Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1899-01-12

sometimes through physical distresses
aye, in 10000 ways-troubles come TO
harass and annoy.
And yet Al - unfair 70 measure d
mans life by his misfortunes, because
where there is one stalk Of nightshade
there are so marigolds and harebells;
where there IL one cloud thunder
charged there are hundreds that stray
across the heavens, the glory of land
and sky asleep in their bosom. Be
cause death came and took your child
away, did you Immediately forget all
the five years, or the ten years, CT the IL
years, in which she came every night for
kiss, ali the tones of your heart peal
ing forth at the sound of her voice or
the soft touch of her hand? Because in
81 me financial Euroclydon your fortune
went into the breakers, did you forgeh
ell those years in which the luxuries
and extravagances of life showered on
your path? Alas, that is an unwise
man, an ungrateful man, an unfai: mar,
an unphilosophic man, and, mos; of all,
an un-Christian man, who measures his
life on earth by groans and tears and
dyspeptic fit and abuse and scorn and
terror and neuralgia thrust.
Again, l remark that there are many
people who estimate their life on earth
by the amount of money they have ac-
cumulated. They say: 1.-The year 1866,
or 1870, or 1898. was wasted" Why ?
'Made no money" Now it is all cant
and ins:ncerity to talk against money,
as though ii had no value. 1t may rep
resent refinement and education and
10000 blessed surroundings II &c
the spreading of the table that feeds
the children's hunger. 1t is the light
ing of the furnace that keeps you
warm. 1t is the making of the bed on
which you rest from care and anxiety
1t is the carrying of you out at last to
decent sepulcher and the putting up
| of the slab on which is chiseled the
story of your Christian hope. 1t is
simply hypocrisy, this TRADE in pulpit
and lecture hall against money.
But while all this is SC, he who use.
money or thinks of money as anything
hut means to an end will find out his
mistake when the glittering treasures
slip out of his nerveless grasp and ne
goes out of this world without shil.
ling of money or certificate of stock
He might better have been the Chris.
tian porter that opened his gate, or the
begrimed workman who last night
heaved the coal into his cellar. Bones
and mortgages and leases have their
use but they make a POOR yardsticL
with which to measure life. They
that boast themselves in their wealth
and trust in the multitude of theiI
riches. none of them can, by any means
redeem his brother or give to God q
ransom for him that he should not sec
corruption"
But ! remark there are many wish
there were more-who estimate their
life by the moral and spiritual develop
ment.
remark again, there are maryland
| wish there were more-who are es
timating life by the good they can do
John Bradford said he counted that
day nothing at all in which he had not
by pen or tongue, done some good. II
man begin right, | cannot tell how
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 acumen and physical force and
enthusiasm for Christ They climbed
H. 4, h.,
and crossed the sea and dropped at last
into martyrs graves waiting for the
resurrection of the just They meas
ured their lives by the chains they
broke off, by the garments they put up
on nakedneSs, by the miles they trav-
eled TO alleviate every kind OF suffer
ing. They felt in the thrill of every
in every throb of their heart in every
respiration of their lungs the magnifi-
cent truth. mo man liveth unto him
self" They went through cold and
through heat, foot blistered, cheek
smitten, back scourged, tempest
dashed, To do their whole duty. That is
the way they measured life by the
amount of good they could do.
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 10000 times 10000
years and you have not expressed it
what they have lived or will live. On,
what a standard that is TO measure "a
mans life by! There are those in this
house who think they have only lived
so years. They will have lived 1000
they have lived 1000. There are those
who think they are so years of age.
They have not even entered upon their
infancy. for one must become babe in
Christ to begin at all.
New. do not know what your ad- |
vantages or disadvantages are; do
not know what your tact or talent is:
do not know what may be the fascina-
tion of your manners or the repulsiye-
ness of them: but know this-there j.
cor you. my nearer. field TO culture. 1t |
harvest to reap, a tear to wipe away,
a soul to save. II you have worldly |