The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-02-21

| and 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 scan
dial and putting chief emphasis on virtue
| and charity and clean Intelligence he
/ reaped a fortune for himself and then
| distributed q vast amount of IL among
/ the poor and struggling. putting his in
valid and aged reporters on pensions,
! until his name stands everywhere for
| large heartedness and sympathy and
| help and highest style Of Christian gem
/ tleman.
| In an era which had in the chairs of its
| journalism a Horace Greeley. and a
/ Henry J. Raymond, and a James Gordon
| Bennett, and an Erastus Brooks and a
| Geore William Curtis. and an Irenaeus
| Prime none of them will he longer re-
| memhered than George W. Childs. stay
| ing away from the unveilng of the mon
| ument he had reared at large expense
| in our Greenwood in memory of Prof.
| Proctor. the astronomer. lest l should
] say something in praise of the man who
had paid for the monument. Ply all
| acknowledged representative of the
| highest American journalism.
If you would calculate his influence for
| good. YOU must count how many sheets
| of his newspapers have been published in
| the last quarter Of a century, and how
many people have read them. and the
! effect not only upon those readers. bat
upon all whom they shall influence FOR
all time. while you add to all that the
work of the churches he helped build.
and Of the institutions of mercy he
| helped found. Better give up before You
start the measuring of the phosphorus
cence in the wake of that ship of the
| Celestial line. Who can tell the post
norton influence Of Il SaVOnarOla.
Winllereid. a Gutenberg. Marlborough.
Decatur, "A TouSsaint. a Bolivar. a
GARRISON. a Robert Raikes. d Harlan
Page. who had 125 Sabbath scholars,
eighty-four of whom became Christians
and six of them ministers of the gospel.
With gratitude and penitence and wor-
ship l mention the grandest life that was
ever lived That ship of light was
launched from the heavens nearly 1900
years ago, angelic hosts chanting, and
from the celestial wharVes the ship
sprang into the toughest sea that ever
tossed. It's pillows were made up of the
wrath Of men and devils. HerOdic and
sanhedrinic prosecutions stirring the
deep with red wrath. and all the hurri-
canes of woe smote it until on the rocks
of Golgotha that life struck with a re-
sound of agony that appalled, the earth
and the heavens But in the wake Of
that life what phosphorescence Of
smiles on the cheek of souls pardOned,
and lives reformed and nations re-
deemed The millennium itself is only
ono roll of that irradiated wave of glad
ness and henedictiOn. In the SublimeSt
of all senses il may be said Of him, He
J maketh a path to shine after him.
God Is Not a Harsh Critic.
But cannot look upon that luminosity
| that follows ships without realizing how
| fond the Lord is Of life. That fire of the
deep is life. myraidS of creatures all
asUim and aplay and aronEp in parks
of marine beauty laid out and parterred
! and roseated and blossOmed by omnipo-
tcnce What is the use of those Great
ures called by the naturalisGs "crusta-
ceans' and ''cOpepOds,' not more than
one out of hundreds of billions of which
are ever seen by human eye: God Gre
ated them for the same reason that he
creates flowers in places where no human
foot ever makes them trenLole, ana no
human nostril ever inhales their redo
lence and no human eye ever sees their
charm. In the bots nical world they
prove that God loves flowers. as in the
marine world the phGphOr1 prove that
lie loves life. and lie low life IN play,
life in brilliancy Of giainess, life IN eN-
uberance
And so I am led to believe that He
loves our life if we f7lk'n our mission
as fully as the phosph 3T1 fulfill theirs.
The Son Of God came 't0at we might
have life, and have it move abundantly.
But / am glad 20 tell you hat our God
is not the God sometimes described as
harsh critic at the head of the uni
verse. or an infinite scold. o. God that
loves funerals better than we ddlngs, or
God that prefers tears 10 la lighter or
omnipOtent Nero, "a feTOciOuS Ns ma SahlD,
but the loviest Being in the universe,
loving flowers and life "m,t play,
whether Of phosphori in the wane of the
Majestic or Of the human race keeping
a holiday.
Help the Unfortunate.
But mark YOU that the phosl u 'ores-
cence has a glow that the night mon opo-
LIES, and l ask you not only what h ind
of influence you are going to leave in
the world as you pass through it. but
what light are YOU going to throw acr oss
the worlds night Of sin and sorrO "?
People who are sailing on smooth ca
and at noon do not need much symp a
thy. 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 phosphorescence?
At this moment there are more people
crying than laughing: more people on the
round world this moment hungry than
we'll fed; more households bereft than
homes unbroken. What are you going
TO do about il? We'll" SAYS yonder
soul. Il would like TO do something to-
ward Illuminating the great ocean of hu-
man wretchedness, but 1 cannot do
much"
Can you do as much as one of the phos-
phori in the middle OF the Atlantic
ocean, creatures smaller than the point
of a sharp pin? "Oh, yes" YOU say.
Then do that Shnei Stand before the
loOking-glass and experiment to see if
You cannot get that scowl off your fore
head. that peeVish look out Of your lips
Have at least one bright ribb i'm your
bonnet. EmbrOider at least ~ g white
cord somewhere I'm the midnght OF your
apparel DO not any longer impersonate
a funeral. Shine. DO say something
cheerful about society and about the
world. Put a few drops of heaven into
Your disposition once in awhile Substi- |
tute sweet orange FOR "A sour lemon.
Remember that peSsimism is bias
phemy. and that optimism is Christiani- /
~. Throw some light on the night |
ocean. If YOU cannot be a lantern
swinging in the rigging. be one Of the
tiny phosphori back Of the keel. Shine,
Let your light so shine before men that
others, seeing your good works. may
glorify your Father which is i'm heaven"
Make one person happy every day and |
do that for twenty years, and You will
have made 1900 happy. You know
man who has lost All his property by an
unfortunate Investment. or by putting |
his name on the back Of a friends note?
After YOU have taken a brief nap. which |
every man and woman is entitled 20 on
Sunday afternoon. go and cheer Nd |
that man. You can, II God helps you,
say something that VIII do him good
after both of YOU have been dead thou
sand years.
Shinei You know OF a family with Il
bad boy who has run away from home
Co before night aud tell that father and |