The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1899-04-25

the far es Life insurance and TIRE in
sursnce against accident Receipts lest
you haze 20 pay a debt twice. Life-boat
against shipwreck. Westinghouse ar
brake against railroad collision. and hun
dTeds Of hands ready 70 oyerreach yoH
and take all you have. Defense asesost
cold. defense against heat. defense
against sickness, defense against the
worlds abuse, defence all the way down
10 the grave, and even the tombstone
sometimes is rot a sufficient barricade
Now. II soldier, who has beer on
guard. shiVering and stunS with the coiu,
pacing up and down the pCrapet with
shouldered musket Is glad when some one
comes to relieve gaCrd ana nc can 20
inside the fortress. ought not that man
tn shout for joy who can pls down MS
weapon OF earthly defense ant go into che
Kings castle? Who is the mere fortunate.
the soldier who has to stand guard twelve
hours or the man who has 20 stand
guard six hcurs2 We have common sens
about everything but religion. common
sense about everything but iransiefenee
from this world.
Fewer Ties Sundered.
again: There is blessing in an abbre-
Waited earthly existence in the fact that
one escapes so many bereavements. The
longer we live the more attachments and
the more kindred. the more chords to be
wounded or rasped or sundered. II man
live on to seventy or eighty years Of age.
how many graves are cleft at his feetl In
that long reach OF time father and mother
20. brothers and sisters 20. children SO.
grandchildren so, and personal friends
outside the family circle whom they had
loved with love like that of David and
Jonathan. Besides that. some men have a
natural trepidstion about dissolution, and
ever and anon during forty or fifty or six
ty years. this horror of their dissolution
shudders through soul and body. Now.
suppose the lad goes at sixteen years OF
age? He escapes fifty funerals, fifty cask-
cts. fifty obsequies. fifty awful wrench
ings Of the heart. 1t is hard enough for
us to bear their departure, but is it not
easier for us TO bear their departure than
for them to stay and bear fifty departures
Shall We not by the grace OF God rouse
ourselves into a generosity OF bereaVe-
ment which Will practically say; 1t Is
hard enough for me TO go through this be-
reavement. but how glad ain that ne Will
never have to go through it.. SO ! rea-
son with myself. and so you viii find =
helpful to reason with yourselves. David
lost his son. Though David ~as King, he
lay on the earth mourning and inconsol-
able for some time. At this distance Df
time, which do you really think was the
one to be congratulated. the ShOrt-lived
child, or the long-lived father? Had Da-
vid died as early as that child died. he
would. In the first place, have escaped that
particular bereavement. then he would
have escaped the worst bereavement of
Absalom. his recreant son, and the pur-
suit of the Philstines, and the fatigIes OF
his military campaign, and the Jealousy OF
| Saul, and the perfidy of AhithOphel. and
| the curse of Shimei. and the destruction
of his family at Ziklag, and, above all.
| he would have escaped the two great
| caamities of his life, the great sins OF un-
cleanliness and murder. David lived to be
of vast use to the church and the world.
| but so far as his own happiness was con-
cerned. does il not seem to you that II
would have been better for him 10 have
gone early?
Evil to Come.
Now. this explains some things that
| to you have been ineXpliCable. This shows
you why when God takes little children
| from a household, he is very apt to take
| the brightest, the most genial, the most
| sympathetic the most talented. Why
| 1t Is because that kind of nature suffers
| the most when it does suffer. and is most
| liable to temptation. God saw the tenn
pest sweeping up from the Caribbean,
| and he put the delicate craft into the
| first harbor. Taken away from the evil tO
| come
Again my friends, there is a blessing
| in an abbreviated earthly existence, In
| the fact that il puts one sooner in tho
center of things. All astronomers. intidel
| as well as Christian, agree in believing
| that the universe swings around some
great center Any one who has studied
| the earth and studied the heavens knows
| that Gods favorite figure in geometry is
a circle. When God put forth his hand
| 10 create the universe, he did not strike
| that hand at right angles, but he waved
| il In a circle, and kept on waving IN a
! circle until systems and consultations
and galaxies and all worlds took that me
| ton. Our planet swinging around the
| sun, other planets swinging around other
| suns, but somewhere a great hub, around
which the great wheel of the universe
| turns. Now the center is heaven. Thut
| is the capital of the universe That Is
the great metropolis Of immensely.
| The Heart of Things.
| Does not our common sense teach US
| that, in matters of study, it is better tOl
US to move in from the circumference to
ward the center rather than 10 stay OF
| the circumference, where our world nov
i is? We are like those who study the
| American continent while standing on tn,
| Atlantic beach. The way to study tbs
| continent is 10 cross IT, or go 10 th'
| heart of II. Our standpoint In this work.
| is defective. We are at tho wrong enc
| of the telescope The best way to study
| a piece of machinery is, not 10 stand o.
! the doorstep and try to look In, but to q
| in with the engineer and take our plac,
| right amid the saws and the cylinders
| We wear our eyes out, and cur brain out
| from the fact that We are studying unee
such great disadvantage. Millions OF dol
| lars for observatories to study thing
| about the moon, about the sun, about tn
| rings Of Saturn, about transIts and occul
taJiOns and eclipses. simply because ou
| studio, our observatory. ls poorly situated
| We are down in the cellar trying to stud
! the palace of the universe, While gu
departed Christian friends have gone up
| stairs amid the skylights TO study. Now
| when one can sooner get TO the center o
! things is he not to be congratulated
| Who wants to be always In the fresh
| By the Biblical photograph Of Him; bu
| We all know We can, IN flVe minutes 0
! interview with a friend, get more accu
rate an idea OF Him than we can b.
studying Him fifty years through picture
or words The little child that died las
night knows more OF God than all Ando
yer, and all Princeton, and all New Bruins
! wick. and all Edinburgh. and all III
. I ]
| IL not better 10 20 up TO the very head
quarters of knowledge?
Circumference and Center.
Does not our common sense teach u
that 1t Is better to be at the center thai
to be clear out On the rim Of the whee
holding nervousIy fast TO the tire lest v
be suddenly hurled into light and eterna
felicity? Through all kinds Of optical In
struments trying to peer in through tn
cracks and the keyholes Of heayen-afrai
that both doors Of the celestial mausio
will be swung wide open before 0-r en-
tranced vision-rushing about among III
apOtnecary shops Of this world. wOnderin
If this is good for rheumatism and thar
good for neuralgia, and something else
good for bad cough, lest We be suddenl
| ushered into a land OF everlasting nealt
where the inhabltsnt never says, I ar
! sick
What fools We all are 70 prefer tn
circumference 10 the center what
p dreadful thing IL would be II we should d
} ! suddenly usheFed from this wintry wor;
into the Msy-time orchards OF hCaveI
and IL our pauperism Of sin and zorro,
I should Re suddenly broken urt ~ "a -