Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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1,. ^ ■ THE LEDGER: GAFFNEY, S. C., JUNE 3, 1807. FHE CONTRARY WIN!) f /DR. TALMAGE’S SERMON OF ENCOUR AGEMENT TO STRUGGLING SOULS. the Disciples on the of Oalilee—A Draft of DUcourageiucnt—Tito Disad- vantago of an Unfortunate Name—Early Mistitl.es That Cloud the Life. Washington, May 80.—Dr. Tal- tiafie’s sermou this week is one cf pood tkecr. It will give cueouraK< nieat to many Etrugqliup souls. The subject is “Contrary Winds. ” and the text Mathew civ, 24, “The wind was contrary. ” Ah I well know by experience on Lake Galilee, one hour all may bo calm and the next hour the winds and waves Will bo so boisterous that you are in doubt ns to whether you will land on the shore or on the bottom of the deep. The disciples in the text were caught in such a stress of weather and the sails bent and the ship plunged, for “the wind was contrary.” There is in one of the European straits a place where, whichever way you sail, the winds are opposing. There ate people who all their life seem sailing in the teeth of the wind. All tilings scent against them. It may be said of their condition as of that of the disciples in my text, "the wind was contrary.” A great multitude of people are un der seeming disadvantage, and I will today, in the swarthiest Anglo-Saxon that I can manage, treat their cases not as a nurse counts cut eight or ten drops of a prescription and stirs them in a half glass of water, but as when a man has by a mistake taken a large amount of strychnine or paris green or bella donna, and the patient is walked rapid ly round the room and shaken up until he gets wide awake. Many of you have taken a large draught of the poison of discouragement, and I come out by the order cf the Divine Physician to rouse you out of that lethargy. Handicapped by a Name. First, many people are under the dis- advautugoof an unfortunate name given them fcy parents who thought they were doing a good thing. Sometimes at the baptism of children while I have held up one hand in prayer 1 have held ap the other hand in amazement that parents should kav< \vcighfed the babe with such tt dissonant and repulsive nomenclature. I have not so much won dered that sotno children should cry out it the christening font as that others with such smiling face should take a ti tle that will bo the burden of their life time. It is outrageous to allliet children with an undesirable name because it happened to be possessed by a parent or » rich uncle from whom favors arc ex pected or some prominent man of the day who may cud his life in disgrace, tt is no excuse, because they are Scrip ture names, to call a child Jehoiakim Dr Tiglath-Pilcs^r. I baptized one by the name Bathsheba. Why, under all ( die circumambient heaven, any parent •houldwuut to give to a child the name Df that lo-cse creature of .Scripture times [ cannot imagine. I have often felt at the baptismal altar, when names were innonuced to me, like saying, as did the Rev. Dr. Richards of Morristown, N. J.y when a child was handed him for baptism and the name given, “Hadn’t you better call it sonn thing cist?” Impose not upon rhut babe a name suggestive of flippancy or meanness. There is no excuse for such assault and hattery on the cradle when our lan guage is opulent with names musical and suggestive in meaning, such as John, meaning “the gracious gift of Sod,” or Henry, meaning "the chief of ) household,” or Alfred, meaning ‘good counselor,” or Joshua, meaning “God, our salvation,” or Ambrose, meaning “immortal,” or Andrew, meaning “manly,” or Esther, meaning ' "star,” or Abigail, meaning “my father’s joy,” or Anna, meaning ‘grace, V or Victoria, meaning "vic tory, ” or Rosalie, meaning “L autiful ss a rose,” or Margaret, meaning "a pearl,” or Ida, meaning “godlike,” or Dlara, meaning “illustrious,” or Ame lia, meaning "busy,” or Bertha, meau- .ng "beautiful,” and hundreds cf other aames just as good that aro a help rather than a hindrance. Names as Llfeloas Obstacles. But sometimes the great hindrance in life is not in the* given name, but in tho family name. While legislatures aro willing to lift such incubus, there are families that keep a name which mort gages all tho generations with a great disadvantage. You say, ‘‘I wonder if he is any relation to So-and-so,” mention ing tome family celebrated for crime or deception. It is a wonder to me that in ill each families some spirited young man does not rise, saying to his broth ers and sisters, “If you want to keep this nuisance or ecandalization of a name, I will keep it no longer than un til by quickest course of law I can dough off this gangrene.” The city di rectory has hundreds of names tho imre pronunciation of which has been a life long obstacle. If you have started life under a name which either through ri diculous orthography or vicious sugges tion has been an incumbrance, resolve that tho next generation shall not bo to weighted. It is not demeaning to diaugc a name. Saul of Tarsus became Paul the Apostle. Hadassah, "the myrtle,” became Esther, "the star.” IVe have in America, and I suppose it is so in uli countries, names which aught to bo abolished and can bo and will bo abolished for the reason that they are n libel and a slander. But if [or any reason you aro submerged either by a given name or by a family name that you must bear, God will help you to overcome the outrage by a life eonse- jrated to the good and useful. You may erase the curse from tho name. If it once stood for meanness, yon can make it stand for generosity. If once it stood for pride, you can make it stand for hu mility. If it cnco stood for fraud, you tan make it stand for honesty. If once it stood for wickedness, you can make it Aund for purity. There have been mul titudes of instances where men and wo men have magnificently conquered the disasters of tho name inflicted upon them. T!»o StrngRlpr. Again, .many people labor under tho misfortune of incomplete physical equip ment. Wo are by our Creator so eco nomically built that wo cannot alford the obliteration of any physical faculty. Wo want our two eyes, our two ears, our two hands, our two feet, our eight fingers and two thumbs. Yet what mul titudes of people have but one eye or but one foot! The ordinary casualties of life have been quadrupled, quintu pled, sextupled, aye, centupled, in our time by the civil war, and at the north and south a great multitude are light ing tho battle of life with half or less than half the needed physical arma ments. I do not wonder at the pathos of a soldier during the war, who, when told that ho must have Ids hand ampu tated, said, "Doctor, can’t you save it?” and when told that it was impossible said, with tears rolling down his cheeks: "Well, then, goodby, old hand. I bate to part with you. You have done me a good service for many years, but it seems you must go. Goodby. ” A celebrated surgeon told me of a scene in the clinical department of one of the New York hospitals, when a poor man with a wounded leg was brought in before the students to be operated on. The surgeon was pointing out this and that to tho students and handling the wounded leg, and was about to proceed to amputation when the poor man leap ed from the table and hobbled to tho door and said, “Gentlemen, I am sorry to disappoint you, but by tho help of God I will die with my leg on.” What a terrilk* loss is the loss of our physical faculties!” The way the battle of Creey was de cided against France was by tho Welsh men killing the French horses, and that brought their riders to the ground. And when you cripple this body, which is merely the animal on which the soul rides, you may sometimes defeat tho soul. Gntl’M Help. Yet how many suffer from this phys ical taking off! Good cheer, my brother! God will make it up to you somehow. The grace, the sympathy of God, will be more to you than anything you hav i lost. If God allows part of your iv sources to be cut off in one place, he will add it on somewhere else. As Augustus, the emperor, took off a day from February, making it the shortest month in the year, and added it to Au gust, tho month named after himself, so advantages taken from one part of your nature will he added on to another. But it is amazing how much of the world's work lias been done by men of subtracted physical organization. S. S. Preston, the great orator of the south west, went limping all his life, but there was no foot put down upon any platform of his day that resounded so far as his clubfoot. Beethoven was so deaf that he could not hear the crash of tlio orchestra rendering his oratorios. Thom as Carlyle, the dyspeptic martyr, was given the commission to drive cant out of the world’s lift raturo. Tho Rev. Thomas Stockton of Philadelphia, with one lung raised his audience nearer heav en than most ministers can raise them with two lungs. In the banks, the insur ance companies, the commercial estab lishments, the reformatory associations, tho churches, there are tens of thous ands of men and women today doubled up with rheumatism or subject to tho neuralgias or with only fragments of limbs, the rest of which they left at Chattanooga or South Mountain or tho Wildcrnt ss, and they are worth more to tho world, and more to the church, and more to God than those of us who have never so much as hud a finger joint stiffened by a felon. Put to full use ail tho faculties that remain and charge on all opposing cir cumstances with tho determination of John of Bohemia, who was totally blind, and yet at a battle cried out, "I pray and beseech you to lead mo so far ; into the light that I may strike one good blow with this sword of mine!” Do not think so much of what faculties you have lost us of what faculties remain. You have eaough left to make yourself felt in three worlds, while you help tho earth and balk hell and win heaven. Arise from jour discouragements, O men and women of depleted or crippled physical faculties, ami see what, by the special help of God, you can accomplish! AlejtHmier iind Bucephalus, | Tho skilled horsemen stood around Bucephalus, unable to mount or man age him, so wild was tho steed. But Alexander noticed that the sight of his own shadow seemed to disturb tho horse. So Alexander clutched him by the* bridle and turned his head away from tho shadow and toward the sun, | and the horse’s agitation was gone, and {Alexander mounted him and rode oil', to the astonishment of all who stood j by. And what you people need is to liavo your sight turned away from tho shadows of yom earthly lot, over which you have* so long pondered, and your head turned toward tho sun—the glori ous sun of gospel consolation and Chris tian hope and spiritual triumph. And then remember that all physical disadvantages will after awhilo vanish. Let those who have been rheuinatismed out of a foot, or catar icted out of an bye, or by the perpetuaj roar of our cit ies thundered our of an ear, look for ward to the day when this old tenement house of flesh will come down and a better one shall be builded. The resur rection morning will provide you with a better outlit. Either tho unstrung, worn out, blunted and crippled organs will be so reconstructed that you will not know them, or an entire new set of eyes and ears and feet will bo given yon. Just what it m« ins by corruption putting on incorruption we do not know, save that it will be glory ineffa ble, no limping in heaven, no straining of the eyesight to see things a little way off, no patting of tho baud behind tho ear to double tho capacity of tho tympanum, hut faculties perfect, all the keys of the instrument attuned for Ihc swoop of the lingers of ecstasy. But until that day of resumption comes let ns bear each other’s burdens and so ful fill the law of Christ. Another form of disadvantage under which many labor is lack of early edu- | cation. There will bo no excuse for ig- j noruuce in tho next generation. Ireo , schools and illimitable oppoitunity of education will make ignorance a crime. I believe in compulsory education, and those parents who neglect to put their fhildrcn under educational advantages iiave but oiio right left, ami that is tho : penitentiary. But there are multitudes ; of men and women in midlife who have \ had no opportunity. Free schools had ! not yet been established, and vast mul- s titudes had little or no school at all. j They feel it when as Christian men { tin y come to speak or pray in religions i assemblies or public occasions, patriotic or political or educational. They are silent because they do not feel compe- I tent. They owe nothing to English ! grammar, or geography, or belles let- 1 ; tres. They would not know a partici- i plo from a pronoun if they met it many | times a day. Many of the most success ful merchants of America and men in ! high political places cannot write an j accurato letter on any theme. They are completely dependent upon clerks, and deputies, and stenographers,, to make things right. I knew a literary man who in other years in this city made his fortune by writing speeches for con- | gressmen or fixing tkem up for The : Congressional Record after they were delivered. The millionaire illitcracj* ef this country is beyond measurement UuKrainiiuitical, but Lffective. Now, suppose a man finds himself in , midlife without education, what is hn | to do? Da the best ho can. The most ef 1 fective layman in a former pastoral | charge that I ever heard speak on reli gious themes could within five min- : utes of exhortation break all tho la\ : of English grammar, and if ho left any law unfractured he would complete t.hn work of lingual devastation in the pr; yev with which he followed it. But I would rather have him pray for mo if I were sick or in trouble than anyChr..- tian man I know of, and in that church all the people preferred him in exhorta tiou and prayer to all otlu rs. Why: Be cause he was so thoroughly pious and had such power with God he was inn - si tible, and as he went on in his pray er sinners repented and saints shouted for joy, and the bereaved seemed tog, 5 back their dead in ccicstial companion ship. And w hen he hud stopped praying and as soon as I could wipe out of my eyes enough tears to see the closing hymn I ended the met ring, fearful that some long w iuded prayer meeting b< re would pull us down from tho seventh heaven. Not a word have I to say against ac curacy of speech or lino elocution or high mental (oilturo. Get all these you can. But I do say to those who worn brought up in the day of poor school- housos and ignorant schoolmasters and no opportunity: You may have so much of good in your soul and so much of heaven in your everyday life that you will be mightier for good than any who went through the curriculum of Har vard or Yale or Oxford, yet never grad uated in the school of Christ. When you get up to the gate of heaven, no cue will ask you whether you can parse the first chapter of Gen,.'is, but whether you have learned the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom, nor whether you knowhow to square the circle, but whether yen have lived a square life in a round world. Mount Zi,,n is higher than Mount Parnassus. But what other multitudes there aro under other disadvantages! Here is a Christian woman whose husband thinks ; religion a sham, and while tho wife prays the children on? way the husband 1 swears them another. Or hero is a Christian man who is trying to do his bi st for God and the church, and ids wife holds him back and says on the way home from prayer meeting, where ho gave testimony for Christ: “What a fool you made of yourself! I hope here after you will keep still.” And when he would be benevolent and give $.■>() ; she criticises' him for not giving 50 cents. I must do justice and publicly thank God that I never proposed at homo to give anything for any cause of humanity or religion but the* other part- | net in the domestic firm approved it, and when it seemed beyond my ability and faith in God was necessary she had three-fourths the faith. But I know men who, when they contribute to char itable objects, are afraid that the* wife shall find it out. What a withering curse such a woman must bo to a good man! Then there* are others under the great disadvantage of poverty. Who ought to get tilings cheapest? Yon say those who have little means. But they pay more. You buy coal by the ton; they buy it by the bucket. You buy flour by the bar- I rel; they buy it by the pound. You get apparel cheap because you pay cash; | they pay dear because they have to get ’ trusted. Aful the Bible was right when j it said, “The destruction of the poor is their poverty. ” Miataliea In Early Life. Then, there are those who made a j mistake in early life, and that over shadows all their days. "Do you not know that that man was once in pris on:” is whispered. Or, “Do you know that that man oueo attempted suicide?” Ur, “Do you know that that man once Absconded?” Or, "Do you know that that man was once discharged fur dis honesty?” Perhaps there was only one | wrong deed in tho man’s life*, and that one act haunts tho subsequent half ceu- ; tury of his existence. Others have unfortunate predomi nance of some mental faculty, and their rashness throws them into wild enter prises, or their trepidation makes them decline great opportunity, or there is a i vein of melancholy in their disposition that defeats them, or they have an en dowment of overmirth that causes tho impression of insincerity. Others have a mighty obstacle in their personal appearance, for which they aro not responsible. They forget that God fashioned their features, and their complexion and their stature, the size of their nose and month and hands and feet, and gara them their gait and their general appearance, and they for get that much of the world’s best work and the church’s best work has been done by homely people, and that Paul the Apostle is said to > ave been hump backed and his eyesight weaki ned by ophthalmia, while many of tho finest in appearance have passi d their time be fore flattering looking glasses or in studying killing attitudes and in dis playing the richness of \v ardrobes—not one ribbon or vest or sack or glove or button or shoestring of which they have had brains to earn for themselves. Others had wrong proclivities from the start. They were born wrong, and that sticks to one even after he is born again. They have a natural crankiness that is 275 years old. It camo over with their great grandfathers from Scotland, or Wales, or France. It was born on the banks of the Thames, or the Clyde, or the Tiber, or the Rhine, and has sur vived all the plagues and epidemics cf many generations, and is living today on the banks of tho Potomac, or the Hudson, or the Androscoggin, or the Savannah, or the La Plata. And when a man tries to stop this evil ancestral proclivity he is like a man on a rock in the rapids of Niagara, holding on with a grip from which tho swift currents are trying to sweep him into the abysr- beyond. Oh, this world is an overburdened world, an overworked world. It is an awfully tired world. It is a dreadfully unfortunate world. Scientists are Dy ing to find cut the cause of these earth quakes in all lauds, cisatlantic ami transatlantic. Some say this and soim say that. I have taken the diagnosis ot what is the matter with the earth. It has so many burdens on it and so many fires within it, it has a fit. It cannot stand such a circumference end such a diameter. Some new Cotopaxi or Strom- boli or Vesuvius will open, and then all will be at peace for the natural world. But what about the moral woes of the world that have racked all na tions, and for 6,000 years science pro- post s nothing but knowledge, and many people who know the most aro tho most uucomfurtcd? A Way Out For All. In the way of practical relief for all disadvantages and all woes the only voice that is worth listening to on this subject is the voice of Christianity, which is the voice of Almighty God. Whether I have mentioned tho partic ular disadvantage under which you la bor or not, I distinctly declare, in the name of my God, that here is a way out and a way up for all of you. You cannot be any worse off than that Christian young woman who was in the Pemberton mills when they fell some years ago, and from under tho fallen timbers she was heard singing, "I am going home to die no more.” Take good courage from that Bible, all of whose promises are* for those in bud predicament. There are Letter days for you, either on earth or in heaven. I put my hand under your chin and lift your face into the light of the com ing dawn. Have God on your side, and then you have for reserve troops all the armies of heaven, the smallest compa ny of which is 20,000 chariots and the smallest brigade 144,000, the lightnings of heaven their drawn sword. An ancient warrior saw an overpow ering hc-st come down upon hi.s small company of armed men, and mounting his horse he threw a handful of sand in the air, crying. “Let their faces le cov ered with confusion.” And both armies heard hi.s voice, and history says it seemed as though the dust thrown in the air had become so many angels of supernatural deliverance, and the weak overcame the mighty, and the immense host fell back, and the small number marched on. Have faith in God, and, though all the allied forces of discouragement seem to come against yon in battle array and their laugh of defiance and contempt resounds through all tho valleys and mountains, you might by faith in God and importunate prayer pick np a handful of the ve ry dust of your humiliation and throw it into the air, and it shall become angels of victory over all the armies of cm th and hell. The voices of your adversa ries, human and Satanic, shall be cover ed with confusion, while you shall be not only conqueror, hut more than con queror, through that grace which has so often made the fallen helmet of an overthrown antagonist the footstool of a Christian victory. £ _ The modern Pain Annihilator, will positively cure Rheumatism, Neuralgia, Sprains, Bruises, Cuts, Sores, Earache, Backache and al! other aches. SALVATION OZL is sold everywhere for 25 cents. Only the genuine will do the work. Chew LANGE'S PLUGS, The Great Tobacco Antidote,10c. BmIm or mail.A.C.Meyer & Co., Baltc. l M(L & pi* < 1/V- ‘H m V rr*i & \> f** > 'Pile- 1 ’I'eti iosst >/ * Dressed Ladies in Cherokee County are tin* ones who buy their dresses irom us. Como and see our elegant line ol Dress Goods and Millinery. Just received—a beautiful line ol Organdies so popular for ladies’ shirt waists. I>e sure to call and see this line. Yours Truly, Carroll fi Carpenter 1 ^Plie -L,e£vclers. The Gaffney City Land and Improvement Company, Offer for Sale Building Lots in this Flourishing Town, O1^ JXIV TC Y O ITY. Also Farms near by and in reach of the schools of Limestone Spring! and of this place in lots at from ffO to itK) acres on liberal time rates. Al o Agricultural Lands to rent for farm purposes. For full particulars up'ly tt MOSES WOOD, Agent. N. B.—All trespascing on lands of this Company cutting and removin' timber, fishing or hunting are forbidden under penalty of law. Are you not doing yourself an injustice if you neglect su*-h 7 SP * B / ?vrx A Ha fM ; iMi- / V ■V-: A WEIGHTY MATTER as that of doing your trading with me. 1 have the latest -tyl -s in Spring and Summer Clothing, Alpaca Coats and Vests, Straw Mats, patent leather and tan Shoes, Fruit Jars, Jelly Tumblers, and anything to he found in a general merchandise store, at rock hottom prices* A complete line of Farming Tools and Hardware always on hand. Respectfully, 0 Mucilri|iul lutotvrunie to Spantali Mtilea. A bishop’s coachiuau must not swear, specially when he is on the box and the bishop inside. There is a certain place in £pain called Corrales. It is in tho province and diocese cf Zamora,and the bishop of Zamora recently went in his coach and four (but they w’tre mules) to hold a confirmation at Cor rales. When the childn 11 of the diocese were duly confirmed, the mules, being ftiufirmed already in stubbornness and original sin, refused to start and backed the carriage with the bishop inside it against the churchyard gate, thereby making a breach in the sanctuary of the .•hurchyard walk At this point the -•oachiuau is rejiorted to have uttered me of those thunderous Spanish curses in which tho language of Spain is so infinitely superior to tho language of France and which even a bishop must feel has the dignity of power. Unfor- .unately for himself, the mayor of (Jor- .*alos, Seuor Tome, had just taken .eaveef tho bishop and was standing by ■be carriage when the word reached lim. He sprang forward and dm d tho Xwchmun 4 pesetas on the soot for Jlusphemy and profanation, for in Spain the mayor carries the court with lim wherever he goes. The bishop also ret out and dismissed the blasphemer >u the spot. Then tho mayor got on the >ox and himself drove mensiguore back >0 his episcopal residence. The oon- irmatiou has ever since been known by . title which may be freely translated he Blue Blazes Confirmation of Cor ales.—Bali Mall Gazette. ^ 4~ y Z; ■ -;Tp .X x2r'r- W, rA. V t ( k'sl Say the main thing" to do is to keep ti c stomach, liver » ifl bowels ia order if you want to live long and keep well. Good physicians say the same thing, too. T he remedy called RIPANS LABULES while not mysterious or miraculous in its curativi < r iit.’es, is a simple formula prescribed by tile best physicians for oi ■ -oer- 11 ttu- uigestive organs. Just little tablets, easy to take, r. • v to 1 tn :*: •! <;u : cl; : »ac’. If vour trouble is Dyspep:'a, Biliousness, Diz.unc s !'<•.,(!.a'*, t 'onstipati n. Heartburn, and the like, no need of r.-dlir;: .» pie sit . i.. Kipuiis Tubules 1, contain exactly what he would tell you to t. ke. 0\l TABliLt GIVIS RELIEF. rertUANENT CURE FOLLOWS A FAIR TUI vl- XO rN'CrRTAIXTY ABOUT IT.