The Russellville Democrat., 1890-04-10

ser ton, SO much line for the two lines But he will come up gloriously on the other side, and the God who has watched him all through will give him higher seat and better mansion and grand CT eternity than many man who had on earth, before his nama. the word Honorable, and after his name LID. and F. E. $. Christ said in Luke, the sixth chapter, that in Heaven some ono who had it hard here would laugh there And think a laugh of delight and con graduation will run around the heaven ly circles when this humble one of whom I spoke shall go up and take the precedence of many Christians who in this world felt themselves to be Of ninety DOT cent. more importance The whisper will go round the galleries of the upper temple: Can 1t be pos sible that that was the weigher in our store?p Can it be possible that that was the car-driyer on our street?'' ''Can it be possible that was tho sexton of our church?" Can it be possible that is the man that heaved coal into our cellar?" 'T 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 mile higher than he had, we had innumerable opportunities more than he had, but it seems now that he accomplished more with his one talent than we did with our ten;" while Solo, mon, standing among the thrones, over hears the whisper, and sees the wonder ments and will, with benignant and all suggestive smile, say: "Yes, 1t is as I told the world many centuries ago-bet- ter is small faculty actively used than great talent unempl eyed, better is living dog than a dead lion. "
 But thank God that we are having just now an outburst of splendid benefi- cence that is to increase until the earth is girdled with it. It 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 libraries, and building churches in their native village? Have you not seen how men of large means instead of leaving great Philanthropies in their wills for disappointed heirs to quarrel about, and the orphan courts to swamp, are becoming their own exec utors and administrators? After put ting aside enough for their families (for The that provideth not for his own, and especially those of his own house. hold, is worse than an infidel''), they are saying: What can I do, not after l am dead, but while living, and in full possession of my faculties, to properly direct the building of the churches, or the hospitals, or the colleges, or the libraries that I design for the public welfare, and while yet have full capac- ity to enjoy the satisfaction of seeing the good accomplished? There are bad fashions and good fashions, and whether good or bad, fashions are mighty.
 The simple fact is that the world has been, and the world is now, full of dead lions. They are people of great capaci- ty and large opportunity, doing nothing for the improvement of society, nothing for the salvation of souls. Some of them are monetary lions. They have | accumulated so many hundreds of thou sands 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 up- set the money market. Instead of the ten per cent of their income which the Bible lays down as the proper propor- tion 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 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 a few years they will lie down and die. They will have great funeral, and long row of fine carriages; and mightiest re- quiems will roll from the organ, and polished shaft of Aberdeen granite will indicate where their dust lies, but for all use to the world that man might as we'll have never lived. As an experi- ment as to how much he can carry with him put a 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 ionl He left all his treasures on earth, and has no treasures in Heaven. What shall the stone-cutter put upon the obelisk over him? I suggest, let it be the mans name, then the date of his birth, then the date of his death, then the appro- priate Scripture passage: Better is a living dog than dead lion.p
 One of the good fashions now starting will sweep the earth--the fashion for wealthy men to distribute, while yet alive, their surplus accumulation. It is being helped by the fact that So many large estates have, immediately after the testator's death, gone into liquidas tion. 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 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 free library, is proof positive 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
 The torn wills, the fraudulent wills, the broken wills have recently been made such spectacle to angels and to men that all over the land successful men are calling in architects and say ing to them: ''Ilow much would it cost for me to build picture gallery for our town?" or, What plans can you draw me for a concert hall?p or, T am spe- cially interested in the incurables, and how large building would accommo-