The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1903-05-22

period OF his life. but no, having happened
during his first four score wears 10 he 50
eircumstanced or 20 be So pueked by
the pull Of events as TO discover that he
was not a noneatity. and when summoned
TO action by Jehovah. pleading off. as so
many like him have done since, by alleging
himself 20 be eonstitutionally unequal 10
the task that was set him. IL YOU ask
man 20 do something who thinks himself
incompetent and he saws mo" YOU have
10 take his "No." The advantage the Lord
has is that He does not have 10 take a
mans No did not take Moses "No.'
but clung 20 him. stood him up and put The
load on him and tod him 90 60 along with
il. and just the weight OF the load made
him able 20 60 along with II, pressure found
the limp muscles that had been waiting for
almost a century 10 be crushed into ever
tion. and circumstances not made him
great, but gave him a chance 10 be what
he and millions Of other people are in con.
dition 20 I've when the chance comes, when
the assassin's bullet strikes, when az the
opportune moment a shove Is gwen into
the Pool Of Bethesda.
No matter what . person is in native
aeutsness or in inward moral and Christian
beauty, we give him credit Tor only so
much rs has externalized itself and as has
wrought itself into a kind OF encompassing
halo. and we base estimate on the square
a
time seen locomotive looming out OF the
darkness with it's flashing headlight. and
that light has appeared 10 YOU so brilliant
in the dense nigh, IL has seemed 10 YOU al.
most as though the front of the engine
were frescoed with section OF the sun
and the ground for n hundred rods in adj
vance of the train whitened with almost
the brilliRncy OF daytime. But II YOU have
had an opportunity 10 INSPECT that head
light and 10 narrow all this illumination
down To its fountain source YOU have very
likelv discovered there n small glass lamp
furnished with n wick and little kerosene
oil. This Is not 10 find fault with the LIGHT,
hut only 10 call attention 10 the fact,
which YOU are likely 10 forget. that in es.
timating IL YOU reckoned in the reflector
that was framed To encompass the light
and which made YOU suppose there was
great deal more luminousness than was act.
ually the case. That is the way in which
our estimates generally are arrived at
original light with the clrcumlncent rctiec-
tor added in-central flame plus the au.
reole.
penses with aurcole-which Is what Scrip
ture means when IT SAYS that He looSeth
not on the outward appearance. lie ls
never misled by reflectors or by the alb
sence Of iefectors. A man may have very
little virtue and Yet put that virtue INTO
some SNOWY achievement with large SUI
periiclal area, whereupon men get out
their measuring rods. figure up the area,
consult the multiplication table and decide
that he has n great deal of virtue: that is
what | mean by computing on basis OF
aureo ole, adding reflector TO the little kero-
sene lamp. On the other hand n person
may have an immense amount OF virtue.
but circumstances be such that II never
becomes manifested IN a way TO arrest at
l..,. S,l ls,ht tta.s hn
but not shining under conditions that ring
It with a halo
Now that was the case with the woman
in the temple The halo hunters saw
nothing hut a commonplace widow travel
ing past the contribution box. The Lord,
with whom nimbus does not count, saw
and felt what the woman herself meant
and was. To Him she was the same as
though she had dropped IN a thousand
shekels, but not 20 others who were pres
ent, fo- Others would have reasoned just as
people do now, and would have looked To
the size of her gft 90 determine the size
OF her heart and would have concluded
therefore that she had a twopenny heart.
Already nineteen hundred years ago that
poor widow had been become convinced
that nobody has a right 10 die rich. y
She acted on the principle when she threw
IN her two mites. No one made anything
OF II but Jesus, because there was not glld'
ing enough upon her advertisement OF the
principle TO make the air bright about IT..
Nineteen hundred years later the same
principle that nobody has a right 10 do
die rich was announced by one quite dii-
ferently situated from the widow with two
mites; and the principle and the man who
announced IL were published and heralded
clear around the Globe. In the first IN
stance there was only two-penny halo,
and in the other a mlllion-dollar halo and
the big halo won. II cannot be part OF
our purpose TO claim that the illustr'ous
Scotchman is not Just as charitable as the
inconspcuous .Jewcss. We are only claim.
ing that the reflector that you frame
around the lamp is no part OF the lamp
and certainly no part OF the blaze that the
burning oil sustalns.
IL would be interesting to see the com
motion that would have been excited over
her there in the temple had heart AZ
sweet and beautiful az the Lord saw her
heart TO be- not been held under the limi-
tations OF ungenerous circumstance, and
had IL been within her means 10 do all that
her heart prompted-in other words, had
the conditions under which she lived been
wide and open enough TO match her own
personal nobility. Most people live IN a
very small world; they are in IT and they
have TO stay in 1t. Influences hereditary.
and providentlal II you please, have built
~
prisoning; possessed OF hearts and intelli-
gence larger than the sphere that despotc
circumstances permit them 10 fill. some
times IL may be due 20 physical debility;
sometimes il comes as the result OF those
untoward conditions in early life that pre-.
vented the discipline OF personal powers
and graces. certainly possessed but sui-
hciently cultivated 90 make them a lad
and serviceable potency. Such ones are all
about us and we could give their names.
Then there - another host Of those who
by the very necessities OF hfe have been
condemned 90 an inevitable routine oi
small duties, destined 20 lifelong slavery
that 10 not called slavery only for the rea-
son that the lash that ~ held over them IL
welded by common necessity, not by
slave master
! feel this very keenly sometimes when
| stand by the casket OF some faithful old
soul that has lived a good many years and
been patiently faithful all the while, and
then try 10 speak some kindly memorial
word IN her behalf before the casket ~
finally closed. There - not very much
that can be sad, at least Of a Kind that -
usually thrown into eulogies. She simply
did kindly and well lot Of little things
one day, and then the next day did very
much the same things over again. and con
tinued IN that way TIL the final night
came and she lay down 10 her long rest.
Va the newspaper column OF deaths you
read that she was born on such a date,
died on such date and the funeral will be
held on such a day That j. you will find
such a notice az thIs II there are enough
people that cared for her and II the suryi-
vors can afford 30 pay for the advertise
ment And that u all. Nothing IN The
case out Of which 20 construct the ordinary
run of funeral Grafton; no luminous halo
made up Of remarkable works done, re
markable words spoken; no record you
can read from Of .arge donations beque1th-