Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1901-08-06
JOHNS LETTER.
sELFIsHNEss, WHICH aUIDETH NOT
TOWARD THE LAND OF ETERNAL
MORNING.

Selfshness Is the father of many q
malformed child, impish and scottish and
brutal. Monopoly could have no exist
ence in this country or anywhere were
not selfishness the handspring Of the
human heart. 1t passes legally current
that corporations have no souls worth
mentioning; that the impelling power
is greed; that the source of all their in
spiration is gain, the greatest gain with
the smallest outlay, and no matter If the
toiling millions are empty as the
'vulgar air" If only they are full. One
other instance where the Golden Rule Is
set aside for a leaden one that weights
the world with needless cares and sor-
rows. The love of neighbor doesn't
come in there, only the love Of pelf and
the love of power. That principle was
not learned in the Sabbath School. That
inspiration was not drawn from the
Gospel Fount.
The teachings of Him who spoke as
never man spake, meet with no favor in
Wall Street, and those who tamper with
the bread of the people, and create
corners in life's necessities, are not
among those who visit the widow in her
affection and keep themselves unspOtted
from the world. They are not of those
who give cup of cold water in the
name of the Master, who clothe the
naked, feed the hungry and visit the sick
and in prison. But they are those who
hold lightly all things sacred and divine.
We test the vine by tasting the grape,
and the decision is that that is the kind
of grape vine they are, and grating
would be an advantage every way. What
they count as gain is an eternal loss
when thus obtained-a world gained and
a life wasted. Balance the account and
give us the result.
After a few feet years whose shall be
those heaped up riches, wrung like blood
from the hearts of the wretched and
wrenched remorselessly from the worn
and weary and rheumatic hands of toll,
when they have gone down to the dark
ness and the stiffness of the grave where
there is no device and no oppression,
and where all are equal, the king and
the beggar, the rich and the poor, the
oppressOr and the oppressed, the bond
and the free?
"In that village on the hill. never is sound Of
smithy nor mill;
The houses are thatched with grass and flowers,
never clock to tell the hours;
The marble doors are always shut; you may not
enter by hall or hut.
All the village lie asleep, never grain to SOW
nor reap,
Never 10 dreams to moan or sigh-sient and
Idle and low they lie."
What miserably slim resurrection
must he have whose life has been spent
in grinding the souls and bodies of Gods
poor! What nakedness and poverty!
What shame and everlasting contempt!
1t doesn't pay to be mean. 1t doesn't
pay to be dishonest. 1t doesn't pay to
shut up the heart of compassion against
our brother man, for what is our life?
sit speeds for us all like a bird on the
wing" How can we meet in confidence
even a merciful and compassionate God,
when down here upon earth we were
and uncompassionate?
That land where the Gospel sun shines,
where the Gospel rain falls, where the
Gospel airs blow balmy and sweet, is a
pleasant land, a land of flowers and
fruit, land of wine and corn, a land of
happy homes and cheerful faces, land
where all the virtues thrive apace, yet
even there rank weeds are found-cockles
and tares. An enemy hath done this.
When men slept then came the wicked
one and sowed tares among the spring
ing wheat. The evil and the good grow
up side by side and sometimes they seem
almost to Irvine and intertwine.
Will the deadly night-shade of sin
overshadow and crowd out the fragrant
and health-g giving plant called Righteous
ness? Do good and evil stand on equal
footing, and are they equally strong and
of equal duration? Good is eternal, but
evil is only for an appointed time. The
seeds of death were implanted there in
the beginning when the morning stars
sang together and all the sons of God
for JOY" while goodness, truth
and mercy are immortal as the Three-in-
One. This is the word spoken of old
by Him who cannot err and cannot lie:
''There shall be an end made of trans |
erosion and everlasting righteousness
be brought in," and that ought to settle
the matter beyond all controversy.
Sin is doomed and the limit is fixed,
but when cometh the end is secret un-
divulged. The Council Chambers of
the Almighty are curtained with a
cloudy mystery too dense to be penetrat-
ed. The time is coming when the
Kingdoms of this world will become
the kingdom of our Lord and His
Christ" where all noxious growths like
sin, shall find no place for
ever.
JOHN.