Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1899-01-07


many tears he may wipe away, how
many burdens he may lift, how many
orphans he may comfort, how many
outcasts he may reclaim. There have
been men who have given their whole
life in the right direction, concentrate
ing all their wit and ingenuity and
mental aoumen and physical force and
enthusiasm for Christ. They climbed
the mountain and delved into the mine
and crossed the sea and trudged the
desert and dropped at last into martyrs
graves, waiting for the resurrection Of
the just. They measured their lives by
the chains they broke off. by the gar
ments they put upon nakedness, by the
miles they Travelled to alleviate every
kind of suffering. They felt in the thrill
of every nerve, in the motion of every
muscle, in every throb Of their heart, in
every respiration Of their lungs, the
magnificent truth, "No man liveth unto
himself. I" They went through cold and
through heat, foot blistered, cheek smit
ten, back scourged, tempest dashed, to
do their whole duty That is the way
they measured life-by the amount of
good they could do.
The Eternal Life.
Do you want to know how old Luther
was? How old Richard Baxter was? How
old Philip Doddridge was? Why, you
cannot calculate the length of their
lives by any human arithmetic Add to
their lives 10, 900 times 10, 600 years,
and you have not expressed it-what
they have lived or will live. Oh, what a
standard that is to measure man g life
byl There are those in this house who
think they have only lived 80 years.
They will have lived thousand; they
have lived thousand. There are those
who think they are so years Of age.
They have not even entered upon their
infancy, for one must become babe i'll
Christ to begin at all.
Now. do not know what your ad
vantages or disadvantages are. do not
know what your tact OF talent is. do
not know what may be the fascination
of your manners or the responsiveness Of
them, but I know this: There is for
you. my nearer, field to culture, O
harvest to reap, tear to wipe away, a
soul to save. If you have worldly means,
consecrate them to Christ. If you have
eoquence, use it on the eide that Paul
and Wilberforce used theirs If you
have learning, put it all into the poor
box of the worlds suffering Buff You
have none of these-neither wealth, nor
eloqunce, nor learning-you at any
rate have smile with which you can
encourage the disheartened, frown
with which you may blast injustice, a
voice with which you may call the
wanderer back to God. "Oh, you say,
THAT is a very sanctimonious view of
life" It is not. 1t is the only bright
view of life, ard it is the only bright
view of death Contrast the death scene
of man VIII has measured life by the
worldly standard with the death scene
of man who has measured life by the
Christian standard. Quin, the actor, in
his last moments said, II hope this
tragic scene will soon be over, and !
hope 10 keep my dignity to the last. "
Sipiesherbes Sid in his last moments to
the confessor: Hold your tongue! Your
miserable style puts me out of conceit
with heaven Lord Chesterfield in his
last moments, when he ought to have
been praying for his soul, bothered him
self about the proprieties of the sick
room and said, "Give Dayboles chair.
Godfrey Kneller spent his last hours on
earth in drawing diagram Of his own
monument.
Compare the silly and horrible de-
parture of such men with the seraphic
glow on the face of Edward Payson as
be said in his last moment: 1.-THE breezes
of heaven fan me. float in sea of
glory" Or with Paul the apostle, who
said in his last hour 81 am now ready
to be offered up, and the time of my
departure is at hand. have fought the
good fight have kept the faith Hence
forth there is laid up for me crown OF
righteousness which the Lord, the right
eous Judge, will give me. F" Or compare
it with tie Christian deathbed that
you witnessed in your own household
Oh, my friends, this world is false
god. 1t will consume you with the blaze
in which it accepts your sacrifice, while
the righteous shall be held in everlast-
ing remem hrance, and when the thrones
have fallen and the monuments have
crumbled and the world has persisted
they shall banquet with the conquerors
of earth and the hierarchs of heaven.
The Coming Year.
This is a good day in which to begin
a new style Of measurement. How old
art thou? You see the Christian way of
measuring life and the worldly way of
measuring it. leave it to you to say
which is the wisest and best way. The
wheel of time has turned very swiftly,
and it has hurled us on. The old year
has gone The new year has come. For
what you and l have been launched up
on itGcd only knows. Now let me ask
you all, have you made any preparation
for-the future: You have made prepare
ton for time, NY dear brother Have
you made any preparation Tor eternity?
Do you wonder that when that man on
the Hudson river in indignation tore up
the tract which was handed to him and
Just one word landed on his coat sleeve
the rest Of the tract being pitched into
the river, that one word aroused his
soul? 1t was that one word, SO long, so
broad, SO high, SO deep eternity" A
dying wcmen, in her last moments,
said, "Call it back. They said,
"What do you want?'' Thine, T" she
said, "call it back. !" Oh, it cannot be
called back Wemight lose our fortunes
and call them back; we might lose our
health, and perhaps recover it; we
might lose our good name and get that
back, but time gone is gone forever.