The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-08-27
WITH EMPTY BUT
Y N'''' H'A"'''1 CLEAN HANDS
By REV. II. III. WHITAKER.

1t seems to me that it was but yes
terday when Louis Kossuth, the lead
er OF the hungarian revolution, Was
the admiration Of the liberty -ioVing
world, and when, by an act of Con-
gress, he was invited to visit the
United States as a guest. | am OF
the opinion that our people, in those
days loved liberty and admired pa
triots more than they do in these
days and times KOsSuth arrived IN
New York December 8, 1851, receiv-
ng the most magnificent reception
that had ever been accorded to any
foreigner. Fifty thousand people, 1t
was said. awaited his arrival, and
crOm neighhOrmg towns and cities they
continued / pour in, until more than
a hundred thousand joined process
sion that was almost Crazed with en-
thusiasm over their hOnOred guest.
KosSuth's fame was the result of his
patriotic effort to give to Hungary an
independent government, an effort
which failed, by the way, and he had
to flee from his country, taking refuge
in Turkey. Through the good offices
of England and the United States he
was pardoncd by his goVcrnment; SOON
after which, as | remember, the Con
gress of the United States, admiring his
| liberty-lOving zeal and his unselfish
| patriotism, invited him to come over
{ and be the honored guest of a people
who had been more SuCCcSStul In their
efforts to throw off the yoke of tyr
amy.
Yes, ffty-four years ago, when KOS
Suth was the champion of liberty
| in Hungary, our people filled with
patriotic impulse, shouted his praise
from one end Of the country to the 9th
| DR. and around each firesidc his name
stood for liberty. Remembering their
! own Washington and the perils
! through which he led his country to
| independence, at last, every man, Wo-
man and child, regarded Kossuth rs
| another Washington, striving to free
another people. and earnestly hoped
| that Hungary might at last, be free
with Kossuth as it's president. But fate
| seemed to be against his great move
ment.
Kossuth remained in this country
| several months, visiting most Of the
! larger cities, after which he returned
| to Europe and spent the remainder OF
| his life in comparative poverty. In
| the last days of his life, history tells us
| that he gave uttcranCc to these words;
| 81 am prepared to die. These hands OF
mine are empty but clean"
| Measured by tho worlds standard.
Kossuth'S life was a failue. But by
| Heavens standard what a grand sue
| cess was his life? Hands empty, but
| clean"
What contrast between him and
| William NJ. Tweed, known as BOSS
Tweed" tho famous Tammany leader.
of thirty years ago. He succeeded in
| filing not oniy his hands but his pock-
cts with ill-gOtten gains; prostituted
| his party as we'll as himself, to the
| basest and most dishonest purposes;
| bribed legislators, corrupted jurors and
l
| amaSscd wealth At last he was
| brought to justice and died in Lud-
| low Street Jail. In his last moments
| he said: My life has been d failure in
everything There is nothing L am
proud Of"
Kossuth died with empty but clean
| hands, prepared to meet God in peace.
| Tweed could remember nothing in his
| life to be proud of.
| Life is what we make it, and when
| death comes the record cannot be cor
| rected; it must stand as it has been
made, whether good or bad; and the
| dying mortal knows beforehand, how
stands the life account. Queen Eliza
| beth, who, for forty-iive years was the
ruling monarch of England. during all
| of which time she was a sinner, per-
| haps never thinking seriously of dying,
exclaimed, it is said when death stared
| her in tho face. millions for Il mo-
ment of time." When Mrs. Susannah
| Wesley lay on her death bed she said:
children, as soon as l am released
I sing a psalm of praise to Cod Her
| son John Wesley when dying said:
The best of all God is with us"
Yes. the dying mortal knows, before
going to judgment, how the matter
stands. A man said to me one day he
| wished he knew how he would die,
prepared or unprepared. | said you'll
| be apt to die as you have lived. And,
| of course you know" l continued,
| chow you are living
Il am not living right now" he
said. And yet he had passed the me-
| ridian of life. Any body can tell how
| all such will die
There is something so sweet in the
life Of Fannie T. Crosby, the poor
blind child, that l love to think of her.
Who would have supposed that little
blind girl would ever be able to make
herself known to the world? But, she
did. At eight years OF age, though
poor and blind she had formed a
great purpose, and that was she
would neither murmur' nor repine be-
cause Of her unfortunate condition. AT
that carly age she began her career Of
song with these lines:
@, what a happy soul am
Although | cannot see.
| am resolved that in this world
COntCnted / will be.
How many blessings I enjoy
That other people don't.
To weep and sigh because I'm blind
| cannot and l won't
The reader may say that there is not
much poetry in those eight lines. ana
still less promise of any future growth
in poetic achievement on her part But,
then, he must remember that the blind
girl had formed q purpose and, that
however untOWard the circumstances
she would work it out, and she did
UnCOnsciOusly the Christian world is
all the time singing praises to the
memory of that purpose. Every time
Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine is
sung, it is Fannie J. Crosby's purpose
asserting itself anew, and making it
self felt in the hearts of men and WO-
men who never heard. perhaps, of the
blind girl who wrote the soul-stirring
hymn. Safe in the arms of Jesus,
so sweet to the ears of a soul just
brought out of the desert of sin into
the haven of rest and safety, is an
other one of her songs RESCUE the