Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1901-05-31

INTO the Whirlpool OF our own ~
that is debasing, r'uinous and dealhlui'
In such a spirit we get what we sIart NJ
we only secure gigantic discomfort ~
man was ever made happy by whaI ne got
It all depends upon the spirit with Whicn
we get il and The sDirit with which we
keep it and the spirit with when we Gus
tribute it. Not since the world stood has
there been any instance of complete nap
pness from the amount of accumulation.
Give the man { worldly ambition siTty
years of brilliant successes. lie soughI lor
renown. and the nations speak his name;
he sought for afiiuence, and he Is put 10
his wits end to find out the best stocks
and bonds in which he may make nus ~
vestments he is director in enough banks
and trustee in enough institutions and
president of enough companies to bring on
parcsis, Of which he is now dying; Inc
ROYAL balances arc lifted to weigh the am
bition which has controlled him a lifetime:
What was the worth of that ambition;
How much did it yield for usefulness and
heaven? Less than a scrupie. less THAN
grain of sand, less than an atom, less than
nothing. Have a funeral a mile long with
carriages: let the richest robes OF ecclesl'
astics rustic about the casket; carcature
the scene by choirs which chant Blessed
are the dead that die in the Lord. ihat
mans life is failure. and If his hers
scuffle in the Sulrogate's court about the
incapacity of the testatOr to make last
will and testament it will only be a pro-
longation of the failure. The son, through
dissipation. spent his share of the fortune
before the father died, and so was cut off
with dollar; the daughter married against
his will. and she is disinherited; relatives
whom he could never bear the sight or
will put in. their claim. and after years OF
litigation so much of the estate as the law
yers have not appropriated to themselves
will go into hands which the testator
never once thought of when in his last
days he babe fearful farewells to the
houses and lands and government securi-
ties he could not take along with him into
the sepulcher.
I do not know the intermediate chapters
-of tn,. volume of that young mans life,
but / know tie first chapter and the last
chapter. The first chapter is made OF high
resolve in the strength of G6d, and the
last chapter is filled with the rewards or
noble ambition. AS his obseques pass out
to the cemetery the poor will weep because
thew will lose their best friend.
Many in whose temporal welfare and
eternal salvation he bore part will hear OF
it in various places and eulogize MS mem
ory. and God will say to the ascending
spirit, "To him that overcometh will l
give to eat of the tree of life. which IS III
the midst of the paradise of God" In the
hour of that souls release and enthrone-
ment there will be heavenly accIamation
as in the royal balances "the Lord weigh
eth the spirits"
But il our character and behavior as a
nation are reversed and good morals give
place to loose living and God is put away
from our hearts, and our schools and our
homes and our people and our literature
be debauched. and anarchism and athe-
ism have full sway, and our American
Sabbath becomes Partisan Sabbath, and
Infamous laws get place on our. statute
books, and the marriage relation becomes
a joke instead of sanctity, and the GOD
to whom Columbus prayed to on the day
of his landing from stormy seas and whom
BENJAMIN Franklin publicly reyerenced
when he moved, amid derisive cries, the
regular opening Of the American Congress
with PRAYER, shall in our national future
be insulted and blasphemed, then it will
not be long before we will need another
Edward Gibbon to write the decline ana
fall of the United States republic, and IL
will not be another case or destructlon Dy
the Goths and Huns and Tartars and lam
erlanes and Attilas or foreign opposition
and hate, but it will be case OF world as
founding national suicide.
The wish of this sermon is to empha-
size the invisible, to show that there are
other balances besides those made OF brass
and platinum and aluminium and set IN
earthly storehouses: that the spirit is the
most important part of us; that the scales
which weigh your body are not as impor-
tant as the scales which weigh your soul.
Depend not too much for happiness upon
the visible. Pyrrhus was king and had
large dominion. but was determined to
make war against the Romans, and Cineas,
the friend of the king, said to him, Sir;
when YOU have CONQUERED them what Will
YOU do next?" ''Then Sicily is near at
hand and easy to master" "And what
when YOU have conquered SicityW Then
we will pass over to Africa and take Car,
thage. which cannot long withstand us.
"When these are conquered, what will you
next attempt" "Then we will fall IN
upon Greece and Macedonia and recover
what we have lost there" 'Well, when
all are subdued what fruit do YOU expect
from all your victories" Then, SAID
the king, I'VE will sit down and ENJOY our
selves" 'Sir." said Cineas, "may we not
do II now? Have you not already king
dom OF your own? And he that cannot
enjoy himself with kingdom cannot with
the whole world"
I saw to you who love the Lord the
kingdom is within you. Make more OF the
invisible conquests; study peace which
the world has no bushel to measure. no
steelvards to weigh. AS far as possible
we should make our balances like to the
divine balances.
What world this will be when it Is
weighed after its regeneration shall have
taken place! Scientists now guess at the
number of tons our world weighs, and they
put the Apennines and the Sierra Nevadas
and Chimborazo and the Himalayas in the
scales. but if weighed as to its morals at
the present time in the royal balance the
heaviest things would be the wars, the
international hatreds, the crimes mountain
high, the moral disasters that stagger the
hemispheres OIL their way through immen,,
sty But when the gospel has gardenzed
the earth, as it will yet gardenize 1t, and
the atmosphere shall be universal Dam'
and the soil shall produce universal har-
vest and fruitage, and the last cavalry
horse shall 90 unsaddled, and the last gun
carriage unwheeled, and the last fortress
turned into museum to show nations III
peace what horrid thing war once was,
then the world will be weighed, and as
the opposite side of the scales lifts as
though it was light as feather the right
side of the scales will come down, weigh
ing more than all else, those tremendous
values that st. Peter enumerated-faith,
virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience,
goodness, brotherly kindness, charity.
God forbid that it should ever be writ
ten concerning us as individuals or COM
munities or nations, as it was written on
the wall of Belshazzar's banqueting hall
the hour when Daniel impeached the mon
arch and translated the fiery words which
blanched the cheeks of the jewellers and
made them drop their chalices Drumming
with wine. Chou art weighed in the bal
ances and fond wanting"