The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1902-11-03

consciousness or Its completeness. w
have done our best We have not onl
| put our hands to IL. but our hearts In II
and IL Is done. We are satisfied bn
what is OF far more concern. humanit.
Is benefited. In a small way II Is
masterpiece I'm the gallery OF good work
and IL Will shine as a beacon light q
men.
But II Is not enough that our works
shine because of their completeness. Th
light that they give forth must be OF suci
nature that mon will see IL. The worl
must be so constituted that IL will oper
the eyes OF the blind. As OF old. there
are those who have eyes and see not.
good deed cast before such would be al
pearls cast before swine.
IL Is necessary that every Christian
worker. and there are no Christians who
spiritual occulist. As a sermon must
sometimes be OF nature to raise the
dead so must our deeds be OF char
acter 10 open the eyes OF the living.
man does not light candle. says
Jesus. and put II under a bushel. A man
does not buy goods and put them In a
cellar. but In show case. Yet II must
be confessed that TO all practical pur-
poses much OF the work that we do
might as well be done in a garnet so
far as its influence on humanity is con-
cerned.
AwAKENS NO DESIRE.
1t lacks drawing power. 1t awakens
no desire. One Is struck with the fact
that a few simple deeds In history have
lived longer and are better known than
the fighting OF great battles and the fall
OF empires. IL matters not II those brave
soldiers who fought and won at Mara
thon fought for their own fresides and
died for their country: their deeds are
less known. The battle that staid the
rude culture OF the east and awakened
the latent possibilities OF one Of the most
splendid eras I'm the history OF the civil
lization of the west has had no such
Immortality as the story OF the prodigal
son.
The outcast on our streets has not heard
of the Plains OF Marathon but he has
heard OF father who, while his son
was yet long way of. went out to meet.
and despite his prodigality said: "All
that / have is thine. Let us eat and
make merry. for this. my son, was dead.
and Is alive again. he was lost and is
found" IL is the story OF love
II the pages that record the story OF
the Good Samaritan were consigned TO
the flames and every written reference
destroyed there would remain so vivid
a recollection OF II In the memory OF man
that multitudes could again produce II.
Paradise Lost" THE Iliad" Faust"
Hamlet" have never won a place In
the heart of humanity as a whole. but
the world knows of this parable OF Jesus.
and IL will live among the masterpieces
OF literature as one OF its brightest
gems IL is the story of mercy The
world has forgotten the name OF the
battle I'm which Sidney fell. but children
recall that when this chlvalric knight
lay upon the battlefield with a burning
fever and lips parched with thirst he
refused the cool cup that was handed
him and extended IL 10 his dying neigh
bor deeming his extremity greater than
his own. II is the story OF brave and
heroic sacrifice.
FOR OTHERS GOOD.
II we should seek an explanation for
the Immortality of these incidents we
should find II In the fact that some one
did something. not for their own glory,
but for the good of some one else
Love, mercy. sacrifice, are only the
words that describe the spirit In which
Il was done The eternal truth In IL Is
the thought that one soul in the great
sea OF souls touched another without
thought OF reward. II is the concrete
hess OF the incidents that affect us There
ire only two persons involved, the giver
and the receiver. To quote a saying I
nave quoted before from DIR. Parkhurst.
'eligion, but II takes God and two men
% make Christianity.
We want to empha size the two here
tnective work In Christianity excludes
more than two. we have weakened our
have professed love for humanity, but
have not loved the neighbor We weep
over society that is lost and degraded
and shun the outcast man who begs at
We pray for men, but we don't work
Tor the one man who is near enough TO
our lie Tor us TO touch and heal him. II
was not the Christian church or any 9TH
sr institution that redeemed Col. Ifadley
from drunkard's grave and made him
one or the most effective agents In the
hands of God In the last century. 1t was
the life and love and prayers of his own
brother. -, The mind OF man seeks the
concrete illustration. 1t grows tired baf-
ling with abstract truth
But while the mind only seeks the con-
crete the soul demands there is no such
.ning as helping men. But IL Is the foun-
iation truth on which Christianity builds
see your good. works. You have done
something for him. and just as the story
of the prodigal and the story OF the prod
lgal son live In humanity. so that one
good deed Will live and bear fruit In his
life In the coming years. You cannot
lead me to believe these things are ever
forgotten, Often does 1t seem so at the
ofttimes has more vitality than the deed
Itself. A mother feels that her work and
prayers have been wasted. The son goes
down into disgrace. But when he has
reached the depths OF sin a fragment of
n song she has sung Is waited to him or
the words OF a prayer she has uttered
becomes clear I'm his -clouded mind. and
this Is the golden thread that leads him
ack To manhood
The convicts who are converted. the
drunkards who are redeemed are the
men who have had warm hearted, low
Ing. praying mothers and the memory OF
these things are revived by the love- the
mercy and the sacrifice OF some man or
woman who enters into their life. There
IL no such thing In Christianity as hu-
manity Pray and work and love and
sacrifice FOR some are concrete individual
soul; and that soul will see your good
works.
HUMILITY OF SPIRIT.
Yet after all isn't tho effort to do this
n Kind OF selfish egotsm. Isn't II pre-
sumptious on our part to suppose that we
are better than other men, that the light
from our works. even should men see
them, can be OF service. Aren't we dan
gerously near seeking our own glory I'm
all this matter? And how often II occurs
to men and women. conscious OF their
weakness. that they are not worthy of
becoming an example. either in their lives