The age-herald., 1901-12-22


 no other way, that gratitude is apt to be only another axe to grind. While there is possibility that you may return still more service you are thanked, but when you can return no more advantage you are dropped. Here Is a man whom you have helped in political elevation. When the time comes for the compliment to be returned, you are not only refused help but you receive positive opposition. You have found out that you should do the right thing not with respect to reward gratitude, but because it is the right thing to do. Many are miserable because they are all the way looking for grati- tude which they can not find You might as well go down Pennsylvania avenue, Washington, or Broadway, New York, or Fremont street. Boston. your eyes scrutinizing the pavements looking for turquoises and emeralds and rubbies. Perhaps you might find them, but there is not much probability that in fifty years you would find one of them.
 Surprising Discoveries.
 No one has come to midlife who has not been stung by ingratitude. On the battlefield of Alma in 1854 a wounded Russian was crying in anguish of thirst for water. Captain Eddington of the English army ran to him and gave him
 
 to join his regiment the wounded sol dier shot him. Almost all languages have proverbs setting forth this per versity. English proverb, Bring up raven, and 1t will pick out your eyes"
 Arabic proverb, Eat the present and break the dish" Italian proverb. "The ass, after having drunk, gives a kick to the bucket" An old proverb says, "1f God were to be so complacent as to car- It I.1. kD ID not thank him for hs pains if he did not also set us down in an easy chair" You will never be happy in this world if you do not do all the good you can and look for no responsive gratitude. All dam age I did a man who Is my enemy was to take him from a position where he received $700 a year salary into a posi- tion where he has ever since received $2500 year. He never forgave me- but has pursued me with pen vitriolic ever since. The worst enemy you ever had is the man you introduced and favored and helped. But be not disturbed or even irritated You are no better than your Lord. If the world had had any thank full appreciation of his coming it would have filled that Bethlehem caravanary with flowers, which bloom there clear on into the December month, and Herod instead of attempting his death, would have sent a chariot to fetch the infant to the palace, and the oyer and terminer of Pilates court room would have pro-, nounced him not guilty, and instead of a cross and a crown of thorns 1t would have been a coronation, with all the mighty ones of the earth kneeling at the foot of his throne.
 Another discovery that surprises us be- cause we had not passed this way be- fore is the fact that if two be in quar- rel or in war with each other the one who is most wrong is the hardest and the slowest to make up. Who wrote them I know not, but I cut these two lines out and pasted them in my scrap book twenty years ago, for the words are so strikingly true:
 Forgiveness to the injured does belong But they ne'er pardon who have done
 the wrong.
 We talk about the great discoveries of the age, the electric power, the steam power, the telescopic and microscopic power but do not say anything about the discoveries we all make year by year and day by day There are sur prses all the time It is new road we are travelling. 'Ye have not passed this way before."
 Our Only Opportunity.
 But closely allied is the other fact which we hinted at in the opening-that we will not pass this way again. This is our only opportunity of doing certain things that ought to be done. On all sides there are griefs we ought to solace, hunger we ought to feed, cold that we ought to warm, kind words that we ought to speak, generous deeds we ought to perform. All that you and I do to ward making ths world better and hap pier we must do very soon. or never do at all. Joshua and his troops never came back over the way they were marching toward the crossing of the Jordan. The impress of the sandal or the bare feet of each soldier showed in what direction he was going, but never did the impress of the sandal of any one of them show that he had returned. We are all facing eternity to come. There Is no retreat. Alertness and fidelity would not be so important if we could truthfully say, 'I will be back here again. The things I neglect now I will do the next time I come. I will be reincarnated and I will resume my earthly obligations Having then more knowledge than I have now, I will dis charge my earthly duties better than I can now discharge them. l do not give solemn farewell to these obligations and opportunities, but a smiling and cheery goodby until I see them again" No, we can not say that. There will be no new and corrected edition of the volume of our earthly life. After we make exit from the stage at the close of the fifth act we can not re-enter. How many millions of people have lived and died I know not, but of all the human race who have gone only seven persons that I now think of have returned the son of the widow at Zarephath, the young man of Main, the rulers daughter, Tabitha Eutychus, Lazarus and Christ Among all the ages to come I do not suppose there will be one more who will return to this life, having once left 1t.
 Put Your Trust in God.
 At this point I ask you to notice the fact that my text does call attention to the crossing of the Jordan, but to the way leading thereto. We all think much of our crossing of the Jordan when the march of our life Is ended, but put too little emphasis on the way that leads to the crossing. What you and l need most to care about is the direction of the road we are travelling. We need have no fear of the crossing if we come to 1t