Here and there a leaf

Contents

PAGE

I No Thought for To-Morrow . 1

II Bearing the Cross .... 12

II

Who can imagine for one moment what our Lord endured for us? The cross he bore on Calvary was not his only cross. No doubt many crosses pressed heavily upon him even from his childhood. He was unlike other children. Their rough and uncultivated ways must have caused his gentle and sensitive nature to shrink within itself. Their inclination for wrong-doing must have given him pain, and his remonstrances and disapproval of their acts were, no doubt, often misunderstood.

One of his life-long trials must have been the constant realization that he was alone. Who could understand him? Who could sympathize with him? Upon whose tender, human heart could he lay his weary head and rest? His position was singular. Never, since the world began, had any one stood in his place, suspended, as it were, between heaven and earth, between ages past and ages to come, neither wholly human, nor yet wholly divine, the Incarnate Son of God, lifted up before the gaze of all humanity, first by symbols, then in his own body, that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life,

Sin^lar, indeed, was the heavy cross he bore, upon which was laid the sins of all the ages, from the creation of the world to the end of time. No doubt the wooden cross which was placed upon him, and to which he was nailed at the last, was a symbol of all that he had borne and suffered, from the moment when he realized his position and his mission until that time ; and his agony in Gethsemane, and his torture upon the cross, were but feeble expressions of what he really suffered for our redemption. It is not strange that in his intense agony he prayed that the cup might pass. None of us can ever know the mystery of that bitter cup. We can only in part divine it, and approach with holy reverence into the presence of the supreme suffering which called forth such a prayer from the Patient One, the Divine One, the Son of God, "Oh, my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me !" Three times he prayed the same words, as drops of blood were falling on the ground, from his intense agony. But notwithstanding this terrible ordeal, we listen reverently to his expressions of deepest humility, and sweetest submission, "Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done !"

There are hours in the life of every one of us when we feel that our cup is full to overflowing, that it is too bitter, that we cannot drink it. There are crosses fastened to our hearts that pierce and lacerate, and we shrink from them, and beg and plead to have them removed. But, as with Jesus, there are often reasons why the crosses should remain. God has a work to be done by them which nothing else could do, and they will be lightened or removed only when his purpose is accomplished. There are crosses, also, which are light and so easy to bear that we do not think of asking the help of Jesus in bearing them, and they fret and irritate, and make us impatient and unlovely. There is no cross, be it light or heavy, which he will not illuminate for us, if we bear it in sweetness and humility, following him.

All have crosses to bear. There is no escape for any one. Even when we call ourselves happy, is there not an under-current of pain flowing swift and strong threatening to take us off our feet and bear us out into the sea of trouble stretching on farther than the eye can see, with constant ebb and flow throughout this life.'' Oh, there is, there is, and God's children will find peace only as their minds and hearts are stayed on him.

Dear one, are you lying on a bed of pain.'' Is there never a day nor an hour when you are free from suff'ering? Truly, the earthward side of that cross is very dark ; but the other side ! Oh, if you can but see the heavenward side ! All bright and shining with the loving compassion of your Lord ! Hold fast to him, and pain will not overwhelm you ; peace will enter your soul, and the Everlasting Arms will hold you, in strong, loving embrace from morning until night, and from night until morning.

"Take up thy cross and follow me." We are not to shrink from bearing our cross. We are not to try to run away from it ; we are to take it up! "Take up thy cross, not that of some other person. Take up the cross appointed unto thee for thy discipline, for thy instruction, for thy preparation, for the life of the Crucified." If we be one in him, must we not also be crucified with him? Must not every sinful desire, and thought, every word and deed be nailed to the cross, even to the sacrifice of our most cherished idols, even to the death of our dearest earthly hopes .f^ Humiliated, even with our faces in the dust, here, to receive glory, and honor, and joy unspeakable in heavenly mansions. Crucified with our Lord here, to be exalted with him in heaven !

Joyfully let us take up our cross, and, with bleeding feet, if need be, follow all along the thorny path in which he trod to take us safe to heaven. Sometimes it may seem to us that God is partial, that the crosses of some we know are much lighter than our own. Considering it from a worldly point of view, it does really seem that some persons are set up as targets for sorrow and misfortune.

Many are led as lambs to the slaughter every day, innocent persons led by selfishness, by cruelty, by scandal, by fraud to the ruin of happiness, of reputation, of property, often to death. Why is it? How futile this question which is so often asked in agony, but which can never be answered until the secrets of infinity are revealed, and we see as a grand whole the panorama of the ages pass before us. It was by the sins of the world that the Lamb of God was led to the slaughter, and it is by sin that troubles come to us. Review your life from the beginning. See how much of your trouble has been the result, directly or indirectly, of some wrong-doing on your part or that of another.

Men are like the beasts of the forest. They prey upon one another without mercy. They steal and rob and murder, with the boldness of highwaymen, or under cover of hypocrisy and deceit or with the air of doing a favor. These things have been, and are, and will be to a greater or less extent, no matter who suffers, until Satan is banished and the millennium dawns. If all were living an ordinary, comfortable life, where would be the heroes? Who would perform brave acts, who stand unflinchingly before terrible disaster? Who go to the front in battles to be won? Who follow our Lord to Gethsemane?

After all, you who have suffered, you whom the Lord has chastened because of his great love for you, would you go back if you could to lead an uneventful life, an ordinary, easy life looking only to the comfort of this world? Would you go back to mere commonplace experiences, to the daily routine of common people, common in the sense of never having had other than common experiences? Would you if you could? To be sure, the pain of your life has been great, and there have been many times when it seemed to you that you could not bear it ; but have there not been compensations, have there not been rich experiences? Has there not been a nearer drawing to your Heavenly Father, and a more steady abiding in his sweet peace? Have you not, many a time, felt the sympathetic pressure of your Lord's hand, more precious than lands or houses, silver or gold? Have you not been permitted to lean your weary, aching head upon his bosom, and has he not comforted you? He, the King of kings and Lord of lords?

A heavy cross-bearer, ah, yes ! To the shattering of many hopes, to the giving up of much that is dear, to the drinking to the dregs the bitter cup of sorrow and misfortune ! Jesus bore the heavy cross, yet he did not complain. Sweetly and patiently, with few smiles and many tears, he went about his Father's business without a murmur; living his wonderful life with the cross ever before him, ministered unto by angels, beloved and approved by God, rejected, cursed and spit upon by man, he went on steadily to the accomplishment of his sublime work, that of saving a lost world !

Doubtless it is for some grand purpose that you are led to the cross ; so take comfort, and trust in God, and love his Son, and be brave and fearless no matter what happens. We do not need to know the reason for God's dealing with us. We cannot question his love, or his wisdom. With all resources in his power, he can do what he wills ; and what an omniscient and omnipotent God wills should be accepted as the best for us he has to give. The bread he provides for us often has the appearance of a stone ; but it is really of choicest wheat, the very bread of life. He sometimes hedges us about, and shuts us in, and cuts oiF all egress from the narrow straits in which he holds us, to work his will in us, his holy, blessed will! Then welcome pain and weariness, sorrow and misfortune, even death itself, if it be his will !

To the bearing of the cross let it be, following our Lord with bleeding feet and aching heart even unto death! Really following him, and never forsaking him even though the veil of the temple be rent and darkness cover the face of the earth, waiting in hope at his tomb until the resurrection morn. As he triumphed over death itself, so may we in his name gain victories which the angels will record, and which will call forth triumphant shouts from all the heavenly host.

Then what matter if our lot on earth be hard? After lying on a bed of thorns will not the roses be the sweeter? After the darkness of this life will not the light of heaven almost dazzle us? After living way down in the valley will not the

I heights of the New Jerusalem be all-glorious?

"Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no abiding." Then let us not place too much value upon earthly comforts, or too much importance upon what happens to us here. If we can be made ready to fill the place God has appointed for us in the building of the Eternal Temple, we need not call the chippings of God's chisel misfortunes. In so far as we are in harmony with God's will, what we now call chastisements will be received as blessings, and, considered in this light, there is no real misfortune, no real chastisement.

Fellow cross-bearers, take courage ! The help of the Lord of heaven and earth is yours if you will but take it. You may rejoice under difficulties. You may sing and shout praises to God even when the thunder-peal of misfortune is the loudest, and such praise will rise to heaven as sweetest incense, and mingle with the praises of the heavenly host around the throne of God and the Lamb.

It is not strange that we shrink from bearing the cross if we see only the earthly side of it, upon which is written in blood-red characters, "The reproach of the world," "Separation from friends," "Toil and weariness," "Temptation and sorrow." But if we keep in view the heavenward side, we may take courage, for there we find in letters of gold, "Peace unutterable," "Life everlasting," "A home in the heart of Jesus."

*' 'Do not choose thy crosses, but take those which God gives thee.

" 'In the gift of my cross beware of choosing, for I know better than thou what thou canst endure.

" 'Thou must not drag thy cross, but bear it. Thou must not blush because of it, but glory in it.

" 'When the burden of thy holy cross terrifies thee, it is the want of love which renders it heavy.

" 'Thou must not bear thy cross with ostentation, but simply upon the shoulder.

" 'Under the yoke of my cross bend thy will in bearing this burden with humility.* "

Ill

HE IS COMING

"A little girl was playing near the edge of a precipice. Suddenly she felt the earth give way beneath her feet^ and before she had time to spring back to a place of safety, she had slipped over the edge of the abyss. With the instinct of despair, she snatched at the grass and tall weeds within her reach. Her little fingers dug deep into the ground, and stayed her downward course. There she hung, suspended in the air. Moments seemed ages until she heard a voice calling in a firm, encouraging tone, *I am coming ; keep looking up !' Instinctively she obeyed ; she never glanced downward, but clung faster to her only chance of safety. Again the voice, this time nearer, spoke hopefully, *I am coming; keep looking up!' In another moment, two strong hands had seized her in a firm grasp, and she felt herself drawn gently and cautiously forward. Then she was lifted into great, loving arms, and pressed close to her Father's breast!"

There are supreme moments in life when we

must look up and listen for the "I am coming"

of our Lord. It may be at the death-bed of a

husband or a child that we feel the earth give

way beneath our feet, or when we are on the brink

of financial ruin and disaster, or when friends whom we have long trusted prove to be our enemies. All have need to look up to avoid the terrible fall from the brow of the precipice which will surely happen if we look down, if we look away from Jesus, whose voice is calling, *'I am coming, keep looking up !"

It is not only when some great and terrible calamity or bereavement threatens us that we should look up. When mothers are weary and discouraged with their many cares and trials, what can they do but look up and tell their troubles to God? He will hear even a whisper, or a wordless prayer for help and comfort, and wiU come. Fathers who are distracted with business cares and worries, and who know not which way to turn, should look up. Sometimes our greatest trial is the thorn, the pain of which must be borne, day after day, until we are ready to beseech God, with repeated earnestness, that it may be removed. He who wore the crown of thorns and bent beneath the burden of his heavy cross will come to help us bear our trial, be it great or small. To every one, in loneliness, in darkness or in weakness, he will come. Do not fear that his coming will be too late. If he delay it is to try your faith. Only look to him, and he will come ; one look away from him, one downward look may be fatal. Listen to his voice, and he wiU come to save you from every danger, to help you bear every trial, to help you resist every temptation, to wash you whiter than snow that

HE IS COMING 23

you may be his own in the Heavenly Kingdom forever and ever!

Why not look up? Why not trust the Omnipotent Father? The flowers lift their faces to him to receive the dew, the sun, and rain. Even the little Alpine flower on the mountain top smiles heavenward. The mountains, whether bathed in the light of the setting sun, or hidden by the clouds, lift their summits toward the sky. Everything in nature looks up to God, and tells us of his love. Even the ocean, lashed to fury in a storm, lifts huge waves towards heaven, and speaks in mighty tones of his power and majesty.

When we see God's great power in the earthquake, the avalanche, the thunderbolt, the fierce flame, and at the same time, his tender care of a blade of grass, or a lily of the field, can we for one moment doubt his desire to lift us up, to hold us safe, to keep the terrible life-storms through which all must pass for discipline, for strength, from hurling us against the rocks, or burying us beneath the waves? Cannot we also look up to him for help in all the trivial things of daily life?

May our faces always turn towards our Lord. May we listen, listen for the coming of his feet. When we hear his voice calling us, may we look away from our earthly cares to him. He is coming with swift feet to lift us up, to hold us safe. We know not over what abyss we are suspended,

24 HERE AND THERE A LE.\P

ready to fall at : ment, if we look away from

him.

Jesus c:r T- r - ::. ly when we are in danger, but every _ :. .^\nv messages of love and

wamii:^. He comes at an hour when we think not, knocking at the door of our homes, knocking at the door of our hearts, and because we are not ready, and do not hear him. or, if we hear, are ashamed to admit him, grieving he turns away to come next time in chastisement, and spares not whatever is needful for our highest good, that not even one of his little ones may perish. How often he might ccMne to us in anger. How often we weary his patience. How we love things which he hates and from which he is trvincr to redeem us. Could we quietly examine ourselves from the standpoint from which he searches us, each day would bring many humiliating proofs of the need of his comrnor with chastening hands, with loving pierced hands outstretched to save us.

He comes to us in physical ?:-.::_: There are days in the life of each one -„ i. c^^iy nerve and fiber thrills with pain: when the head throbs as if it would burst, and we find it difficult or utteriy impossible to think of anything but our own intense suffering, and we can only hold still and brace ourselves to endure. Need we reproach ourselves if at such times we cannot pray, that we cannot even think of Grod, that pain holds us in subjection with an iron hand.^ Ah, then

HE IS COMING 25

we can only lie in the arms of Divine Pity, as a sick child lies in its mother's arms, unconscious of the tender, yearning love surrounding and holding us. But as everything which comes from God hrings with it some brightness from the throne itself, if in these hours of seclusion we can gain mastery enough over ourselves to realize that this, too, is God-given, we may see ourselves surrounded by a Divine Brightness, even Jesus himself, who cannot remain afar off, when his loved ones suffer; and this wonderful revelation will help us much towards sweetness and patience, and final victory over the pain itself. We need to say continually, "This is of God. I can bear it because it is his will."

Oh, if we could but see, every day, in all conditions of life just how the Savior comes to us! How he wards off unseen dangers, and puts himself beneath us to make for us a sure foundation, knowing far better than we can know, that it is only the things which are built upon the Rock which will endure. That any beauty or any strength built upon a less secure foundation must eventually prove a deformity or weakness. That however high or imposing the battlements of the soul may be, they cannot withstand the shocks, the underminings of the terrible influence of the world, unless they are built upon the Rock Christ Jesus. Sometimes we catch a glimpse of him in the cloud in which he is enveloped, but oftener in our sins and selfishness we do not know that he is in the disappointment, in the shadow, in the causes for worry and anxiety that so often come to us ; and because we worry or repine under his easy yoke, and are restless under his light burden, we lose the blessing of his sustaining and joy-giving presence.

How sadly he comes to us when he finds it necessary to take from us our dearly beloved ones ! How he pities us ; and takes us in his arms and hushes us as a mother hushes a hurt child ! How often he comes to finds us sleeping, to be grieved by our indiff'erence ! "Could ye not watch with me one hour?"

He comes to us in the still small voice, warning us of the enemy at hand, beseeching us to put on the whole armor of God, the girdle of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the sandals of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. He comes in the thunder-peal of misfortune to rescue us from the danger of laying up treasures on earth, for who but he can know the full value of treasures laid up in heaven? He will come at an hour when we think not, to gather in the harvest. Shall we have nothing to offer him then but leaves ?

He will come at an hour when we think not to judge the living and the dead. \^Tio will be able to abide that coming? Who but those who appear before him in raiment white and shining, bearing on high a cross stained with his heart's

HE IS COMING 27

blood? Who but the blood-bought throng will rejoice at that coming? To those who are redeemed it will be a day of glory and honor, and joy unspeakable. To those who are not redeemed it will be a day of remorse and anguish unutterable. There is no gainsaying this. If any thing be true, this is true. If there be any salvation for us, it is in our Lord Jesus Christ. You who are not washed in the blood of the Lamb, look to yourselves I This night your souls may be required of you!

"Watch ye therefore, for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even or at midnight ; or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning; lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping."

"Be ye, therefore, ready also ; for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not."

IV Encouragement For The Poor

There is nothing at which we wonder more than the great contrasts which exist in the arrangement of human affairs in regard to the things of this world. Looking at the existing condition of things without serious contemplation, we are ready to cry out against the injustice of immense wealth on the one hand, and abject poverty on the other ; of the honor bestowed upon a few men, to the absolute neglect of hosts of others quite as worthy ; of the satiety of comforts and luxuries in one direction, and the meager distribution of the same in the other. But we need consider only for a moment to see what a strange condition of affairs would exist if all were upon an absolute level, or if all were rich, or all were poor. That there should be an ascending and descending scale in the relation of human beings to one another is a necessity in the world's economy. In order that there may be workers in all grades of mental and manual labor, there must be many grades of position, and a necessity for many kinds of work. Without that necessity, the world would stand still. But the contrasts need not be so great. God's arrangement in regard

to these things has been perverted. Many men

ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE POOR 29

are poorer than God intended them to be, through their lack of thrift, or their evil habits ; and many men are richer than they ought to be, through their unjust gains. These are the things which engender strife, and produce suffering, and induce some to call for a communistic division of property.

If those who find themselves low in the scale of social position are filling a part of God's plan, and fill it honorably, there is no need for suffering poverty. If those who are rich do their duty, no one has reason to cry out against them. Among those who accept their condition in life as an inheritance, and consider it a matter of course that they should be poor, there is great contentment in earning their living and enjoying what, to those more highly favored, would seem meager pleasures. But now and then there is among them one who feels that he is born to better things ; one who is not satisfied with his lot, and who tries to struggle into a higher plane. He finds no congeniality in the companionship of his associates. They cannot understand his aspirations for something higher than that with which they are amply satisfied.

This is, indeed, an unhappy condition, if he think only of himself. But may he not believe that his influence is needed by his companions, that they, left to themselves, may not become mere machines? May he not feel that his receiving must be largely through giving; that his growing must be through much pruning and cutting away of vines to be planted in other gardens?

Does not the branch beaten by the wind and storm grow stronger? Will not he, through his struggle upward, have an advantage over those who are born in luxury, upon whom storms seldom beat, and winds never blow? Ought any one to be discouraged who is ushered into the world with little but his own energy to carry him successfully through life? With good health, this is enough. He is face to face with the world, ta fight his own battles, and he must muster all his physical and mental forces to fight those battles well, and gain the victory. By constant exercise he trains and strengthens all his powers for best use. To be dependent on his own resources makes him manly. Work is noble ; and you who are born to an inheritance of self-support, rejoice, rather than complain. Put aside all imaginary necessities, and live simply and temperately. If opportunities for mental culture do not readily present themselves, make opportunities, and doubly improve them, so that, in the end, you may excel those whose advantages have been great. That he is poor, is no good reason why any one should be ignorant, unrefined, or unmanly.

We are slow to learn the lesson of true living, simple as it is. God puts us wherever he wishes us to be. There are means within easy reach for our development in just the direction in which he

ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE POOR 31

wishes us to develop. As every little insect or living creature in embryo is placed in the center of that which it will feed upon until it reaches conditions necessary to its removal to a more advanced stage of life, so God places us in the center of those influences which are to feed and mold us for the station he wishes us to fill. Many of us think our fare rather devoid of delicacies, and wonder, often, why things have not been arranged more for our ease and comfort; and, alas, sometimes we refuse to feed on what God provides, and try to satisfy ourselves with husks.

If all would take up their work just where God has placed them, and exhaust the resources of their immediate surroundings, use everything at their command until it is past use, waste nothing of the much God gives to every one whether he be rich or poor, work out from himself into every nook and corner of the limits placed around him, how grandly all would grow! The law of compensation is God's law, and his creatures are not so impartially dealt with, after all, as one might suppose. The trouble comes from opportunities overlooked, or thrust aside.

Many poor people are unhappy because they consider poverty a disgrace. Their pride suffers. They are looked down upon by the rich. Well, what if they are? Does this injure them? Wherein lies the disgrace of poverty? Happiness does not come from the manner in which others regard us, but from what we ourselves are, and from sources above the power of the human to bestow. One reason why the rich look down upon the poor is because they associate poverty with ignorance and want of refinement. This shows a lack of knowledge of their fellowcreatures ; they forget how many leading men come from the ranks of lowly life, while few sons of rich men reach positions of great honor or large influence.

What credit is it to a man to be rich when his wealth is inherited? What honor is it to have a title of nobility, when that title is either bought or inherited, compared with the credit and honor due to those who gain through their own honest and well directed efforts either wealth or a good name ?