The Farmington times and herald. (Farmington, St. Francois Co., Mo.) 1902-1905, 1904-07-01

Rev Leonard u. jenkins. pastor OF 1.-THE
Pennington NJ. Church, south.
"Hc that lovcth his life shall lose ii. "
John r2:2S.
There's a saving that's a losing,
There's giving that's gain
For not using is abusing
You must plant or waste the grain!
Life that's precious, give it, plant it
Hearts Of men they are the field.
God his rain and sunshine grant it
What harvest it shall yield
|. Life feeds upon life. The
history of vegetation is the story of
death and decay and life springing
out of death. The rock wasted
the lichen lived and died, the moss
lpt! down its little body, the me
teors wasted themselves and gave
their dust to the earth-all this that
the giant oak might be; and but
for this, the cedar of Lebanon
would not stand as an emblem of
strength and beauty. Everywhere
in the world of nature the law is,
life ont of death Even the sun,
we are told, burns up himself that
he may make the flowers and ripen
the harvests,
> And the law is not changed
when we read the history of man
The story of kingdoms and repub-
lies is tale of bloodiest tragedy.
That the ancient Kingdoms might
stand, blood ran as n river runneth.
For instance, the island where
stands the throne of British rule,
how oft has it been bathed in noble
Saxon blood And what has con
secrated our own land and made
our government strong, but the
graves of our immortal forefathers
and brothers. The hearts of he
r0es have been the seed of empires
} What shall we say of the his
tory Of Literature' lfless tragical
hardly has it been less pitiful.
Great books abound, but what sut.
terlng and sacrifice were essential
to their production. Authors have
died that books might live. The
Had cost Homer his eyes; Milton
lost his vision of earth that he might
gain sight of Paradise; Pilgrims
Progress cost John Bunyan's $ free
dom--had there been no Bedford
jail there would have been no Pill
grim's Progress; and had Tenny-
sons heart never bled from grief :
sore wounds, he could never have
written In Mcmoriam The
blood of genius has been the seed
of Literature.
Even the story of Art and Music
is wondrOusly pathetic Not few
are they who, loving Art, have
really died that she might live; and
Jenny Lind never sang the sweetest
song of the Swedish Nightingale"
until after her heart was broken.
We see the cost OF some things
that men hold dear, and how plain
it is that nothing great grows ax.
cept in the soil of sacrifice and the
atmosphere of suffering. And if
what man considers valuable calls
for such large price, shall we gain
what Heaven counts most precious
without effort or struggle or sacri.
fice' Has character no price,
Character, the greatest of earth's $
commodities, is gained not before
the greatest of prices is paid. The
life must be planted as seed that
character may grow as harvest.
There are some things better than
life ltsclf-kindness, mercy, purity,
goodncss-and many are planting
their very lives that they may grow
such fruit as this. They love their
lives only that they may plant them
for such harvest. And as they
freely spend their lives for their
felIow-men, their eyes of faith be.
hold across the river richest golden
grain waving in the fields of the
future. Learning to live for 9th.
ers, they begin to live forever.