Connecticut western news., 1901-05-30

the plan is well laid out and will be
we'll executed. Give me brick and a
trowel, and l will begin now to help
build the wall. am not soloist, but
[ can sing Rock of Ages to a sick
pauper. | cannot write a great book,
but l can pick a cinder out of a childs
eye or a splinter from under his thumb
nail. l now enlist in this army that is
going to take the world for God, and
defy all the evil powers, human and
satanic, to discourage me. Count me
into the service. | cannot play upon
musical instrument, but l can polish a
cornet or string a harp or applaud the
All through that mans experience
there runs a faith that will keep him
cheerful and busy and triumphant. /
like the watchword of Cromwelps
'Ironsdes," the men who feared moth
ing and dared everything, going into
battle with the shout: THE Lord Of
hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is
our refuge. Selah!' No balance that
brain ever planned or human
hand ever constructed is worthy of
such a spirit. Gold and pre-
cious stones are measured by the carat,
which is four grains. The dealer puts
the diamond or the pearl on one side
of the scales and the carat on the other
side and tells you the weight But we
need something more delicately con-
to weigh that wonderful quail
ity of faith which | am glad to know
will be recognized and rewarded for all
time and all eternity. The earthly
weighman counterpoises on metallic
balances the iron, the coal, the articles
of human food, the solids of earthly
but he cannot test or an
nounce the amount of things spiritual.
Here is something which the Attic and
Babylonian weighing systems of the
oast and the metric weighing system
Of the present cannot manage. "The
Lord weigheth the spirits"
Ruinous Ambition.
Put also into those royal scales the
ambitious spirit Every healthy man
and woman has ambition. The lack of
It is a sure sign of idiocy or immorali-
W. The only question is, What shall
be the style of our ambition? To stack
up a stupendous fortune, to acquire
resounding name, to sweep everything
we can reach into the whirlpool of our
own selfishness-thati is debasing. ruin
Gus and beautiful. If In such a spirit
we get what we start for, we only Sc
cure gigantic discomfort. No man was
ever made happy by what be got. 1t
all depends upon the spirit with which
we get it and the spirit with which we
keep 1t and the spirit with which we
distribute 1t. Not since the world stood
has there been any instance of CON-
plete happiness from the amount of ac-
emulation. Give the man of worldly
ambition go years of brilliant successes.
He sought for renown, and the nations
speak ibis name; he sought for atilu-
ence, and he is put to his wits end to
find out the best stocks and bonds in
which he may make his, investments;
he is director in enough banks and
trustee in enough institutions and pres
ident of enough companies to bring on
paresis, of which he is now dying. The
royal balances are lifted to weigh the
ambition 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
scruple, less than a grain of sand, less
than an atom, less than nothing. Have
funeral a mile long with carriages;
let the richest robes of ecclesiaStics
rustic about the casket; caricature the
scene by choirs which chant Blessed
are the dead that die in the Lord"
That mans life is a failure, and if his
heirs scuffle in the surrogate's court
about the incapacity of the testator to
make a last will and testament it will
only be a prolongation of the failure.
The son, through dissipation, spent his
share of the fortune before the father
died and so was cut off with a dollar;
the daughter married against his will,
and she is disinherited relatives whom
he could never bear the sight of will
put in their claim, and after years Of
litigation so much of the estate as the
lawyers have not appropriated to them
selves will go into hands which the tes-
tator never once thought of when in
his last days he babe fearful farewells
to the houses and lands and govern
ment securities he could not take along
with him into the sepulcher.
Royal Balances.
But look into the dream of that
schoolboy who, without saying any
thing about it, Is planning his lifetime
career. From an old book, partly writ
ten in Hebrew and partly written in
Greek, but both Hebrew and Greek
translated into good English, he reads
Of a great farmer like Amos, great
mechanic like Aholiab, a great lawyer
like Moses, great soldier like Joshua.
a great king like Hezekiah, a great
poet like David, a great cleaner like
Ruth, great physician like Luke, a
great prea cher like Paul, a great Christ
like no one on earth or in heaven, be-
cause the superior of all beings ter
restrial or celestial. He has learned by
heart the Ten Commandments and the
sermon on the mount and has splendid
theories about everything. Between
that fair haired boy and the achieve
ment of what he wants and expects
there are obstacles and hindrances
known only to the God who Is going to
discipline him for heroics magnificent.
| have no power to prophesy the diff
ferent experiences of his encourage
ment and disappointment, of his strug-
gle OF his triumph, but as sure as God
lives to make his word come true that
boy, who will sleep tonight nine hours
without waking, will be final victor. /
do not know the intermediate chapters
of the volume of that young mans life,
but l know the first chapter and the
last chapter. The first chapter Is made
of high resolve in the strength of God
and the last chapter is filled with the
rewards of a noble ambition. AS his
obsequies pass out to the cemetery the
poor will weep because they will lose
their best friend. Many in whose tenn
porai welfare and eternal salvation he
bore q part will hear of it in various
places and eulogiZe his memory, and
God will say to the ascending spirit
ITO him that oyercometh will l give tC
eat of the tree of life, which is in the