The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1899-01-06


to begin.
remark again, There are many
and / wish there were more-who are
estimating 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
coed. If man begin right, l 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,
concentrating all their wit and in
genuity and mental acumen and phys
ical 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 garments they
put upon nakedness, by the miles they
travelled to alleviate every kind Of suf-
fering. They felt in the thrill of every
nerve, in the motion of every respir-
alton of thei- lungs, the magnificent
truth: "No man liveth unto himself"
They went through cold and through
heat. foot-blistered. cheek-smitten,
back-scourged, unprecedented, to do
their whole duty. That is the way
they measured life-by the amount OF
good they could do.
Do you want 10 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 arithme-
tic. Add to their lives ten thousand
times ten thousand years, and you
have not expressed it-what they have
lived or will live. Oh, what stand
ard that is to measure a mans lie
by! There are those in this house
who think they have only lived thirty
years. They will have lived a thou
sand-they have lived q thousand.
There are those who think they are
eighty years OF age. They have not
even entered upon their infancy, for
enc must become babe in Christ to
begin at all.
Now, do not know what your ad-
vantages or disadvantages are; l do
not know what your tact or talent is;
do not know what may be the fasci-
nation of your manners or the repul-
siveness of them: but l know this;
there Is for you. my nearer, field to
culture, harvest TO reap, tear to
wipe away, soul TO save. II you
have worldly means. consecrate them
TO Christ. If you have eloquence, use
Il on the side that Paul and WILDER
force used theirs. II you have learn
ing. nut It all into the poor box Of the
worlds suffering. But II you have
none Of these-neither wealth, nor elo-
quence, nor learn!ng-you, at any rate,
have a smile with which you can en-
courage the disheartened; frown
with which you may blast injustice;
voice with which you may call the
wapderer back to God. oh" you
say. that is a very sanctimorious
view Of life!" 1t is not. 1t is the only
bright view Of life, ard II is the only
bright view OF death. Contrast the
death-sccne Of a man who has meas
urcd lie by the worldly standard with
the 6eath-score Of man who has
measured life by the Christian stand
ard. GUM, the actor, in his last mo-
ments, said, Il hope this tragic scene
will soon be over, and hope to keep
my dignity to the last" Malherbes
said in his last moments to the con-
lessor. Hold your tongue! your mis-
cradle 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
himself about the proprieties of the
sick-room, and said, Give Dayboles a
chair" Godfrey Kneller spent his last
hours on earth in drawing a diagram
of his own monument.
Compare the silly and horrible de-
rarture OF such men with the seraphic
glow on the face OF Edward Payson,
as he said in his last moment; THE
breezes of heaven fan me. l float in
a sea OF glory" Or, with Paul the
ApostIe. 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 Henceforth there Is
laid up for me q crown of righteous
ness which the Lord, the righteous
Judge, will give me-" Or, compare it
with the Christian death-bed that you
witnessed in your own household. Oh,
my friends, this world is a false god!
1t will consume you with the blaze
in which 1t accepts your sacrifice,
while the righteous shall be held in
everlasting remembrance; and when
the thrones have fallen, and the monu-
ments have crumbled and the world
has persisted, they shall banquet with
the conquerors of earth and the hier-
aTchs of heaven.
This is a good day In which to be-
gin q new style of measurement. How