The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-07-20

| resting places or the dead, and you will find
that though people there had great differ
ence of worldly circumstances, now they are
all alike unconscious. The hand that greeted
the senator, and the president, and the king
Is still Us the hand thai hardened on the me-
| chanic's hammer or the manufacturers
wheel 1t does not make any difference now
| whether there Is plain stone above them
from which the traveller pulls aside the weeds
to read the name, or a tall shaft springing
into the heavens as though to tell their vir-
tues 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
foot Of tho dance. The Egyptian guano
which is thrown on the fields in the east for
the enrichment of the soil is the dust raked
out from the sepulchers Of kings and lords
and mighty men. Oh 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
Cesar3 Who bids for ita Who cares now
anything about the Amphictyonic council or
the laws Of Lycurguss Who trembles now
because Xerxes crossed the Hellespont on O
bridge Of boatsf Who fears because Nebu-
chadnezzar thunders at the gates Of Jerusa-
LENT Who cares now whether or not Cleopatra
marries Antonya Who crouches before Fer
dinand, or Boniface, or Alaric? Can Crom-
well dissolve the English parliament now7
Is William, prince Of Orange, king Of the
the Netherlands No, mol However much
Elizabeth may love the Russian crown, she
must pass it to Peter, and Peter to Catherine
and Catherine to Paul, and Paul to Alex
ander, and Alexander to Nicholas. Leopold
puts the German scepter into the hand of
Joseph, and Philip comes down Off the Span
ish throne to let Ferdinand 60 on. House Of
Aragon, house of Hapsburg, house Of
Stuart, house Of Bourbon, quarreling
about everything else, but agreeing
in this: "The fashion of this world
passeth away" But have all these dignita-
ries comet Can they not be called back2 !
have been in assemblages where have heard
the roll called, and many distinguished men
have answered. If should call the roll to-
day of some Of those mighty ones who have
gone wonder if they would not answer. /
will call the roll will call the roll Of the
kings first: Alfred the Greati William the
Copquerorl Frederick III Louis XVII No
answer. I will call the roll of the poets:
Robert Southeyl Thomas CAMPBELL John
| answer. call the roll of artists: Michael
Angelol Paul Veronesei William Turnerl
| Christopher Wrenl No answer. Eyes
| closed. Ears deaf. Lips silent Hands pal
| sled. Scepter, pencil, pen, sword, put down
forever. Why should we struggle for such
| baubles7
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 judg-
ment 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 chill
dren do net know as much as father I
can tell you why you are not largely afiluent,
and why you have not been grandly success
full It is because you cannot stand the temp
tation. If your path had been smooth, you
would have depended upon your own
surefootedness; 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 quickened your pace heavenward
and wrapped around you the warm robe of a
Saviour's Righteousness. "What have
done7" says the wheatsheaf to the farmer,
"what have done that you beat me so hard
! with your failf' The farmer makes no
answer, but the rake takes off the straw, and
the mill blows the chaR 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 under
stands why the farmer beat the wheatsheaf
with the fail
Who aae those before the thronei 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. If
we had an appreciation Of that truth, then
/ we should know why it was that John
Noyra, the martyr, in the verT midst of the
fame, reached down and picked up one of
the fagots that was consuming him, and
kissed It, and said: BLESSED be God for the
time when was born for this preferment. |"
They who suffer with him on earth shall be
glorifed with him in 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. Will he who
holds the water in the hollow of his hand
allow his children to die of thirst? Will he
who owns the cattle on a thousand hilSs, and
all the earth's luxurNnce of grain and fruit,
allow his children to starve2 Go out to-
morrow morning at 5 o'clock into the woods
and hear the birds chant. They have had no
breakfast, they know not where they viii
dine, they have no idea where they will sup;
but hear the birds chant at o'clock in the
morning. "Behold the fowls of the air;
for they SOW not, neither do they
reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heav-
emily Father feedeth them. Are you not
much better than theyT' Seven thousand
people, in Christ's time, went into the desert
They were the most improvident people /
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 morning
for some loaves of bread and some fishes
They were put into his sachel 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 pro-
vision that the boy brought in one sachel was
multiplied so he could not have carried the
fragments home in six sachels. co." you say,
shines have changed, and the day of miracles
has gone" reply that, what God did then
by miracle, he does now in some other way,
and by natural laws. 81 have been young"
said David, "but now am old; yet have I
never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his
seed begging bread" 1t is high time that
In
circumstances, and who are fearing you are
coming to want, understood that the oath Of
the eternal God is involved in the fact that
you are to have enough to eat and to wear.
Again: remark that the religion Of Jesus
Christ is the grandest influence to make a
man contented Indemnity against all finan-
cial and spiritual harml 1t Gains the spirit,
dwindles the earth into insignifcance, and
swallows up the soul with the thought Of
heaven. o ye who have been going about
from place to place expecting to find in
change Of circumstances something to give
solace to the spirit, l commend you, this
morning, to the warm hearted, earnest, prac-
tical, common sense religion Of the Lord
Jesus Christ. "There is no peace, saith my
| God, for the wicked, and as long as you con-
tinue 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 will be happy woman.
Yet, my friends, notwithstanding all these
inducements to spirit of contentment,
have to tell you this morning the human
race is divided into two classes-those who
scold and those who get scolded. The car
penter wants to be anything but a carpenter,
and the mason anything but a mason, and
the banker anything but banker, and the
lawyer anything but a lawyer, and the min
lister anything but a minister, and everybody
would be happy If he were only somebody
elsa The anemone wants to be a sunfower,
and the apple orchards throw down their
blossoms because they are not tall cedars,
and the scow wants to be a schooner. and the