Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1894-03-02

o. those creatures called by the naturalsts
'n,crustaceans" and "copepods." not mor'
IMAM one ont OF hundreds of billions OF whicf
IRE ever seen by human eyer Col create;
amen 1or the same reason that He creates
mowers IN places where no human foot eve
makes them tremble, and no human no5irl
ever lnhales their redolence. and no human
eye ever sees their charm. In the botanical
world they prove that God loves flowers. a
IN the marine world the phosphori prove tha
DE loves life, and He loves life in play, life in
prilllancy OF gladness. life in exuberance.
And 80 l am led to believe that He loves
our life II we fulfill our mission rs fully a.
the phosphori fulfill theirs. The Son Of God
came that we might have life end have II
more abundantly. But am glad to tell you
that our God is not the God sometimes de-
scr1bed as harsh critic at the head of the
universe, or an infinite scold, or God that
loves funerals better than weddings, or a
uO1 that prefers tears to lau ghter, an ON
nlpotent Nero, ferocious Mana Sahib but
the loveliest Being in the universe. loving
flowers and life AMI play, whether OF phos-
phorl III the wake Of the Majestic or OF tne
human race keeping holiday
But mark you that the phosphOrescenca
mas glow that the night mOnopoizes, an l
ask you not only what kind of influence you
are going to leave in the world as you pas
through it. but what light are you going %
throw across the worlds night Of sin and
sorrow? People who are sailing on smooth
sea and at noon do not need much sympathy,
but what are you going to do for people in
the night of misfortune? VIII you drop on
them shadow, or will you kindle for them
phO5phOrescence?
at this moment there are moro people cry
ing than laughing, more people on the round
world this moment hungry than we'll fed,
more households bereft than homes I'M
broken. What are you going to do about it?
"Well, says yoader soul, 81 would like to
do something toward iIIumining the great
ocean OF human wretchedness. but l cannot
do much"
Can you do as much as one of the phos-
phori in the middle OF the Atlantic Ocsan.
creatures smaller than the point OF sharp
pin? Oh, yes you say. Then do that.
Shine Stand before the looking glass anil
experiment to seq il you cannot get that
scowl off your forehead, that peevish look
out of your lips. Have ut least one bright
ribbon in your bonnet. Embroider at least
one white cord somewhere in the midnight
of your apparel Do not any longer imper-
senate funeral. Shine! Do say something
cheerful about society and about the world.
Put few drops Of heaven into your dispo-
sition. Once in a while substitute sweet
orange for a sour lemon.
Remember that pessmism is blasphemy
and that optimism is Christianity. Throw
some light on the night ocean. If you can
not be a lantern swinging in the rigging, be
one Of the tiny phosphori back of the keel.
Shine "Let your light 50 shine before men
that others seeing your good works may
glorify your Father which is in heaven"
Make one person happy every day, and do
that for twenty years. and you will havo
made 1900 happy. You know man who has
lost all his property by an unfortunate in
Vestment or BY putting his name on the back
of q friends note. After You have taken n
brief nap, which every man and woman is
entitled TO on a Sunday afternoon. so AMI
cheer up that man. You can, it God helps
you, say something that will do him good
after both of you have been dead thousand
years.
Shine. You know of family with bad
boy who has run away from home. Go be-
fore night and tell that father and mother
the parable of the prodigal son, and that
some Of the ilustrious and useful men now
in church and state had a silly passage in
their lives and ran away from home. Shine
You know of family that has lost child,
and the silence OF the nursery glooms the
whole house from cellar to garrett. Go be-
fore night and tell them how much that child
has happily escaped. since the most prosper
Gus life on earth is struggle.
Shine You know of some invalid wao is
dying for lack of an appetite. She cannot
get well because she cannot eat. Broll
chicken and take It to her before night and
cheat her poor appetite tnto keen relish.
Shine You know OF some one who likes
you. and you like him, and he ought to DO u
Christian. Go tall him what religion has
done for you and ask him If you can pray
for him.
Shinel Oh. for a disposition so charged
with sweetness and light that we cannot help
bat shine Remember If you cannot be
leviathan Iashing the ocean into fury you
can be one Of the phosphori, doing your part
toward making path Of phosphorescence.
Then will tell you what impression you
will leave as you pas through this life and
after You are gone. will tell you to your
face and not leave it for the minister who OIL
nciates at your obsequles.
The failure in all eulogium of the departed
"a that they cannot hear it. All hear it ex-
cent the one most interested This, in sub
stance. is what ] or some one else will say OF
YOU on such an occasion: "We gather for
offices OF respect to this departed one lt ~
impossible to tell how many tears he wiped
away, how many burdens he lifted, or how
many souls he was. under God, instrumen-
tai in saving His influence will never cease.
We are all better for having known him.
"That pillow of flowers on the casket was
presented by his Sabbath-school class, all of
whom he brought to Christ. That cross OF
flowers at the head was presented by the
orphan asylum which he befriended. Those
three single fowers-one was sent by poor
woman for whom he bought ton OF coal,
and one was by IA waif of the street whom he
rescued through the midnight mission, and
the other was from prison cell which he
had often visited to encourage repentance i'll
a Young man who had done wrong.
''Those three loose flowers mean quite as
much as the garlands now breathing their
aroma through thiseaddened home crowded
with svmpathizers. Blessed are the dead
who die in the Lord. They rest from their
labors. and their works do follow them. ,"
Or if it should be the more solemn burial
at sea. let it bo after the sun has gone down,
and the captain has read the appropriate
liturgy, and the ships bell has tolled, and
you arc let down fromth stern OF the vessel
into the Respondent phosphorescence at the
wake of theship. Then let some one say, in
the words of my text, "He maketh path to
shine after him"