The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-03-31

known among those who SIT near hlil cieai
back in the church under the galleries, ana
at the ferry gates where be comes IN knock
ing the snow from his shoes, aac tureShIng
his arms around his b-dy 70 revive crcuia-
ton. on some January nlornlnS. blt II ne
shouIi die tomorrow there wou! not be
hundred people VINO would kuo" about It.
Hs will never have his name IN the news
he the announcement u his
6eoth. # some one VIII pay
FOR tie insertion, 50 much line for the Two
lines But he will come up giorilusly on
the othersiie, aud the e q WHO has watched
him all roIEh VIII give him hlglsr seat
and 2 better mansion ana grancer eternity
than many 2 man who mad on earth, before
His name the word Honorable. and after
lis name LII. d. and f. r. s. Christ sad
il Tuze. the sixth chapter, that IL heaven
some who had It hard here would laugn
there Aud l think a laugh of delight and
c1uErataiatiOn viii run around the heavenly
circles when this humble one Of whom I
spoke shall go Up and take tee precedence o-
many chris. ans who In this world felt
themselves 20 be of ninetY-niDe per cent.
-uo,e importance. The whisper win 20
Iou.d tie galleries OF the upper temple.
'Can it he possible that that was the
wairher in our stOreF' Can it be possible
that that was the car driver on oar street"
"Can It be possible that was the sexton Of
our churchM Can it be possible that IS the
man that heaved coal into orr cellar.' Il
never could have thought it. What a
reversal of things! We were clear ahead OF
him on earth, but he IS clear ahead Of US in
heaven. Why, we had ten times more
brains than he had, we had a
thousand times more money than
he had, we had s1ciel position a
mile higher than he had, we had innumera-
bic opportunities more than he had, but it
eeems now that he accomplished more with
his one talent than we did with our tenn
while Solomon standing among the thrones,
overhears the whisper, and sees the Won
derment, and will, with benignant and all
suggestive smile, saws, Eyes, it is as l told
the world many centuries ago-better is
small faculty actively used than great tai
ant unemployed better is a living dog than
a dead lion.
The simple fact is that the world has been,
and the world Is now, full of dead lions
They are people of great capacity and large
opportunity, doing nothing for the improve
ment of society, nothing for the overthrow
of evil, nothing for the salvation of souls
Some of them are monetary lions. They
have accumulated so many hundreds OF
thousands of dollars that you can feel their
tread when they walk through any street
or come into any circle They can by one
financial move upset the money market.
Instead of the ten per cent. of their
income which the Bible lays down
as the proper proportion Of their
contribution to the cause Of God
they do not give five per cent, or three per
cent, or two per cent, or one per cent, or
half per cent, or aquarter per cent. That
they are lions no one doubts. When they
roar Wall street, State street, Lombard
street and the Bourse tremble. In a few
years they will lie down and die They
viii have a great funeral, and a long row
of fine carriages, and mlghtiest requiems
will roll from the organ, and polish d shaft
of Aberdeen granite will indicate where
their dust lies, but for all use to the world
that man might as well have never
lived As an experiment as TO how
much he can carry with him, put a
en.cent piece in the palm of his dead hand,
and five years after open the tomb, and you
viii find that he has dropped even the ten
cent piece. A lionl Yes, but dead lion !
He left all his treasures on earth, and has
no treasures in heaven. What shall the
stone-cutter put upon the obelisk over him /!
] suggest, let it be the mans name, then the
date of his birth, then the date of his DEATH
then the appropriate Scripture passage:
"Better Is a living dog than dead lion.n
But l thank God that we are having Just
row an Outburst of splendid beneficence
that is to increase until the earth is girdled
with it. 1t is spreading with the speed Of
an epidemic, but with just the opposite
effect Of an epidemic. Do you not notice
how wealthy men are opening free libra
ries, and building churches in their native
village? Have you not seen how men OF
large means, instead of leaving great phil
anthropies II their wills for disappointed
heirs to quarrel about, and the orphan
courts to swamp are becoming their
own executors and administrators After
putting aside enough for their fami-
lies for me that provideth not for
his own, and especially those Of his own
household is worse than an inidclr1, they
are saying: "What can l do, not after
am dead, but while living, and in full pos
session Of my faculties, to properly direct
the building of the churches, or the hospi-
tails, or the colleges, or the libraries that
design for the public welfare and while yet
] have fell capacity to enjoy the satisfaction
of seeing the good accomplished? There are
bad fashions and good fashions, and, whether
good or bad fashions are mighty One of the
good fashions now starting win sweep
the earth-the fashion for wealthy men to
distribute, while yet alive, their surplus
accumulation. 1t is being helped by the
fact that SO many large estates have. inme-
diatelv after the teStator's death, gone into
litigation Attorneys with large fees are
employed on both sides, and the case goes
on month after moath, and year after year,
and after one court decides, it ascends 60
another court aud is decided in the opposite
direction, and then new evidence is found,
and the trials are all repeated The Chill.
dren, who at the fathers funeral seemed
to have an uncomfortable grief, after the
will is read go into elaborate process to
prove that the father was crazy, ana there
fore incompetent to make will; and there
are men on the jury who think that the
fact that the testator gave SO much of his
money to the Bible society, and the mission
airy society, or the opening of free library
is proof positive that he was insane, and
that he knew not what he was signing when
he subscribed to the words: I'm the name
of God, amen. |, being of sound mind, do
make this my last will and testament"
The torn wills, the fraudulent wills, the
broken wills have recently been made suct
a spectacle to angels and to men that all
over the land successful mon are calling in
architects and saying to them: How much
would it cost for me to build picture gal
lery for our town. or, "What plans car
you draw me out for q concert hall?n or, 81
am specially interested IN the incurob les,
and how large a building would accom-
modate three hundred of such patientsg' or
1.-THE church of God has been great helI
to me all my life, and wanG you to draw
me plan for a church, commodious, beau
tiful. well-ventilated, and with plenty OF
windows to let in the light; l want you tc
get right at work in making cut plans Of
such a building, for, though am well now
Hna N.a II.