Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1900-01-05

nurse EeDll6u, L duu LILO uticO WhO
ed Voltaire In his last illness, and for all
tho wealth of Europe would never see I'm
other infidel de-" What discourse in its
moral and spiritual effect could equal
tale like that?
You might argue upon the fact that those
fallen are our brothers and sisters, but
could we impress any one with such truth
SO well as by the scene near Victoria Park,
London, where men were digging deep
drain, and the snoring gave way and
great pile of earth fell upon the workmen.
A man stood there with his hands In his
pockets, looking at those who were trying
10 shovel away the earth from those who
were buried, but when some one said to the
spectator, "Bill, your brother is down
there" then the spectator threw OF his
coat and went to work with an agony OF
earnestness to fetch up his brother. what
course of argument could so well rs that
incident set forth that when we toll for the
Of soul it is brother whom we
are trying to save?
A second reading OF my teAt reminds me
that life is not only a story told, but that
it is brief story. A long narrative
stretched out Indefinitely loses its interest.
1t is generally the story that takes only
minute or half u minute to rehearse that
dIItSlS tD0 ultOutIOus hb0 tnht SiFOo oU-
ditional interest 10 the story OF our life. 1t
is q short story Subtract from our life all
the hours OF necessary sleep, all tho hourg
of incapacity through fatigue or illness, ali
the hours OF childhood and youth before
we get fairly to work and you have abbre
Waited the story OF life SO much that you
can appreciate the psalmist's remark when
he saws, "Thou hast made my days as q
hands BREADTH" and can appreciate the
apostle James expression when he com.
pares life to ga vapor that appeareth for
little season and then vanishes away"
1t does not take long to tell all the vi.
cissitudes Of lfe-tho gladness and the
griefs, the arrivals and the departures,
the successes and the failures, the victor.
les and the defeats, the ups and tho downs.
The longer VIC live the shorter the years.
We hardly get over the bcwildering fatigue
of selecting gifts for children and friends
and sec that the presents got off In
time to arrive on the appropriate day
than we sec another advancing group
of holidays. Autumnal fruit so sharp
ly chases the summer harvest, and the
snow of the white blossoms of spring
tme come too soon after the SHOWS OF
winter. 1t is remark so often made
that it fails to mako any impression and
tho platitude that calls forth no reply,
"How rapidly time goes"
Every century is n big wheel OF years,
W bich makes hundred revolutions and
breaks down. Every year Is p big wheel OF
months and makes twelve revolutions and
then ceases. Biologists and tbeologians
go into elaborations of guesses as to how
long The world will probably last; how
long before the volcanic forces will explode
ii, or meteoric stroke demolsh 1t, or the
cold of long winter freeze out its popula.
ton, or the fires Of last conflagration
lurn it. That is all very well, but so fal
as the present population Of the earth is
COM erned the world will last but a little
longer, We begin life with a cry and end
it with q groan, and the cry and the groan
are not far apart. Life. Job says. is like
the flight of weaver's shuttle, or, as
David intimates in my text, q story quick
ly told ant laughed at and gone and dis
placed by another story as "tale that is
told"
We talk about public life and private
life, but there is no private life. The story
of our life, however Insignificant 1t may
seem to be, will win the applause or hiss
of q great multitude that no man can mum.
Der. As "tale that Is told" among adj
mrers or antagonists, celestlals or pande-
moniacs, the universe Is full of listening
ears as we'll as of cleaning eyes. II
we say or do the right thing, that's known.
If we say or do the wrong thing, that is
known. suppose the population Of the
in the air Is more numerous
.han the population of intelligences on the
earth. Oh, that the story of our life might
be fit for such an audience in such an au-
aitorium! God grant that wisdom and
fideity and earnestness and truth may
al, OBJ Y.ioof ha foil fhot ic fold ~
Through medical science the worlds
longevity may be greatly improved in the
future, as it has been in the past, but it
would not be we'll for the people to live too
long. Some of them would, through their
skill at acquisitiveness, gather too much,
and some multimillionairos would become
and trillionaires, and somo
would after awhile pocket hemisphere
No. Death is useful in It's financial limita-
lions, and then all have enough sorrows
and annoyances and sufferlngs by the timo
they become nonagenarians or contenar-
JAMS to make it desirable to quit. Besides
that, it would not be fnir so long to keep SO
many good old people out OF heaven. SO
it is we'll arranged that those who stand by
the deathbed of tho nineteenth century
will not be called to stand by the deathbed
of the twentieth century.
Oh crowd this last year with prayers,
with hosaDnas, with kind words, with help.
fulness. Make the peroration OF the GEN.
fury the climax of Christlike deeds Close
up the ranks Of God, and during this re-
naming twelve months charge nightly
against the host of Abaddon. Have no
reserve corps. Let swifteet gosrol cavalry
gallop, and heaviest moral artillery roll,
and mightiest evangelistic bltteries til H.
der on the scene. Let ministers OF tho
gospel quit all controversy with each
other and in solid phalanx march out
for the worlds dlsenthrallmcnt. Let
printing presses, secular and religious,
make combined movement to instruct and
the world. On NIL the hills let
there be Elijahs praying fora great rain,"
and on every contested field Joshuas to
see that final victory Is gained before the
sun goes down, and every mountain be-
come TRANSPORTATION. and ovnry Galilee
Il walking place of Him who can hush
tempest. Let US be jealous OF every month,
of every week, of evory day that passes
glorious wrought for God ard this sin
cursed world. Let our churches be
with devout assemblages. Let
the chorals be moro like grand marches
than requiems. Let tho coming year see
the last wound OF Transvaal and Philippine
conflict, and the earth quake with the
arms Of the last regiment ever
to be marshaled aud the furnaces OF tho
foundries blaze with the fires that shall
turn the last swords into plowshares.
And may all those whose lives shall 60
out in this last year OF a century, as many
will, meet in the heavenly world those who
in the morning and monday of this hun.
dred years toiled and suffered for the
worlds salvation to tell them how much
has been accomplished for the glory OF
Him whose march through all the coming
centuries the Scriptures describe as going
forth "conquering and to conquer" on,
the contrast between that uplifted spec.
tacle of eternal triumph in the presence OF
God and the Lamb and these earthly
scenes, where eve spend our years as atale
that is told"
What tho Transvaal VIII Have to paw.