The Cecil Whig., 1886-01-02

ton leads them to climb great heights,
tumble when they almost reach the sum-
NIT and sink forever into the gulf of OBJ.
livion, or live under the derision of their
! comrades through the after years. Alex
ander the Great was one of these, be-
cause in all the immensity of his charac-
ter he lacked the sublime essental-the
love of God. He cultivated a love of
Cod in certain particular way, but it
was god of lust and gold and empire
mostly, and seldom the one pure God
whose heart is the fountain of all vir-
tue. Apart from his military attributes
there are great many Alexanders
among US to-day. They are men of
humble birth; maybe men whose homes
lie in the grandest streets of the most
magnificent cities, and men whose dwell
lngs are situated in the midst of the re-
mote Western prairies, but they are as
great as Alexander in their love of an
impure god, and inasmuch as their choice
of lille was wrong one their ambi-
tion is ignoble. Every man knows lie
must do his own work, for no matter
how sublime and pure his ambition may
be, it will not plow his land and write
his books. Some folks think great men
never work; that they sit in their libra
ries and hOuors and renown are showered
down upon them from the clouds, or that
90 tp Iat nj, 1:
waken up in the morning to find them
selves famous. True hearted men be-
lieve that God is just and impartial,
while He surely would not be so if He
showered riches aid distinction upon the
idle man in the library and threw crumbs
and curses at the toiler in the field.
Poets work, and statesmen, and philoso.
piers, and scientists and inventors; and
because they labor in silent, conserva-
tive way, is no reasonable plea that
they do not work hard. They are
We who never rest. Sleep and food
are not rest and enjoyment to them.
Their toll is their sweetest peace, and
this is simply because their toll is di-
vlnely tempered with a love of God.
have heard the pessimists say that one
mans work was not much. Simply the
opening and closing of the great volume
OF lie, whose pages may be many or few,
but the pessimitst forget that oftentines
the volume lays open in the sunlight of
God S smile at some beautiful passage
for great many years before even an
other leaf is turned over, God reads our
stories very attentively, and is not liable
to miss the good and worthy chapters.
One mans work in the world is very
much indeed. Women cry out in the
darkness of distress and prostitution to
DE saved and rescued. Let their purifca-
tion be one mans work. Men moan in
the gloomy alleys and dark cutters for
relief from their sunkeu state. Let their
elevation be another mans work. Chill
dren with lost souls weep in the doorways
of novels for bread and a tender caress.
Let their comforting be another mans
work. And in another field, women
glide through halls of enlightenment and
culture with lust at their hearts and de-
sires tramping on their scarlet skirts,
men in noble offices of public trust and
honor move shame-facedly among their
| companions for fear their dishonesty and
trickery will be discovered, boys and
girls glance at one another with eyes
sparkling with false pride of place and
Haunt their fine apparel in the faces of
| the less favored. Let each man make it
his work to better the condition of one
| Of these, to chasten the brazeu women,
purify the polluted men, and chrlstianize
| the inLuman children, aud he will find a
great deal in his work. These are the
| dark spirits in the world for whom one
man should work. Again there are bright
spots, and places of infinite cheer and
gladness. Where the women are mild
and sweet and cleanly of body and soul,
where the men are brave and loving and
noble in mind and heart, and where the
children are as the children of the Lamb
iwhose bosom is spotless with the virtue
Iiof heaven. These can get along well
.enough, however. They are the worlds
lsgreat lesson and it is intended we should
i!all study it and be made perfect by it's
Iexample. One mans work in this world
Ills unlimited. Let him make wise
l!choice, teplper it with love of God, and
This ambition will lead him to accomplish
!more than did Alexander, or Napoleon,
Tor James Fiske. 1t will lead him to ac-
I!fellow-men, and the beautiful blessing of
.heaven, which is immortality.