Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1890-03-31

F. L. S. Christ said in Luke the
sixth chapter, that in heaven some
who had it hard here would laugh
there.
And I think a laugh of delight and
congratulation will run around the
heavenly circles when this humble
one of whom I spoke shall go up and
take the precedence of many Chris
t1ans who in this world felt them
selves to be Of ninety-nine per cent;
more importance The whisper will
go round the galleries of the upper
temple: Can it be possible that that
was the weigher in our store?" 'FCan
it be possible that that was the car
driver on our street," Can it be pos
sible that was the sexton of our
church?" Can it be possible that is
the man that heaved coal into our eel
lar?" II 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 thousand times
more money than he had, we had so
cial position a mile higher than he
had, we had innumerable opportuni-
ties more than he had, but it seems
now that he accomplished more with
his one talent than we did with our
ten" while Solomon, standing among
the thrones, overhears the whisper,
and sees the wonderment, and will,
with benignant and all-suggestive
smile, say, YES, it is as I told the
world many centuries ago-better is
small faculty actively used than great
talent unemployed, better is a living
dog than a dead lion"
rC,-c, ~, r-rrrc
The simple fact is that the world has
been, and the world is now, full Of
dead lions. They are people of great
nothing for the improvement of So
ciety, nothing for the overthrow of
evil, nothing for the salvation of souls.
Some Of them are monetary lions.
They have accumulated SO many hun
dreds 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. In
stead of the ten per cent. of their IN
come which the Bible lays down as
the proper proportion of their contri-
button 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 a quarter per cent.
That they are lions, no one doubts.
When they roar, Wall street, State
street. Lombard street and the Bourse
tremble.
In few years they will lie down
and die. They will have a great fu-
neral, and long row of fine carriages,
and mightiest requiems will roll from
the organ, and polished shaft of Aber
II
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
ten cent piece in the palm of his dead
hand, and five years after open the
tomb and you will find that he has
dropped even the ten cent piece. A
lion! 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 appro-
pirate Scripture passage, ''Better is
! living dog than a dead lion"
But [ thank God that we are having
! Just now an Outburst of splendid be-
! neficence that is to increase until the
earth is girdled with it. It is spread
| ing with the speed of an epidemic, but
with just the opposite effect of an cpl
/ demic Do YOU not notice how wealthy
men are opening free libraries and
! building churches in their native vii
lage? Have you not seen how men Of
/ large means, instead of leaving great
4 philanthropies IN their wills for disap-
! pointed heirs to quarrel about and the
orphan courts to swamp, are becoming
their own executors and administra-
tors? After putting aside enough for
their families fOr The that provideth
not for his own, and especially those
of his own household, is worse than an
infidelO, they are saying: "What can
do, not after [ am dead, but while
living and in full possession of my
faculties, to properly direct the build
ing of the churches, or the hospitals,
DR. the colleges, or the libraries that [
design for the public welfare, and
while yet [ have full capacity to en-
Joy 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 start
ing will sweep the earth-the fashion
for wealthy men to distribute, while
1t is being helped by the fact that SO
many large estates have, Immediately
after the testator's death, gone into liti-
cation. Attorneys with large fees are
employed on both sides, and the case
goes on month after month, and year
after year, and after one court decides
it ascends to another court and is de-
cided in the opposite direction, and
then new evidence is found, and the
trials are all repeated. The children,
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, and
therefore incompetent to make a 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 missionary society, or
the opening Of a free library is proof
positive that he was insane, and that
he knew not what he was signing when
he subscribed to the words: In the
name of God, amen. l. being of sound
mind, do make this my last will and
testament"
DO GOOD NOW WHILE YOU CAN.
The torn wills, the fraudulent wills,
the broken wills have recently been
made such a spectacle to angels and to
men that all over the land successful
men are calling in architects and say
ing to them: How much would it
cost for me to build picture gallery
for our town?" or, ''What plans can
you draw me out for concert hall?'
or, Il am specially interested in the
incurables, and how large building
would accommodate three hundred Of
such patients?" or, THE church of
God has been great help to me all
my life, and [ want you to draw me
plan for a church, commodious, beau
tiful, well ventilated, and with plenty
of windows to let in the light; I want
you to get right at work in making out
plans Of such building, for, though
| am well now, life is uncertain, and
before [ leave the world I want to see
something done that will be an appro-
pirate acknowledgment of the good
ness of God to me and mine; now
when can I hear from you?
In our own city we have many ex-
amples of this What grandeur of
beneficence has our fellow citizen, Mr..