Sharp County record., 1890-03-13

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the perpetual silence he had done a
work which many man who lives On
to sixty and seventy and eighty years
never accomplishes. There IS a
great deal of senseless praise Oh
longevity, as though it were a Won
derful achievement to live good WHILE
All, my friends, it is not how long we
live. but how well we live and how use
fully we live. A man who lives to
eighty years and accomplishes nothing
for God and humanity might better
never have lived at all. Methusaleh
lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years,
and what did it amount to? In all
those more than nine centuries he dlu
not accomplish any thing which seemed
worth record. Paul lived only little
more than sixty, but how many
Methusalehs would it take to make one
Paul? Who would not rather have
Paul's sixty years than Methusaleh S
nine hundred and siXty-nine? Robert
McChcyne died at thirty years OF age
and John Summerfeld at twenty
seven years of age, but neither
earth nor heaven will ever
hear the end of their usefulness. Lon
gevity Why, an elephant can beat you
at that, for it lives one hundred and
fifty and two hundred years. Gray
hairs are the blossoms Of the tree OF life
if found in tho way of righteousness,
but the frosts Of the second death II
found in the way of sin.
One OF our able New York journals
last spring printed question and sent
it to many people and among others to
myself: Can the editor of a secular
journal be a Christian" SdWe of the
newspapers answered NO" answered
"Yes;' and lest you may not under
stand me 1 say yes, again. Summer
before last, riding with Mr.. Grady
from a religious meeting in Georgia one
Sunday night, he said to me some
things which l now reveal for the first
time, because it is appropriate now that
l reveal them. He expressed his
complete faith in the Gospel and ex-
pressed his astonishment and his grief
that in our day so many young men
were rejecting Christianity. From the
earnestness, and the tenderness. and the
confidence with which he spoke on
these things l concluded that when
Henry w. Grady made public profession
of his faith in Christ and took bis place
at the holy communion in the Metho-
dist church he was honest and truly
Christian.
That conversation that Sunday night,
first in the carriage and then resumed
in the hotel, impressed me in such a
way that when simply heard of his de-
parture without any of the particulars,
concluded that he was ready to go. l
warrant there was no fright in the last
exigency, but that he found what's COM
monty called 1.-The last enemy" good
friend, and from his home on earth he
went to his home in Heaven. Yes, Mr..
Grady not only demonstrated lat an
editor may be a Christian, but that a
very great intellect may be gospelized.
His mental capacity was so wonderful
it was almost startling. thave
been with him in active conf -
whiiSat the same time he was debating
to stenographer editorials for the At
lanta Constitution. But that intellect
was not ashamed to bow to Christ.
Among his last dying utterances was a
request for the prayers of the churches
in his behalf.
You may not know why, in the con-
versation which l had with Mr.. Glad
stone a few weeks ago, he uttered these
memorable words about Christianity,
some of which were cabled to America.
He was speaking in reply to this re-
mark: l said "Mr. Gladstone, we are
told in America by some people that
Christianity does very we'll for weak
minded men and children in the in
fant class, but it is not fit for stronger
minded men; but when we mention you,
of such large intellectually, as being a
pronounced friend of religion, we 81
lence their batteries" Then Mr.. Glad
stone stopped on the hillside where we
were exercising and said: "The older
grow the more confirmed | am in my
faith in religion, sir" said he,
with flashing eye and uplifted hand,
talk about the questions of the day,
there is but one question and that is the
gospel. That can and will correct every
thing. Do you have any of that dread
full agnosticism in American" Having
told him we had, he went on to say: 81
am profoundly thankful that none of
my children or kindred have been
blasted by it. l am glad to say that
about all the men at the top in
Great Britain are Christians. Why,
iir,' he said, II have been in public po-
;ition fifty eight years, and forty-seven
rears in the Cabinet of the British Gov
and during those forty-seven
'ears have been associated with sixty
If the master minds of the century, and
III but five of the sixty were Chris
ians." He then named the four lead
ng physicians and surgeons of his
calling them by name and re-
marking upon the high qualities of each
If them, and added: "They are all
Christian" My friends, l
,hink it will be quite respectable for
little longer to be the friends of relig-
on. William E. Gladstone, Christian;