The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-01-25

heaven, IN therefore all Deiong 20 one
denomination of sainthood. Christ said
In one OF his sermons that there would be
laughter in heaven. Blessed are We that
weep now, for We shall laugh" And b
could cause more merriment among the
-giorifed than a 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, n
who on earth was a robed and supplied
ecciesiastic, n q backwoods minister
who in the log cabin meeting house
preached in a linen buster? Among the
great surprises Of eaven for he bigot
will be the celestial friendliness of those
who on earth opposed each other in
wratkiest polemics. He will get through
the gate, for he 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
udFt jill dDuuuduI culIduCt. eIudpS lie
was not converted until all his habits of
tight fistedness 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 will be for the
ext so years, if he lives so long. If he
eat it all himself while others look wist-
fully on, he will be a Shylock; if be 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 another,
he will be a Baron Hirsch or a George
Peabody.
Christian Benevolence.
For 80 years this man has been prac-
ticing an economy which prided itself on
never passing a pin without picking it up,
n if he responded at all in church
would put on the collection plate so insig-
nificant a coin that he held his hand over
it SO that no one could discover the small
ness Of the denomination. Somewhere
in the fftfes or sixties Of his life, during
q revival of religion, he became a Chris
tan. He is very much changed in most
respects, but his all absorbing acquisi-
tiveness still influences him. To extract
from him a gift for an orphanage or a
church or q poor woman who has just
been burned out is an achievement. You
and l know very good men, their Chris
tian character beyond dispute, and yet
they are pronounced by all as penurious,
n they know it themselves and pray
against it. We all have our bad habits,
and yet expect to get to heaven, and this
skinflint has his mighty temptation. The
passion of avarice well illustrated its
- al
humed Pompeii was found the skeleton
of n man who was trying to escape with
60 coins and a silver saucepan. For
those Ealuables he dared the ashes and
scoria of Fesuvius which overwhelmed
him, and many o good man has been held
nightly by avarice. 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
c%urities. The attorney who drew his last
will II testament saw how hare 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 8 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 it, he reads the document over
and over again, and then, with a manner
that seems to say, well, if l must, l
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,
whore tho GOLD iS & N aOD1mnn fhaf thny
make streets out of it and precious stones
are so usual that they build them into
walls, jasper 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 of the
woman whose generosity and self sacri-
flee have been celebrated for thousands
Of years-the widow of the two mites.
No room for his severe economies up there,
where everything is so lavish and so ra-
dlant and So imperial and so infinite that
the humbleSt man is q king and the poor
est woman 4 queen, n the stars of
heaven which bespangle our m~idnights
are only the dewdrops on the lawn of our
Fathers house. / am glad that the old
man got in, but / wish that when his
heart was converted his pocketbook had
been converted, so that a thousand souls
who might ave preceded him into heav-
en- through his Christian charities might
have kept a special holiday on the occa-
sion of his arrival.
Reward of Self Sacrifice.
But that brings me to the other thought
of my text, that there are those who will.
when they leave this life, bound into
heaven amid salutations infinite. $40
so an entrance shall be administered un-
to you abundantly." Such ~exultant ad-
mission will await those who enter heav-
en- after on earth living a life for others
and without reference to conspicuity. On
the banks of the Ohio or the Tuscaloosa
or the Androscoggin is a large family, all
of whom have been carefully and reli-
giously reared. In the earlier stages of
that family there were many privations.
The mother of the household never had
any amusements. Perhaps once in IA
year a poor theatrical play was enacted