The Penn's Grove record., 1894-02-23
PENIS GROVE. N j., FRIDAY. FEBRUARY %. 1884,

But In the wake OF that life what a phospho-
rescence OF smiles on the cheeks of souls
%pardoned, and lives reformed, and Nations
redeemed. Tn millennium itself is only
one roll of that iradiated wave OF gladness
and benediction. In the sublimest of all
senses it may be said OF Him, "He maketh q
path to shine after Him."
But cannot look upon that luminosity
that follows ships without realizing how foni
the Lord is OF life. That fire OF the deep is
life, myriads OF creatures all a-swinl and a.
play and a-romp in parks of marine beauty
laid out and parterred and roseated and
blossomed by Omnipotence. What is the uso
OF those creatures called by the naturalistB
"crustaceans" and "copepods." not moro
than one out of hundreds OF billions of which
tire ever seen by human eye? God created
elem for the same reason that He creates
flowers in places where no human foot eyer
makes them tremble, and no human noslril
ever inhales their redolenee, and no human
eye ever sees their charm. In the botanical
world they prove that God loves flowers. az
In the marine world the phosphori prove that
He loves life, and He loves life in play, life in
brllliancy OF gladness, life in exuberance.
And so / am led to believe that He loves
our life il we fulfill our mission as fully as
the phosphori fulnll theirs. The Son of God
came that we might have life and have it
more abundantly." But l am glad to tell you
that our God is not the SOD sometimes de-
scribed as a harsh critic at the head of the
universe, or an infinite scold, or a,God that
loves funerals better than weddings, or a
God that prefers tears to lau ghter, an m
nipotent Nero, a feroeious Mana Sahib. but
the l~oyeliest Being in the universe, loving
flowers and life and play, whether OF phos.
phori in the wake of the Majestic or OF tho
human race keeping holiday.
But mark you hat the phosphoreseencs
has a glow that the night ~monopolizas. nm II
ask you not only what kind of in~dIelte you
are going to leave in the world as you pass
through it. but what light ara you going to
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
phosphorescence?
At this moment there are more people cry
ing h laughing, more people onthe round
world this moment hungry than well fed.
more households bereft than homes un-
broken. What are you going TO do about it?
"Well,' says yonder soul, II would like to
do something toward illumining the great
ocean of human wretchedness, but / cannot
do much"
Can you do as much as one of the phos-
phorl in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean,
creatures smaller than the point of a sharp
pin? oh, yes" you say. Then do that.
Shinel Stand before the looking glass and
experiment to see IL you cannot get that
scowl Off your forehead, that peevish look
out Of your lips. Have at 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 a funeral. Shine! Do say something
cheerful about society and about the world.
Put a few drops of heaven into your dispo-
sitlon. Once in q while substitute a sweet
orange for a sour lemon.
Remember that pessimism Is blasphemy
and that optimism is Christianity. Throw
light on the night ocean. II you can
not be a lantern swinging in the rigging, be
one of the tiny p%hosphori back Of the keel.
Shinei "Let your light so 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 have
made 1900 happy. You know q man who has
lost all his property by an unfortunate in
vestment or by putting his name on the back
of a friends note. After you have taken q
brief nap, which every man and woman is
entitled to on a Sunday afternoon, go and
cheer up that man. You can, If God helps
you, say something that will do him good
after both of you have been dead a thousand
years.
Shine. You know of a family with a 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 illustrious and useful men now
in church and state had a silly passage in
their lives and ran away from home. Shine!
You know of a family that has lost a child,
and the silence OF the nursery glooms the
house from cellar to garnet. Go be-
fore night and tell them now much that child
has happily escaped, since the most prosper
life on earth is a struggle.
Shine You know Of some invalid who Is
dying for lack of an appetite. She cannot
we'll because she n eat. Broil a
and take 1t to her before night and
cheat her poor appetite into keen relish.
Shine You know Of some one who likes
and you like him, and he ought to be a
Christian. Go tell him what religion has
done for you, and ask him If you can pray
for him.
Shine! oh, for a disposition SO charged
with sweetness and light that we cannoth help
shine! Remember II you cannot be q
leviathan lashing the ocean into fury you
can be one Of the phosphori, doing your part
making a path of phosphoroscenee.
Then I will tell you what impression you
will leave as you pass through this life and
after you are gone. I will tell you TO your
face and not leave it for the minister who Of
at your obsequies.
The failure in all eulogium OF the departed
Is that they cannot hear it. All hear it ex-
cept the one most interested. This, in sub
Is what I or some one else will say of
you on such an occasion: "We gather for
offices of respect to this departed one. 1t is
impossible to tell how many tears he wiped
how many burdens he lifted, or how
souls he was, under God, instrument |
tai In saving. His influence will never cease.
We are all better for having known lin.
"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
asylum which he b~efriended. Those
three single flowers-one was sent by q poor
woman for whom he bought a ton of coal,
and one was by a waif Of the street whom he
through the midnight mission, and
the other was from a prison cell which he
often visited to encourage repentance in
a young man who had done wrong.
''Those three loose flowers mean quite as
much as the garlands now breathing their
aroma through this saddened home crowded
with sympathizers. Blessed are the dead
who die In the Lord. They rest from their
and their works do follow Them"
Or if it should be the more solemn burial
at sea, let it be after the sun has gone down, |
md the captain has read the appropriate |
and the ships bell has tolled, and
are let down from the stern of the vessel
into the resplendent phosphoreseence at the
wake of the ship. Then let some one say, in
the words of my text, HE maSeth a path to
shine after him"
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