The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1890-04-02

singing before he gets round the corner;
waiting on everybody thathas a letter
to carry or message to deliver; comes
into rail-train, or stage coach, or depot,
or shop, with smiling face that sets |
everybody to thinking, "If that man
can, with what appears small equipment
In life, be happy, why can not l, possess
ing far more than he has, be equally
happy?" One day of that kind of doing
things may not amount to much, but
forty years of that-no one but God
Himself can appreciate its immensity.
There are tens of thousans Of such
people. Their circle Of acquaintance Is
small. The man is known over at the
store. He is clerk, or weigher, or dray-
man, and he is known among those who
sit near him clear back In the church
under the galleries, and at the ferry
gates where he comes in knocking the
snow from his shoes, and threshing his
his arms around his body to revive cir
culation on some January morning. But
II he should die tomorrow there would
not be hundred people who would
know about it. He will never have his
name in the newspapers but once, and
that will be the announcement of his
death, II some one will pay for the in
sertion 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 grander
eternity than many man who had on
earth, before his name, the word Honor
able, and after his name LII. d. and f.
R. s. Christ said in Luke, the sixth
chapter, that in Heaven some who had
1t hard here would laugh there. And !
think laugh of delight and congratu'
lation will run around the heavenly
circles when this humble one Of whom l
spoke shall go up and take the pre-
cedence of many Christians who in this
world felt themsolvest 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?"
"Can it be possible that that was thecar-
driver on our street?" "Can 1t be pos
sible that was the sexton Of our church,"
"Can 1t be possible that is the man that
heaved coal into our cellar?" 81 never
could have thought it. What a reversal
of things! We we're clear ahead of him
on earth, but he is clear ahead Of us in
Heaven. Why, we had ten times moro
brains than he had, we had q thousand
times more money than he had, we had
social position a mile higher than he
had, we had innumerable opportunities
more than he had, but 1t seems now that
he accomplished more with his one tai
ent 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; 1t
Is as l told the world many centuries
ago-better is small faculty actively used
than great talent unemployed; better Is
living dog than 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 capaci-
ty and large opportunity, doing nothing
for the improvement OF society, nothing
for the overthrow Of evil, nothing for
the salvation Of souls Some Of them
are monetary lions. They have accumu-
lated so many hundreds Of thousands Of
dollars that you can feel their tread
when they walk through any street OF
come into any circle. They can by one
financial move upset the money market.
Instead OF 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-half per cent, or one
fourth per cent That they are
lions, no one doubts When they
roar, Wall street, State street.
Lombard street, and the Bourse trem'
BILE. In few years they will lie down
and die. They will have a great funeral,
and long row OF fine carriages, and
mightiest requiems will roll from the
organ, and polished shaft Of Aberdeen
granite will indicate where their dust
lies, but for all use TO the world thai
man might as we'll have never lived. Al
an experiment as TO how much he car
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 lionl Yes, but deat
lionl He left all his treasures on earth
and has no treasures in heaven. Wha
shall the stone-cutter put upon the ODE
lisk over him? suggest, let It be th'
mans name, then the date Of his birth
then the date OF his death, then the ap
I propriate Scripture passage, "Better 1
! . living dog than dead lion"
But I thank God that we are havinI
; Just now an optburst Of splendid bene
, acence that ito increase until the cart
= is girdled With It. lis spreading witt
3 the speed OF an epidemic, but with jus
' the opposite effect Of an epidemic. d
. you not notice how wealthy men ar
, opening free libraries, and building
, churches In their native villagee Hav
| you not seen how men Of large means
y instead Of leaving great philanthropio
: In their Wills for disappointed heirs I
D quarrel about, and the orphan courts :
|, swamp, are becoming their own execu
. tors and administrators? After putin
: aside enough for their families flor ''h
!. that provideth not for his own, an
1 especially those OF his own house
!. hold 10 worse than an inhdel'
they are saving: 'sWhat can I do, no
! after I am dead, but while living, an
4 in full possession OF my faculties,
!. nronerlv direct tho building OF th