Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1901-10-04


Immortality that comes from pomp OF
obSequies or granite shaft or building
named after its founder or page OF
recognition I'm some encyclopedia Is an
Immortality unworthy OF ones ambi-
ton, for IL viii cease and Is no immor-
tality at all. Oblivion, \ hundred
years. But while l recognize this uui-
verSal submergence of things earthly.
who wants to be forgotten? Not one
OF us Absent for a few weeks or
months from home, IL cheers us TO
know that we are remembered there.
Ii is phrase we have all pronounced,
81 hope YOU missed me-" Meeting some
friends from whom we have been part
Ell many years we inquire. "Did you
ever see me before?" And they say,
YES" and call Us by name. and we
feel delightful sensation thrilling
through their hand into our hand and
running w from elbow Go shoulder aud
then pSr;lnc the one current % delight
ascending 70 the brow and the other
descending 70 the foot moving round
aud round "a concentric circles until
every nerve apd muscle and capacity
OF lse,'v and mSad and Soul is permcat.
e6 with delight
GOOD IlNcS Forever.
Now, I have 10 teN YOU that this Oh.
GviON &c which have spoken has itS
defeats. and there is no moro reason
why we shoald rot De distinctly and
vivi6ly and gsoriouSly remembered ave
hundred million billion trisllon QWsdrii.
lion oOntlliOn years trom Oow than
that We should * Remembered six
weeks. san going 10 tell YOU how the
thing can be done and wsn be done.
We may build this everlasting ~,
soSsoAyaNce.~ as my text STYLES is. into
the spperual existence OF those 90
whom we 90 kin6ncSscS IN this world.
You must remember that this infrm
and treachevouS faculty which we now
call memory Is in the future state 20 be
coI0piete and perfect. Everlasting re-
mcmSvSnce.' Nothing win slip the
stout grip Of that celestial faculty. Did
you help widow pay her rcnt7 Did
you find for that man released from
prison plsce 20 get honest works DID
YOU pick I'M n child. fallen on the curb
stone. and by a stick OK candy put ia
his hand stop the hurt on his scratched
knee; Did you assure business man.
swamped by the stringency OF the
money market, that times would after
awhile be betterg Did you lead Mag
d2len OF tho street into n midnight mis-
sion. where the Lord said TO her: mel
Their do l condemn thee. Go and sin
no noreT" Did you tell n man. clear
discouraged in his waywardness aud
hopeless and plotting suicide, that for
him was nearby n laver, in which he
might wash and a coronet OF eternal
blesSedness he might wear?
What are epltaphs IN graveyards,
what are eulogiums in presence Of
those whose breath is In their nostrils.
what are unread biographies In the al
coves OF n city library, compared with
the imperishable records you have made
in the illumined memories OF those 10
whom you did such kindnesses? For
get them? They cannot forget them.
Notwithsta uding all their might and
splendor. there are some things the glo-
rified OF heaven cannot do. and this is
one of them. They cannot forget an
earthly kindness done. They have no
cutlasS 20 part that cable. They have
bencfactiou. Has Paul forgotten the
inhabitants of Malta, who extended the
island hospitality when he and others
with him had felt, added to n ship
wreck, the drenching rain and the sharp
cold? Has the victim OF the highway
man on the road TO Jericho forgotten
the good Samaritan with n medicament
OF oil and wine and free ride TO the
hostelryf Have the English soldiers
who went up TO God from the Crimean
battleiields forgotten Florence Nightin-
gale? Through all eternity will the
northern and southern soldiers forget
the northern and southern women who
administered 20 the dying boys in blue
and gray after the awful fights in Ten.
nessee and Pennsylvania aud Virginia
and Georgia. which turned every house
and barn and shed into a hospital and
incarnadined the Susquehanna and the
James and the Cbattahoochee and the
Savannah with brave blood2 The kind
nesses you DO TO others viii stand rs
long in the appreciation OF others as
The gates of heaven will stand, Us the
house OF many mansions" viii stand,
rs long as The throne OF God VIII stand.
oblivion Defeated.
Another defeat OF Oblivion will be
found In the character OF those whom
we rescue, uplift or save. Character is
eternal. Suppose by a right influence
we aid in Transforming bad man into
n good man, a dolorous man into hap
by man, a dlsheartened man into n
courageous man, every stroke Of that
work done will be immortalIzed. There
may never be so much as one line In a
newspaper regarding IL or no mortal
tongue may ever whisper IL into human
ear, but wherever that soul shall 60
your work upon 1t shall go, wherever
that soul rises your work on it will
rise, and so long as that soul Will last
your work on II will last. Do you sup
pose there will ever come such an ids-
otic lapse in the history OF that soul In
heaven that il shall forget that you in
vited him to Christ; that you, by pray
er or gospel work, turned him round
from the wrong way to the right way?
No such insanity will ever smite a
heavenly citizen. 1t is not half as we'll
on earth known that Christopher Wren
planned and built ST. PauPs as II Will
be known in all heaven that you were
the fundamentally OF building a tenn
pie for the sky. We teach Sabbath
class, or put n Christian tract in the
hand Of passerby. or testify for
Christ in prayer meeting, or preach a
sermon, and so home discouraged, as
though nothing had been accomplished,
when we had been character building
with material that no frost or earth
quake or rolling OF the centuries can
damage or bring down.
There is no sublimer art on earth
than architecture. With pencil and
rule and compass, the architect sits
down alone and in silence and evolves
from his own brain a cathedral or a
national capitol or a massive home be-
fore he leaves that table, and then he
goes out and unrolls his plans and
calls carpenters and masons and arti-
sans OF all sorts to execute his design,
wi &C. G,,fz