Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-06-12
He opens the way and prepares them for
flAsaa 81. -ic.x.c

He opens the way and prepares them for
the suspicious occasions.
With these sources of power, no one has
a right to be feeble. "Be strong in the
Lord and the power of His might, Is
command of God. No physician has
right to be weak; he must know and must
do as science, and not quackery. gives him
power. No teacher has a right to be
feeble when he has at hand these sources
of power, and the molding Of an immor-
tai nature requires heavy blows The
preacher must WELD the power of
God; and the stalwart reformer, smiling
the goddess shrines of men along his path,
must WELD the sledge hammer of truth
and right. Give US not soft words when
are demanded; nor the
jumping lack of policy when principle Is
the pillar Of fire giving assurances OF God
and victory.
Ii. This power must be devoted to the
service of man.
King David did not spend his force on
curious learning, nor no enterprises Tor
personal aggrandizenent; he served ms
generation: he was occupied in ruling and
blessing his people. Service TO mankind
is the royal road to true greatness. Let
you he your servant" The
evident. Man is the highest being
on the earth. He is the image and repre-
sentative of God. All else changes and
passes away, but the soul knows no death
and decay. The Judge, at last, will say,
"In-as-much as you did it unto one OF the
least of these my brethren, you did 1t unto
Me-" The man who carved horses and a
chariot out of the cherry-stone was skill
full fool. The effort to reach the north
pole is as fool hardy as it has been per
sistent. 1t was when Sir John Franklin
and his men were lost, that the exploration
of the frozen zone assumed a degree OF
human interest 1t is the verdict OF his
tory that no man has been accounted truly
great who has not served his generation.
The names of trifers and tyrants are pre-
served only that we may execrate their
memory.
We may serve our generations uncon-
sciously or consciously. The miser may be
driven by blind impulse with no thought
of benevolence, and yet at death, he must
leave his treasure behind. His accumu-
lated capital will give employment ana
profit to the men that come after him.
The inventor may think only OF his
pecuniary reward, and yet he may tighten
the toll of millions. The great mass or
men are unconsciously laborlng for the
next generation. The benevolence OF God
overrules the selfishness OF man. On the
other hand, we may be conscious of our
purpose to benefit mankind. A trade or
profession may be chosen with this in
view. We may devote our lives to the ad-
vancement of some great cause. Howard
gave himself to the amelioration of prison
discipline, Wilberforce to the abolition OF
West India slavery: Dickens to the reform
of Enlish schools; Garrison TO the freedom
of the American slave; Bergh to the
lessening of cruelty to domestic animals;
Comstock TO the suppression OF obscene
literature; and thousands are devoted to
the cause of missions. And yet these are
not the most efficient workers Tor our
generations. Every parent, every teacher,
every good citizen, every honest artisan.
and every preacher Of morality and re-
ligion, are but soldiers of mighty host.
Childish hands may plant the tiny germ,
and at lenght the giant tree may toss hl2h
and wide its branches and bid defiance TO
the storm. So the work of the mother and
of the teacher will reappear IN the man
who stands as a pillar or The state,
who becomes a leader of the people.
And the good thus begun will never cease;
like wave raised in mid ocean, 1T Will
roll outward on every side. nor cease Till IL
reaches the farther shore.
III. Again, one who would serve his
generation, must render this service in the
living present and must understand the
characteristics of his times. There are
three classes of men; those who live in the
past, those who live in the future, and
those who live in the present. Some are
occupied in exploring the past, wandering
along the Nile and Euphrates, deciphering
monuments, traversing the catacombs,
dwelling among the tombs exhumlng
buried Troy and POmpeii, and resuscltat-
ing dead and forgotten languages and
lore They march in the rear, come upon
the field after the battle and are engaged
in rifiing the dead. Others live in an
ideal and impossible future They feast
on theories and fatten on lmpossiblllties.
They quarrel with the present and beat
their brains out against immoyable stone
walls. They are paradise-at northpole
men whose theories cannot be disproYed;
John Browns who sacrifice their iIves
in their mad haste to out-run their age But
there are others who ''act In the living
present, heart within and God DER head J"
We need to understand the characters
tics of our times-the times in which we
are to live and work. The Jewes could
discern the face of the sky but did not I'M
derstand the signs of the tlmeS-dId not
understand the indications that the reign
of Heaven was about to begin. So there
are men now who are blind TO the changes
going on in earth and sky, blind to the
great social revolutions in the midst OF
WHICH we are llNlt8, Dllili " IllS
battle between truth and error whose Skin
mish lines are but ROW engaged.
l. Men live more now in ten years than
in hundred of the long ago. The man
whose life spans the nineteenth century
has seen more than half of all human pro-
gress. Judging by what we may do, we
are the long-lived men, and not the Me
thuselah's before the flood. A man may
now write books, explore regions, and
~ ,vh that won Id have
required a thousand years Of the laggard
past.
2. A second characteristic is the rapidity
of all progressive and reform move
ments. Have you a thought? Hasten
to give it material form or
somebody will supersede you. Are you
engaged in some great reform? Despair
not, for in ways you do not understand 1t
may speedily be brought about. A century
of war is now condensed into single
bloody year Today the reasons for a
great social change may be flashed through
out the civilized world, and, obedient 20
the command of science, tomorrow the
world may have changed front. Many
reform which now seems feeble and far
away may triumph in the next decade.
Those who live to see the opening OF the
twentieth century may see woman fully
enfranchised. and the old saloon serpent
stretched out In the highway, trampled to
death by the hosts of treemen who know
their rights and knowing dare maintain.
3, a world kingdom or republic is in
process of formation Patriotism is being
lost in philanthropy. National barriers
are broken down. oceans, mountains,
deserts and languages. Steam and cleo
tricitv have brought all nations within
speaking and trading distances. Nations
cannot afford 70 go 70 war nor to antagon-
ize one another. Tribes ard races are
losing their pecularities, and are being
fused into one homogeneous mass. All civil
lied men read the same books, study the
same sciences. practice the same arts, live