just what it is, as series of sketches of cer- \ntain events in our Lord\'s life and of certain localities which \nthrow a special light on certain passages, brought up for \nreview." \xe2\x80\x94 The Independent. \n\nA History of the Preparation of the World for Christ, By \n\nRev. David R. Breed, D.D. 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By Rev. \n\nNewman Hall, D.D. i2mo. cloth 75 \n\n" This valuable little volume will do much to assist in their \nstudy of this important subject those who may not have access \nto more elaborate works or leisure for the study of them. It is a \nbook which cannot have too large a circulation." \xe2\x80\x94 Christian \nWork. \n\nUnsettled Questions Touching the Foundations of Christianity, \n\nBy J. M. P. Otts, D.D. i2mo, cloth i.oo \n\n\' \' The author recognizes the fact that young men are some- \ntimes harassed with doubts and questions, and he does his best \nto dispel the first and to answer the last. The simplicity and \nforce of his reasoning will do all this for many inquiring minds." \n\xe2\x80\x94 The N. Y. Observer. \n\nThe Highest Critics vs. The Higher Critics. By Rev. L. W. \n\nMunhall, M.A. i2mo, cloth 1.00 \n\n" The appearance of this volume is timely. 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Long i8mo, cloth, Si. 00 ; white cloth, silver top, boxed, \n$1.25; decorated silk, gilt edges, boxed 1.75 \n\nA Gift of Peace, and Loving Greetings for 365 Days. By Rose \nPorter. Long i8mo, cloth, $1.00 ; white cloth, silver top, boxed, \n$1.25 ; decorated silk, gilt edges, boxed 1.75 \n\nDaily Pood for Daily Life. With border. Cloth, red edges, \n15c. ; white enamel covers, gilt edges 40 \n\nHavergaPs Complete Poems. Bvo, boxed. \n\n1. Cloth 2.00 \n\n2. Cloth, full gilt 2.50 \n\n4. French morocco, padded, gilt roll, red under gold edges, 4.00 \n\n5. Persian calf, padded and embossed, gilt roll and red \n\nedges 5.00 \n\n6. Three-quarter calf, gilt top, trimmed edges, gilt marbled \n\npaper sides 4.50 \n\nPrayers from the Poets. A compilation. By Martha Harger. \ni6mo, cloth, gilt top i.oo \n\nThe Gates of Praise, and \'other Original Poems. By Rev. J. R. \nMacduff, D.D. 18 mo, cloth 60 \n\nThe Gates of Prayer. Private Devotion for Morning and Even- \ning. By Rev. J. R. 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