Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1894-03-08


of chrysoprases. For God in His words
to Job calls me to look at the path or
foam in the wake of that ship. and |
tell you it is all a-gleam with splendors
of kindness done. and rolling with
illumined tears that were wiped away,
and a-dash with congratulations and
clear out to the horizon in all direc-
tions is the sparkling, flashing, billow-
ing phosphorescence of Christian
life. "Ile maketh path to shine after
him.
And here | correct one of the mean
notions which at some time takes pos
session of all of US, and that is to the
brevity of human life When | bury
some very useful man. clerical or lay,
in his thirtieih or fortieth year. ! saw
what a waste of energies! 1t was
hardly worth while fer him to get
ready for Christian work. for he has 50
soon to quit ii" But the fact is that
! may insure any man or woman who
does any good on a large or small scale
for life on earth as long as the world
lasts. Sickness, trolley car accidents,
y
than they can tear down one of the
rings of Saturn. You can start one
good word, one kind act, one cheerful
smile on mission that will last until
the world becomes a bonfire, and out OF
that blaze it will pass into the heavens
never to halt as long as God lives.
There were in the seventeenth CEN
fury men arsl women whose names you
never heard of who are to-day influence
ing schools, colleges, churches nations.
You can no more measure the gracious
results of their lifetime than you could
measure the length, and breadth, and
depth of the phosphorescenee last night
following the ship Of the White Star
line 1.50O miles out at sea. How the
courage and conservation of others in
spires Us to follow, as general in the
American army, cool amid the flying
bullets. inspired a trembling soldier,
who said afterwards, II was nearly
scared to death, but | saw the old mans
white mustache over his shoulder.
and went on" Aye. we are all
following somebody, either in right
or wrong direction. A few days
ago | stood beside the garlanded
clsket II a gospel minister, and
in my remarks had occasion to recall
snowy night in farmhouse when
was boy, and an evangelist spending
o night at my fathers house who said
something so tender, and beautiful,
and impressive that it led me into the
kingdom of God, and decided my
destiny for this world and the next
Yon viii, before twentv-four hours 90
by, meet some man or woman with a
big pack of care and trouble. and you
may say something to him or her that
will endure until this world shall have
been SO far lost in the past that moth
ing but the stretch of angelic memory
viii be able to realize that it ever ex-
istsd at all. | am not talking of re-
markable men and women, but of
what ordinary folks can do. | am not
speaking of the phosphorescence in the
wake of the Campania, but of the
phosphorescence in the track of a New
foundland fishing smack. God makes
thunderbolts out of sparks, and out OF
the small words and deeds of a small
life He can launch power that will
flash, and burn, and thunder through
the eternity How do you like this
prolongation of your earthly life by
deathless influence? Many babe that
died at six months of age, by the anx-
iety created in the parents heart to
to meet that child in realms seraphie
is living yet in the transformed
heart and life of those parents and
will live on forever in the history
of that family If this be the opportu.
nifty of ordinary souls, what is the OPP
portunity of those who have especial
intellectual, or social. or monetary
equipment? Have you any arithmetic
capable of estimating the influence of
our good aud gracious friend who a
few days ago went up to rest-George
w. Childs of Philadelphia? From a
newspaper that was printed for thirty
years without one word of defamation,
or scurrility, or scandal and putting
chief emphasis on virtue and charity,
and clean Intelligence he reaped for
tune for himself and then dis
tributed vast amount of it
among the poor and struggling,
putting his invalid and aged reporters
on pensions, until his name stands
everywhere for large-heartedness and
sympathy and help and highest style
of Christian gentleman, in an era which !
had in the chairs of its journalism a
Horace Greeley, and Henry J. Ray !
mond. and a James Gordon Bennett, |
and an Erastus Brooks, and a George |
William Curtis, and an Iren@us Prime
none of them viii be longer remem-
bered than George W. Childs. Staying
away from the unwilling of the monu-
ment he had reared at large expense in
our Greenwood. in memory of Prof |
Proctor. the astronomer lest | should |
say something in praise of the man
who had paid for the monument. By
all acknowledged representative of
the highest American journalism If
Won would calculate his influence for |