Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1900-01-04

ioning the story of their own life. "What
thy hand findeth TO do. do it with all thy
might" Passing all, passing everything,
as tale that is told"
My text, in referring to the years, re-
minds me that in 10 hours this year will
forever have gone away. Ninety-nnc out
OF the hundred years of this century will
have disappeared. We have only one yeat
Of the century left. There ought to be
something especially suggestive in the
last year Of century. 1t ought to be
year OF unparalleled industries, of I'M
heard OF conservation. Not a person iI
any of our audiences this day can re.
member the first year of this century
Not a person in any of our audiences to-
day will ever again see the last yeur of {.
century.
The Usefulness of Death.
Through medical science the worlds
longevity may he greatly improved in the
future, as it has been in the past, but it
would not be well for people to live too
long. Some of them would through their
skill at acquisitivnness, gather too much,
and some multimillionares would become
bllionaircs aud trillionairos, and some
one would after awhile pocket hcmi-
sphere. No. Death is useful in its inan-
cial limitations. and then all have enough
sorrows and annoyances and suiferings
by the time they become nonagenarians
or ccntenarans to make it desirable to
quit. Besides that, it would not be fair
so long to keep so many good old people
out of heaven. So it is well arranged
that those who stand by the dcathbed Of
the nineteenth century will not be called
to stand by the dcathbed Of the twentieth
century.
Oh, crowd this last year with prayers
with hosannas, with kind words, with
helpfulness. Make the peroration of the
century the climax Of Christike deeds
Close up the ranks OF God and during
this remaining IL months charge nightly
against the host OF Abaddon. Have no
reserve corps Let swiftest gospel cav
airy gallop. and heaviest moral artillery
roll, and mightest evangelistic batteries
thunder on the scene. Let ministers of
the gospel quit all controversy with each
other, and in solid phalnnx march ont
for the worlds observation-disclosures. Let
printing presses, secular and religious,
make combined movement to instruct and
emancipnte the world. On all the hills let
there be Elijah, praying for "a great
rain" and on every contested field Josh
uas to see that final victory is gained be-
fore the sun goes down, and every noun
tain become TRANSPORTATION, and every
Galilec walking place of him who can
hush tempest. Let us be jealous of ey-
cry month, of every week, OF every day
that passes without something significant
and glorious wrought for God and this
sin cursed world. Let our churches be
thronged with devout assemblages. Let
the chorals be more like grand marches
than requiems. Let this coming year see
the last wound of Transvaal and Philip
pine conflict. and the earth Quake with
the grounding arms of the last regiment
ever to be marshalcd and the furnaces of
the foundries blaze with the fires that
shall turn the last swords into plow-
shares.
And may all those whose lives shall go
ont in this last year of a century, as
many will. meet in the heavenly world
those who in the morning and MONDAY OF
this hundred years toled and suffered for
the worlds salvation to tell them how
much has been accomplished for the glo.
~ Of him whose march through the last
10 centuries and through all the coming
centuries the Scriptures describe as going
forth "conquering and to conquer" Oh.
the contrast between that upiifted spec.
tacle of eternal triumph in tle presence
of God and the Lamb and these earthly
scenes, whore 1--WE spend our years as a
tale that is told"