Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1901-01-18


ards, and from their opulence they
are making a distribution which
pleases the Heavens. The check
book in the Office drawer of that
man has On its stubs a story of be-
nefcence clear up into the sublime.
In all the round of the worlds suf-
fering and ignorance and woe you
cannot mention one worthy object
to which that prosperous and good
man has not made contribution. He
is not irritated, as many are, by So
licitations for aims. In some poor
woman in thin shawl, holding in her
arms child with rheum in it's eyes,
this good man sees the Christ who
said: 'Inasmuch as We have done it
unto one of the least of these, ye have
done it unto me-"
Well, this man of consecrated a1f1u-
ence is about to go out Of this world.
He feels in brain and nerve the strain
of the early struggles by which he
won his fortune, and at 60 or 20 years
collapses under the exhaustions of
the twenties and thirties of his life
time. When the morning papers an
| nounce that he is gone, there is ex-
element not only on the avenues
| where the mansions stand, but all
through the hospitals and asylums
| and the homes of those who will
henceforth have no helper. But the
excitement of sadness on earth is a
very tame affair compared with the
excitement of gladness in Heaven.
| The guardian angel of that good
mans life swept by his dying pillow
| the night before, and on swift wing
upward announced that in a few
| hours he would arrive, and there is a
mighty stir in Heaven "He comes!"
| cries seraph 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 and through the
streets to hail him :nto the land which
they reached some time before
through his Christian philanthropy.
| ''Why. that is the man who, when I
was a-hungered, gave me bread!"
''Why, that is the man. says another,
"who encouraged me when I was in
the hard struggle of business life!"
''Why, that is the man, says another,
''who paid my rent when I had moth
ing with which to pay!" ''Why, that
is the nan through whose mission
airy spirit heard the Gospel call in
Bombay!" "Why, that is the man."
says another, "who helped send the
Gospel of Christ to the aborigines of
America and caused me to exchange
the war whoop of the savage for the
song of Christian deliverance!"
'Stand back commands the gate
keeper of Heaven, "all We throngs re-
deemed through this mans instru-
mentalities! Make way for him to the
feet of the King, where he will cast
his crown, and then make way for
him to the throne, where he shall
reign forever and evern Now, that
is what I call an abundant entrance.
You see, it is not necessary to be
failure on earth in order to be sue
cess in Heaven.
But I promise that all those who
have lived for others and been truly
Christian, whether on a large or
small scale, will have illustrious in
| PRODUCTION into the imported gateway.
Here and there in some large family
you see an attractive daughter who
! declines marriage that she may take
care of father and mother in old days.
This is not an abstraction. I have
known such. You have probably
known such. There are in this world
womanly souls as 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 septugenarian 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 home to take
care of an aged father or mother has
her hands just as full.
While I thus discourse 1 am aware
that some have not taken the first step
toward Heaven, and they feel like Jacob
Strawn, who took some ministers OF
the gospel on the top of his house to
show his farms, reaching in every di-
rection as far as eye could see.. He
was asked how many acres he owned
and he replied 10000. 'How much is it
worth per acre" was asked. and he re-
| piled: FIFTY dollars at least" Then,
said the minister, you are worth ST.
0O0. 000." eyes," said Strawn, land /
made it all myself" Then the minister
said: "You have shown me these vast
earthly possessions. and now will you
look up yonder, (pointing to the heav-
ens)-how much do you own up there"
And Strawn answered with tears in his
| eyes: "Oh, am afraid am poor up
there" Alas, how many there are who
have acquired all earthly properties
and advantages, but have no treasures
| in Heaven! They are poor up there.