The Iola register., 1901-05-03

SltS Wltnln, bOu, WHO Ieeueln every
living thing, has blesseu'the ant hill.
In contrast with that insectile be-
havior, what do you think of that
large number of prosperous men
and women who live up to every dol
lar that they make, raising their
familie in luxurious habits and at
death expecting some kind friend to
give their daughters employment as
music teachers or typewriters or gov
ernment employees? Such parents
have no right to children. Every
neighborhood has specimens of such
improvidence. The two words that
most strike me in the text are "sum-
mer" and "winter." Some people
have no summer in their lives. From
the rocking cradle to the still grave
it is relentless January. Invalid in
fancy followed by some crippling ac-
cident or dimness of eyesight or dull
ness of hearing or privation or disas-
ter or unfortunate environment make
life a perpetual winter. But in most
lives there is a period of summer, al
though it may be short summer,
and that is the time to provide for
the future.
One of the best ways of insuring
the future is to put aside all you can
for charitable provision. You put a
crumhbling stone in the foundation
of your fortune if you do not in your
plans, regard the sufferings that you
may alleviate. You will have the
pledge of the high heavens for your
temporal welfare when you help the
helpless, for the promise is: blessed
is he that considereth the poor. The
Lord will deliver him in time of
trouble" Then there is another way
of providing for the future. If you
have $1,000 a year income, save 500;
or $4,000 a year, save $500; or $4,000,
save $1,000 Do you say such econ
omy is meanness? | say it is vast
er meanness for you to make no pro-
vision for the future and compel
your friends or the world to take
care of you or yours in case of be-
reavement or calamity.
Going out of this world without
leaving n dollar for those who re-
main behind, if you have done your
! best you have n right to put your
| head in calm confidence on the pill
low which Jeremiah shook up in the
forty-ninth chapter of his prophecy:
leave thy fatherless children. l will
preserve them alive, and let thy wild
ows trust in me-" But if having the
means through mortgages or houses
or life insurance for providing for
helpless widowhood and orphanage
you make no provision for post NOR
tenn need, how dare you go and take
palace in Heaven and let your wife
and children go to the poorhouse or
into struggle for bread that makes
life a horror and sometimes ends in
suicide?
But my subject reaches higher than
temporalities - foresight for the
soul, provision for eternal expert
ences, preparation for the far be-
yond. Ant hills, speak out and teach
us larger and mightier lesson of
preparing food for the more impor-
tant part of usi Do you realize that
man may be a millionaire or a
multimllionaire for time and a
bankrupt for eternity, prince for
few years and n pauper forever?
| The ant would not be satisfied with
| gathering enough food for half a
winter or quarter of a 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
] ..1a -
| through Him seek pardon for all you
have ever done wrong and strength
for all you will be called to endure,
and there will be no force in life
or death or eternity to dscomfit
you. I declare it! There is enough
OF transforming and strengthening
power in Christ for both hemi-
spheres.
Furthermore, go to the ant and
consider 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 in
sectile work goes on, the carpenter
ant at work above ground, the ma
! '''' wv H' WI N SIpulNs pOllt
of these creatures mix the leaves OF
the fir and the catkins of the pine
for the roof or wall of their tiny
abode, and others go out as hunters
looking for food, while others in do
nestle duties stay at home. Twenty
specks of the food they are moving
toward their granary put on bal
ance would hardly make the scales
quiver. All of it work on a small
scale. There is no use in our refus-
ing n mission because it is insignifi-
cant. Anything that God in His prov
idence puts before us to do is impor-
tant. The needle has it's office as
certainly as the telescope and the
spade as a parliamentarian scroll
There is no need of our wasting time
and energy in longing for some other
sphere. There are plenty of people to
do the big and resounding work of the
church and the world. No lack of brig
adler generals or master builders OF
engineers for bridging Niagaras OF