Milford chronicle., 1901-05-31
A Cheerful Faith.

All through that mans experience there
runs a faith that will keep him cheerful
and busy and triumphant. I like the
watchword Of CromwelPs Ironsides, the
men who feared nothing and dared every
thing, going into battle with the shout:
1.-The Lord Of hosts is with US, the God
Of Jacob is our refuge! Selah" No bal
ance that human brain ever planned or
human hand ever constructed is worthy
Of weighing 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 constructed to
weigh that wonderful quality of faith
which l am glad to know will be recog-
nized and rewarded for all time and all
eternity. The earthly weighman counter
poises on metallic balances the iron, the
coal. the articles of human food, the
solids Of earthly merchandise, but he
cannot test or announce the amount Of
things spiritual. Here is something
which the Attic and Babylonian weigh
ing systems Of the past and the metric
weighing system Of the present cannot
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it's"
Put also into those royal scales the am
bilious spirit Every healthy man and
woman has ambition. The lack Of it is
sure sign of idiocy or immortality. The
only question is. What shall be the style
of our ambition? To stack up a stu
pendous fortune. to acquire a resembling
name, to sweep everything we can reach
into the whirlpool of our own selfishness
that is debasing, ruinous and beautiful.
If in such a spirit we get what we start
for, we only secure gigantic discomfort.
No man was ever made happy by what
he got. It all depends upon the spirit
with which we get it, and the spirit with
which we keep it, and the spirit with
which we distribute it. Not since the
world stood has there been any instance
Of complete happiness from the amount
of accumulation. Give the man Of world
~ ambition 60 years Of brilliant successes.
He sought for renown, and the nations
speak his name. He sought for affluence,
and he is put to his wits end to find out
the best stocks and bonds in which be
may make his investments. He is direct
or in banks enough and trustee in enough
institutions and president Of enough com
panies to bring on paresis, of which he is
now dying The royal balances are lift
ed to weigh the ambition which has con-
trolled 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
a 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 failure, and il his heirs scuffle in the
surrogate's court about the incapacity Of
the testator to make last will and tes-
lament 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 dol
lar. 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 tesla
tor never once thought Of when, in his
last days. he babe fearful farewells to the
houses and lands and government securi-
ties he could not take along with him into
the sepulcher.