The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1894-01-09

ished by sickness. Then the cyclones. Then
the Mississippi and Ohio freshets Then the
stopping of the factories. Then the curculios
among the peach trees. Then the insectile
devastation of potato patches and wheat
fields. Then the epiZOOticS among the horses
and the hollow horn among the herds.
Then the rains that drown out everything
and the droughts that burn up half cont-
nent. Then the orange groves die under
the white teeth of the ho2r frost. Then the
coal strikes and the iron strikes and the
mechanic strikes which all strike labor
harder than they strike capital Then the
yellow fever at Brunswick and Jacksonville
and Shreveport Then the cholera at the
Narrows, threatening to land in New York.
Then the Charleston earthquake. Then the
JohnStoWn flood. Then hurricanes sweeping
from Caribbean Sea to Newfoundland.
Then there are the great monopoles that
gulley the earth with their expressions.
Then there are the necessities of buying
coal by the scutte instead of the ton, and
-four by the pound instead of the barrel,
and so the injustices are multiplied. In the
wake of all these are overwhelming Illus
trations of the truth Of my text: eye have
the poor always with you"
Remember fact that no one emphasizes,
a fact, nevertheless upon which l want to
put the weight of an eternity of tonnage,
that the best way of insurng yourself and
your children and your grandchildren
against poverty and all other troubles is
by helping others. L am an agent of the
oldest insurance company that was ever
established. 1t is near 5000 years old. 1t has
the advantage of all the other plans Of
insurance; whole life policy, endow-
ment, joint life and survivorship policies,
ascending and descending scales Of
premium, and tontine, and it pays up while
you live and it pays up after you are dead.
Every cent you give in a Christian spirit
to poor man or woman, every shoe you
give to a barefoot, every stick of wood or
lump of coal you give to a flreless hearth,
every drop of medicine you give to a poor
invalid, every star Of hope you make to
shine over unfortunate maternity, every
mitten you knit for cold fingers, is pay
ment on the premium of that policy. ] hand
about five hundred million policies to all
who will go forth and aid the unfortunate.
There are only two or three lines in this
policy of life insurance. Psalms All,
blessed Is he that considercth the poor,
the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble"
Other life insurance companies may fail,
but this celestial life insurance company
never The Lord God Almighty is at the
head of it. and all the angels Ct heaven are
in its board of direction, and its assets are
all worlds, and all the charitable of earth
and heaven are the beneficiaries. But"
says some one, Il do nos Ike tOntinn poll
cy swell, and that which you offer is
more like tontjne and to be chiefly pail
in this life" 'BieSSeG is he that cOnSit!-
ereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him
in time of trouble" Well, if you prefer
the old fashioned policy Of life insurance,
which is not paid till after death YOU can
be accommodated. That will be given YOU
in the day of judgment, and viii be handed
you by the right hand. the pierced hand Of
our Lord himself and all you do in the
right spirit for the poor is payment on the
premium of that life insurance policy I
read you paragraph of that policy: "Then
shall the King say unto them on His right
hand. Come We blessed of my Father for
l was hungered and We gave me meat [
was thirsty and ye gave me drink l was a
cfrp md ffAf,l-
clothed me- In various cOlors OF ink 9th
er life insurance policies written. This
one | have just shown you is written in
only one kind of ink. and that red ink. the
blood of the cross. Blessed be God, that is
a "Paid-Up Policy" paid for by the panes
of the Son of God, and all we add to it in
the way Of our own good deeds wi augment
the sum of eternal felicities. Yes, the
time will come when the banks Of largest
capital stock will all go down, and the fire
insurance companies will all go down and
the life insurance companies viii all 30
down. In the last great earthquake all the
cities Will be Frustrated. and as q cOnsc-
quence all banks will forever suspend pay
ment. In the last cOnflagratiOn the fire in
surance companies of the earth will fail
for how could they make appraisement Of
the loss on a universal fire? Then all the
Inhabitants of the round world will surren-
der their mortal existence, and how could
life insurance companies pay Cor deponu-
! lated hemisphereS? But Our celestial life
insurance will not be harmed by that con-
tinental wreck. or that hemisphere acct
dent, or that planetary catastrophe Blow
it out like a candle-the monday SUM- Tear
it down like worn out upholstery-the last
sunset! Toss it from Gods finger like a
dewdrOp from the anther of the water lily
the ocean! Scatter them like thistiedown
before a schoolboy's bre&th-the world!
That will not disturb the omaipotence or
the cOmposure or the sympathy or the love
of that Christ who said it once earth,
and will say it again in heaven to all those
who have been helpful to the downtrodden
and the cold and hungry and the hOuseless
and the lost "Gnasmuch ye did it to
them, We did to me!'