Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1901-01-18

| Well, this man of consecrated aff,u.
ence is about TO go out OF this world
He feels I'm brain and nerve the strain
OF the early struggles by which he won
his fortune and at GO or 40 years col
lapses under the eXhaustions of the
twenties and thirties of his lifetime
| When the morning papers announce
that he Is gone, there Is excitement not
only on the avenues where the man
sions stand, but all through the hospi
tails and aSylums and the homes OF
those who will henceforth have no
helper. But the excitement of sadness
on earth Is very tame affair eompar.
cd with the excitement of gladness In
heaven. The guardian angel OF that
| good mans life swept by his dying pil-
low the night before and on swift wing
upward announced that In few hours
he would arrive. and there is q mighty
stir In heaven. "He comesw cries ser.
aph to seraph. The Kings heralds are
at the gate TO say, Come, We blessed"
and souls who were saved through the
churches that good man supported and
hundreds who went up after being by
him helped in their earthly struggle
will come down off their thrones and
out of their palaces aud through the
streets to hail him into the land which
they reached some time before through
his Christian philanthropy Now, tina;
is what I call an abundant entrance
You see. II is not necessary to be a
failure on earth in order to be q success
In heaven.
Received with joyful Acclaim.
But l promise that all those who
have lived for others and been truly
Christian. whether on n large scale or a
small scale, will have iilustrious intro.
duction into the impearled gateway.
Here and there in some large family
you see an attractive daughter who de.
clines marriage that she may take care
Of father and mother in old days This
is not an abstraction. / have known
such. You have probably known such
There are In this world womanly souls
rs big as that. They cheerfully endure
the whimsicalities and querulousness
which sometimes characterize the aged
and watch nights when pneumonia is
threatened and are eyes to the blind
and sit in close rooms lest the septua-
genarian be chilled and count out the
right number of drops at the right
time. The mother of little child has
her hands full, but the daughter who
stays at home TO take care of an aged
father or mother has her hands Just as
full
After years of flial fidelity on the
part OF this self sacrificing daughter
the old folks go home. Now the
daughter is free from marital alliance.
but the damask rose In her cheek IS
faded, and the crows feet have left
their mark on the forehead, and the
grncefulness is gone out of the figure.
and the world calls her by n mean and
ungallant name. But, my Lord and
my God, surely thou wilt make IL up
Tor that girl in heavenly reward. on
all the banks of the river of life there
Is no castle of emerald and carbuncle
richer than that which awaits her. Its
windows look right out upon the
Kings park, and the white horses of
the chariot are being harnessed to meet
her at the gate, and IL there are no 9th
ers to meet her father and mother will
be there TO thank her for all she did for
them when their strength failed and
the grasshopper became q burden. and
they will say: my daughter. how kind
| you were TO us even until the lastl
How good IL is to be together in heay-
en-! That Is the Kings chariot come
for you. Mount and ride to your ever
lasting homer Now, that is what 1
call an abundant entrance.
Il Trfu
Know right we'll that in whatever sta
ton OF life you now move, and whether
your intellectual faculty be brilliant or
dull and your worldly resources opu-
lent or poor, you may have mt the gate
or heaven jubilant and triumphant re.
cepuon. All soldiers cannot be Hanni-
bals and Marlborough, ali admirals
cannot be Duponts and Farraguts. all
authors cannot be Bacons and South
eys, neither can all Christians be Pauls
and Richard Cecils. Do your best right
where you are, asking Gods helm. and
you will not only win glorious admis-
sion. but you will make all your life I'm
heaven a grander and higher life.
IL is a good thing to have a healthy
ambition in this world, and why not an
ambition not TO stand among the COM
parative failures OF heaven Saved as
by fire." but TO be classified among
those who did something worthy of
immortals? The Bible distinctly tells
that there will be grades in heaven.
las one star differeth from another
star In glory" VIII you be among the
lower grades when you may be among
the higherF or course cherubic and
seraphic orders are fixed. and you can.
not enter them. but in what low or
high order OF the sainthood YOU NAV
live and reign forever you are now de-
Gliding by your present half hearted
ness or enthusiastic ardor. BE the
means OF salvation of one man or one
woman and you stir all, the heights
celestial, for there is JOY In heaven
among the angels OF God over one sim
ner that repenteth.
But imagine one of these scarcely
saved Christians entering the shining
realm. He passes ia a stranger. Saint
says TO saint, WHO comes there?" and
angel to angel, "Who is thatr' He
moves up and down the streets and
meets no one whom he helped to get
there. He goes into the great temple
and finds among the throngs of the
white robed not one. soul whom he
helped to join the doxologies. He goes
into the "house of many mansions"
and finds not one spirit whom he help
ed to start for that high residence. /
am glad that he got In. but / am amaz-
ed that In the 80 or 40 or 10 years of
his life he did nothing for God and the
beIterment of the world which woke
the heavenly echoes Oh. child of God.
II you had never thought of il before,
/ present the startling fact that you
are now deciding not only the style of
your heavenly reception. but the grade
OF your association and enjoyment of
the world without end. Are you salts.
fed with yourself that you can afford
10 throw away raptures and ignore
heavenly possibilities and elect your
self to lower status and classify your.
self amid the less efficient vvhan Won