The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-07-17

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and you will find that though people there had
a great difference of worldly circumstances,
| now they are all alike unconscious. The
| hand that greeted the senator and the presi-
dent, and the king, is still as the hand
| that hardened on the mechanics hammer or
the manufacturers wheel. 1t does not make
| any difference now whether there is a plain
stone above them, from which the traveller
pulls aside the weeds to read the name, or
tall shaft, springing into the heavens as though
to tell their virtues to the skies.
In that silent land there are no titles for
| great men. and there are no rumblingS of
Chariot wheels, and there is never heard the
loot OF the dance. The Egyptian guano which
| Is thrown on the fields in the east for the en-
richment of the soil is the dust raked out from
| the sepulchres of kings and lords and mighty
| men,. Q, the chagrin OF those men, if they had
| ever known that in the after ages of the world
| they would have been called Egyptian guano.
! OF how much worth now is the crown of
! Caesar? Who bids for it?. Who cares now
anything about the Amphictyonic council or
| the laws of Lycurgus? Who trcmbles now be-
bridge of boats? Who fears because
| ACKNOWLEDGMENT thunders at the gates of
| Jerusalem? Who cares now whether or not
| Cleopatra narries Antony? Who crouches
before Ferdinand, or Boniface or Alaric? Can
| Cromwell dissolve the English parliament
now? Is William, prince of Orange, king of
| the Netherlands? No; no. However much
Elizabeth may love the Russian CROWN she
must pass it to Peter, and Peter to Catherine,
| and Catherine to Paul land Paul to Alexander,
| and Alexander to Nicholas. Leopold puts the
| German sceptre into the hands of Joseph, and
| Philip comes down off the Spanish throne to
| let Ferdinand go on. House of Aragon, house
| of Hapsburg, house of Stuart, house of Bour-
bon, quarreling about everything else, but
| agreeing in this: 1.-The fashion of this world
| passeth away" But have all these dignitaries
| gone? Can they not be called back? L have
| been in assemblagos where l have heard the
| col cl,a6 ba
answered. If should call the roll today of
| some OF those mighty ones who have gone, l
wonder if they would not answer. will call
the roll of the kings first: Alfred the Great!
William the Conqueror! Frederick IL. Louis
| XVI! No answer. L will call the roll of the
poets: Robert Southey Thomas Campbell!
John Keats! George Grabbed Robert Burns
No answer. 1 call the roll of artists: Michael
| Christopher Wren No answer. Eyes closed,
| Ears deaf. Lips silent. Hands palsied Scep-
| tire, pencil, pen, sword, put down forever.
| Why should we struggle for such baubles?
| Another reason why we should culture this
| spirit of cheerfulness is the fact that God
| knows what is best for His creatures. You
know what is best for your child. He thinks
| you are not as liberal with him as you ought to
be. He criticises your discipline, but you look
| over the whole field, and you, loving that
child, do what in your deliberate Judgment is
| best for him. Now, God is the best of fathers.
Sometimes His children think that he is hard
on them, and that He is not as liberal with
| them as He might be. But children do not
know as much as father. 1 can tell you why
| you are not largely attluent, and why you have
not been grandly successful. 1t is because you
| cannot stand the temptation. Ii your path had
| been smooth you would have depended upon
| your own sure-footedness but God roughened
| that PATH SO you have to take hold of His
| hand. If the weather had been mild, you
would have loitered along the water courses
| but at the first howl of the storm YOU
mar n ~ VI and
| ped around you the warm robe of a Savior'S
righteousness. "What have / dOne?" says
the Wheatsheaf to the farmer, 'what have L
! done. that you beat me so hard with your
| fan?" The farmer makes no answer, but the
rake takes off the straw, and the mill blows
the chaff to the wind, and the golden grain
falls down at the foot of the windmill. After
awhile, the straw looking down from the NOW
upon the golden grain banked up on either
side the floor understands why the farmer beat
[ the wheatSheaf with the fail.
Who are those before the throne? The an
swer came: "These are they who, out Of
| great tribulation had their robes washed and
made white in the blood of the Lamb"
| Would God that we could understand that our
| trials are the very best thing for us. II we
! had an appreciation of that truth, then we
| should know why il was that John Noyra, the
| martyr, i'll the very midst of the flame reached
down and picked up one Of the faggots that
| was consuming him, and kissed it, and said:
"Bessed be God for the time when I was
born to this preferment." They who suffer
| with Him on earth shall be glorted with Him
| i'll heaven. Be content, then, with such
| things as you have.
Another consideration leading us to the
| spirit of the text is the assurance that the
| Lord will provide somehow. VIII He who
holds the water in the hollow of His hand, al
| low His children to die of thirst? VAL He
| who owns the cattle on q thousand hills, and
| all the earths luxuries of grain and fruit, al
low His children to starve? Go out tomorrow
morning at five o'clock, into the woods and
hear the birds chant. They have had no
breakfast, they know not where they
where they will sup but hear the
birds chant at o'clock in the morning. "Be-
| hold, the fowls of the air: for they sow not,
| neither do they reap, nor gather into barns,
yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are
you not much better than they?" Seven thou
sand people, in Christ's time, went into the
| desert. They were tho most improydent peo-
pie ever heard of. They deserved to starve.
They might have taken food enough to last
them until they got back. Nothing did they
take. A lad, who had more wit than all of
them put together, asked his mother that
some fishes. They were put into
his satche. He went out into the desert.
From this provision, the seven thousand were
fed, and the more they ate, the larger the
loaves grew, until the provision that the boy
brought in one satehel was multiplied so he
could not have carried the fragments home in
six satcheis. CO." you say, Times have
changed, and the day of miracles has gone"
/ reply that, what God did then by miracle,
lie does now in some other way, and by natu-
raj laws. 81 have been young" said David,
but now l am old yet have L never seen the
righteous fOrsaken, nor his seed begging
bread" 1T is high time that you people who
are fretting about worldly circumstances, and
who are fearing you are coming to want, UNI
derstood that the oath of the eternal God is
involved in the fact that you are to have
| enough to cat and to wear
Again / remark that the religion of Jesus
Christ is the grandest influence TO make man
| contented. Indemnity against all financial
| and spiritual harm. 1t Gains The spirit, dwin-
dies the earth into insignilCance, and swal
lows up the soul with the thought Of heaven.
o we who have been going about from place TO
place expecting 10 find in change of crcum-
stances something to give solace to the spirit,
| l commend you, this morning, to the warm
hearted, earnest, practical, conlnon-sense re-
ligion Of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is
no peace, saith my God, for the wicked" and
as long as You continue in your SIN you will be
miserable. Come to Christ. Make Him your
portion and start for heaven, and you will be
happy man--you viii be a happy woman.
YET, my friends, notwithstanding all these
! in1u commits n eririt a ccu+gptlu1ut lova