Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1901-01-16
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in one Of his sermons that there would be
laughter in heaven. Blessed are We that
weep now, for We shall laugh" And what
could caHse more merriDeent among the
glorified than rehearsal of the earthly
differences between Christians, differ
ences once seeming of such vast impor-
lance, but differences unknown amid the
heavenly worshipers? What will be the
bigot's amazement when he sees seated
side by side on the banks OF the river Of
life Calvin and Arminius, Archbishop
Cranmer and some dissenting preacher
OF the gospel who never graduated, one
who on Garth was a ROBBED and surpliced
eeclesiastie, and backwoods minister
who IN the log cabin meeting house
preached in a linen buster? Among the
great surprises of heaven for the bigot
viii be the celestial friendliness of those
who on earth OF ,osed each other in
wrathiest polemics. He will get through
the gate, sfor be. has a spark OF divine
grace in his heart, but there will not be
an inch Of room to spare on either side of
him. 1t viii not take long for heaven to
educate him into a glorious big hearted
ness.
Again, the penurious Christian will not
have an abundant entrance. Perhaps he
was not converted until all his habits of
tight tstedness were fixed beyond recov-
cry The people who are generous were
taught to be generous in childhood. You
can tell from the way that boy divides
the apple what his characteristics for
generosity or meanness viii be for the
next eighty years, if he lives so long If
he eats it all himself while others look
wistful;y on, he will be Shylock; if he
give half of it to some one who has no
apple, he will be an ordinarily generous
man; if he give three-fourths of it to an
other, he will be Baron Hirsch or
George Peabody.
Christian Be nevolence.
For thirty years this man has been
practlcing an economy which prided itself
On never passing a pin without picking
1t up, and if he responded at all in church
would put on the collection plate so insig-
nihcant a coin that he held his hand over
1t so that no one could discover the small
ness of the denomination Somewhere
in the fifties or sixties of his life, during
a revival Of religion, he became a Chris
respects, but his all absorbing acquisi-
tiveness still influences him. To extract
from him a gift for an orphanage or
church or poor woman who has just
been burned out is an achievement, You
and L know very good men, their Chris
tan character beyond dispute, and yet
they are pronounced BE- all as penGrious,
and they know it themselves and pray
against it. We all have our bad habits,
and yet expect TO get to heaven, and this
skinfiint has his mighty temptations The
passion of ayarice well Illustrated its
strength when in one of the houses of ex
humed Pompeii was found the skeleton
of man who was trying to escape with
sixty coins and a silver saucepan. For
those valuables he dared the ashes and
scoria of Fesuvius which overwhelmed
him, and many good man has been held
nightly by ayarice. But the day is COM
ing for that penurious Christians depar-
ture from the world. He has an awful
struggle in giving up his government Sc
curities. The attorney who drew his last
will and testament saw HOY hard it was
for him to leave his farm or his store
house or investments, especially those
that IN the markets are called gilt edged.
Those that yield only 3 per cent he easily
resigns to the care of his executors, but
those that yield s or 9 or 10 per cent,
how can he give them up while the mar
ket is still rising?
Bolstered up in bed, knowing he has
got to sign ii, be reads the document over
and over again. and then. with a manner
that seems to say, well, if | must, /
must" he signs his name to that surren-
der OF his last farthing of earthly posses
sions. He enters heaven. but he has not
an abundant entrance. The fortune that
won for him in this world much attention
makes no impression in that country,
where the gold is so common that they
make streets out of ii and precious stones
are so usual that they build them into
walls. jasHer at the bottom, amethyst at
the top, emerald and rubies between. He
will get in, for he has enough grace to
save him, but his place in heaven will not
be so high up or so brilliant as that eff the
woman whose generosity and self-sacri-
fee have been celebrated for thousands
of years-the widow of the two mites.
No room for his severe economies up
there.
Reward of Self-Sacritice,
But thai brings me TO the other thought
of my text, that there are those who will
when they leave this life, bound into
heaven amid salhtations infinite. sFor
so an entrance shall be administered I'M
to you abundantly." Such exultant adj
mission will await those who enter heay.
en- after on earth living a life for others
and without reference 10 conspicuity. On
the banks of the Ohio or the Tuscaloosa
or the Androscoggin is large family. all
of whom have been carefully and relig-
iously reared In the earlier stages of
chat family there were many privatinns.
The mother of the household never had
any amusements. Perhaps once in a
year poor theatrical play WAS enacted
in the nei2hboring school house or a
squawkiug concert in the town hail. and
that was all the diversion afforded for
the winter season. | asked the manager
Of an insane asylum in Kentucky. From
what class of persons do you get most of
your patients?' and he said From
farmers wives" | asked the same ques-
ton of the manager of an insane asylum
in Pennsylvania. and the same question
of the manager of an insane asylum in
Massachusetts,. and got the same reply.
I'VE have on our rolls for treatment
more farmers wives than persons com
ing from any other class" That answer
will be a surprise to some: it was no sur
prise to me. The simple reason is. farm
er., wives as a general thing have no III
version. It is breakfast, dinner and sup
per. sewing. securing. scrubbing. knit
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