The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-05-15

government securities and town lots and
big farms just for the pleasure of accumu.
lation is despicable, but the putting aside
OF a surplus Tor your self defense when
your. brain has halted. or your right hand
mas forgotten its cunning, or your old age
needs manservant, or for the support Of
others when you can no more be bread.
winner for yo"r household-that is right,
that is beautiful. that is Christian, that is
divineiy approved. That shows that you
have taken So.omons ant hill for an OBJ.
ject lesson. Going out of this world with.
out leaving dollar for those who remain
behind, if You have done your best, you
have right to put your head in calm con-
tdence on the pillow which Jeremiah
shook up in the forty-ninth chapter Of his
prophecy, Leave thy fatherless children.
will preserve them alive, and let thy
widows trust in Me-"
But if, having the means, through mort.
cages or houses or life insurance for pro.
viding for helpless widowhood and or
phanage, you make no provision for post
mortem need, how dare you 80 up and
take palace in heaven and let your wife
and children go to the poorhouse or into
struggle for bread that makes life horror
and sometimes ends in suicide?
But my subject reaches higher than tenn
poralities-foresight for the soul, provision
!or eterHdi eApeIlenGes, preparation !or tne
far beyond. Ant hills, speak out and teach
us larger and mightier lesson of prepar-
ing food for the more important part of
us! Do you realize that a man may be
millionaire or a multi-millionaire for time
and bankrupt for eternity, prince for
a few years and pauper forever? The
ant would not be satisfied with gathering
enough food for half winter or quarter
of q winter. But how many of US seem
content, though not having prepared for
the ten-millionth part of what will be our
existence!
Put yourself in right relations to the
Christ of the ages, through Him seek par
don for all you have ever done wrong and
strength for all you will be called to en-
dure, and there will be no force in life or
clare it! There is enough of Transforming
and strengthening power in Christ for
both hemispheres!
Furthermore, 60 to the ant and con-
slider that it does not decline work because
it is insignificant. The fragment Of seed it
hauls into its habitation may be SO small
that the unaided eye cannot see it, but the
insectie work goes on-the carpenter ant
at work above ground, the mason ant at
work under ground. Some of these Great.
ures mix the leaves of the fir and the cat.
kins of the pine for the roof or wall OF
their tiny abode, and others 60 out as
hunters looking for food, while others in
domestic duties stay at home. Twenty
spccks of the food they are moving toward
Their. granary, put upon a balance, would
hardly make the scales culver. All OF the
work is on a small scale. There is no use
in our refusing mission because it is in
significant. Anything that God in His
providence puts before us to do is impor-
tant.
The needle has its Office as certainly as
the telescope and the spade as a parlia-
mentarian scroll. You know what became
of the man in the parable of the talents,
who buried the one talent instead of put
ting it to practical and accumulative use.
His apology was of no avail.
Furthermore, 60 to the ant and consider
its indefatigableness. If by the accidental
stroke OF, your foot or the removal of a
timber the cities of the insectile world
are destroyed instantly they go to rebuild
ing. They do not sit around moping. At
diately gives way to their industry. And
if our schemes OF usefulness and our plans
of work fail why sit down in discourage
ment? As large ant hills as have ever been
constructed will be constructed again. Put
your trust in God and do your duty, and
your best days are yet to come. You have
never heard such songs as you will yet
hear, nor have you ever lived in such grand
abode as you will yet occupy, and all the
worldly treasures you have lost are moth
ing compared with the opulence that you
will yet own. If you love and trust the
Lord, Paul looks you in the face and then
waves his hand toward heaven full of
palaces and thrones, crying, "All are
yours!" So that what you fail to get in
this present life you will get in the coming
life. Go to work right away. and rebuild
as we'll as you can, knowing that what the
trowels of earthly industry fail to rear the
scepters of heavenly reward will more than
make up.
When during the plague in London, at
the risk of his life and under the protest
of his friends, Rev. Thomas Vincent spent
his time preaching the gospel to the suf-
ferers and 6S,5O6 people perisheed, seven
fatalities in the house where he lived, did
it just happen so that he came lnrough un-
hurt? In Fulton street prayer meeting,
New York, a young man rose and said: i
have been all Intidel fourteen years. had
the prayers of a pious mother, but. l
spurned them. / have not seen her for
fifteen years. I suppose she has given me
up as lost. / don't know where to find
her, but would like to tell her what the
Lord has done for me in answer to her
earnest prayers" Did it just happen so
that his mother was present and cried out,
IN, my son, my son" You know of the
YOU know how it began? A New Testa-
inent was dropped from an English ship
in the harbor of Tokyo. The little book
came into the hands of a prominent, Jap
anese, who read it and was brought to
God, and Immediately began to commend
Christ to the people. Did all that merely
happen so! Tell that to those who do not
believe there is God, but do not tell IT
to at least hundred of US who have had
in our own lives providential rescues as
easily proved as that we have ever lived
at all.
But we live in times where there are so
many clashings. There seems almost uni
versal unrest. Large fortunes swallow up
small fortunes. Civilized nations trying to
gobble up barbaric nations. Upheaval OF
everything now believing nothing. The
old book that Moses began and st. John
ended bombarded from scientific observa.
tories and college class-rooms. Amid all
this disturbance and uncertainty that
winch many good people need IS not
stimulus. but a sedative, and in my text l
find it-diviue observation and guidance
of ninutest affairs. And nothing is to
God large or small, planet or ant hill, the
God who easily made the worlds employ
ing His infnity in the wondrous construc-
ton of spiders foot.
Before we leave this subject let us thank
God for those W ho were willing to endure
the fatigues and self sacrifices necessary
to make revelation of the natural world,
so reinforcing the Scriptures. If the mi;
croscope could speak, what story it could
tell of hardship and poverty and suffering
and perseverance on the part of those who