The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-01-05

charitable deeds, there being between the
TWO, as between two connected vessels ~
water, perfect equilibrium.
we speak ofsuch kind Of life as neces-
sary IN the most absolute sense. Ii has no
SUBSTITUTE; there IS nothing that can in
any way atone for its absence. Mere
length of days is no equivalent. One NAV
aie and be buried ,sas Abraham was. in a
good old age" yet IL must be. ike his \
good" old age, "faii' in resnect 10 the
quality OF life which it measures. aThaf
life Is long which answers life's great end ),
u u does not answer that end, no matter
now long II Is, it Is failure. And how
ever short It is, If 1t answers that end iii
catches and realizes, while it lasts. the true
ioea OF living, it is success. WHY do We
mourn Tor men who die? If the tears are
worthy, because they are good. Some
there are over whose deaths the less words
and the less tears shed the better, for the
reason that they were corrunf. Who
would think of INDUCING in q course Of
remarks like this: ITO be sure, he was q
very wicked man, but then he lived a great
Whlle as III he made up in the length of
ms life what il lacked in quality. The
thought is enthusiastically absurd. The
shorter ones life the better, If it takes is
tone from beneath rather than from above
An old gray-headed sinner is the moy
lntoierahle OF all sinners. think of the
| Missouri river, over 1900 miles long. vet of
no great depth; and, rs its name means
Mud river. turbid in almost all its
length. think, too, OF the River Niagara.
only about thirty-three miles long, vet
Iilak i Ihe most CT what length it has;
having depth, and comparative clearness'
and mighty volume. and forming in its
course those falls of magnitude and mai
esty unsurpassed, on which so MANY eyes
have gazed in wondering awe. Which of
these rivers Is to be taken as the true type
oil every human lifel Our answer fingers
not. Let every life be as long as ii may.
but. whether longer or shorter, let it not
be river of mud" shallow, mixed with
the mire and dirt of wickedness. as MANY
lives are, In fact But, rather in its depth
and volume. in its majestic dow, in the
purity of its waters. in the impressive
mora, suolimity It shall present, let it be a
Fourthly, every life may have this quail
ity, may be "fulls' in the moral sense. NAV
answer lifes great end.n Ii could not
iift before you, like globe of glory, this
possibility, there would be little practical
value in the subject. But | can. And I
do. Ii Is not question of years The
shortest life may be a good life. NAV be
filed even to the rim with excellence.
Many are they who have made their rec
ord and done their nobiest work in the
earlier years of life; like David Brainard. a
missionary to the Indians, dying at %:
like Henry Martyr, an English missionary
to India, who entered into his rest at 81
Spurgeon is only 40, and recently preached
bis l,500th sermon, subsequently, printed.
And we have the eminent case of our Lord
himself, who '.hegan to be-, about 30 wears
Of age when He entered forth upon His pub
lie ministry, which He finished in His death
and resurrection in not more than three
years; according to some chronologists in
one year only. Rutherford has we'll said !:
1. is not long days, but good days that
make tie life glorious and happy; and our
dear Lord is gracious to US who shorteneth,
and hath made the way to glory shorter
than it was, SO that the crown that Noah
did tight for 500 years children may now
obtain.''
Even so. And the method of this posi-
bility lies in keeping the life "full, - as it
goes on from day to day. As it is well for
one in a social meeting to take part at the
beginning, so should every one at the
beginning OF life take part in those divine
things. those holy duties, which make life
true and excellent; putting into his life
from the Arst the true contents of moral
element and principle, and keeping that
life full Of the same qualities-full of
Christ-as with the course of time it grows
higher and larger. And in this view there
need be, there will be. no premature
| dying.
Perhaps, then, finally. we complete the
| proyerb directly. says, that life is long
which answers life's great end" 1t be-
| comes, We may say, a Niagara having the
| virtual length of Missouri. Its quality is
| to it as length. Referring TO the develop
ment of science and invention in these
modern days, Wendell Phillips has said
that "any man who lives in the nineteenth
| century is a condensed Methuselah." The
| same thing may be true In the moral sense,
| wherein one lives. be it that man COM
| pacts his life and character with those
| qualities which form the .summum
bonum," the highest good, for every one
who lives.
| II is not growing like tree
| In bulk, doth make man better be;
Or standing long an oak, three hundred year
| To fall log at last, dry, bald and sere.
A lily of day
Is fairer far in May,
Although ii fall and die that night,
| ltwas the plant and flower OF light
| In small proportions we just beauties see;
And in short measures life may perfect be.
Ben JoRSoa (f57s-f6S7).