The weekly true Democrat. (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1905-1912, 1906-11-16
ALL SAINTS DAY
AlRtUAL SERAION


things. win make thee ruler over
many things" st. Matthew 81.
What an incomprehansible gift is
that Of life. We cannot earn Il, we
cannot buy IL, we cannot refuse 1t. 1t
comes TO US bearing the promise of
eternal happiness and carrying the
warning of eternal loss. The young
receive it with the gladness Of hope,
which fears no failure and anticipates no
disappointment. The old know it 50
we'll that IL il leaving them with the
shadow of fear, as with the sadness OF
experience. If it were only gift It
might matter little to what use we put
it, but it is much more than a gift. 1t
is trust, coupled with conditio ions that
we can no more repudiate than we can
refuse the gift itself. 1t brings to as
so much worry and care that the condi-
tons are forgotten. 1t requires so
much work that the conditions are neg
lected, and yet the character and
methods of that work form the most
important part OF the conditlons. we
need not complain that life was not of
our choosing, for 1t is given as, and we
cannot help it. We need not quarrel
with the conditions, for they come with
life and we cannot help it, and neither
complaining nor quarreling will aid us
in fulfilling the trust. probable that
those servants to whom the master
gave the various sums would rather
not have received the money, but their
consent was neither asked nor ex-
pected. It was rather mark OF conf
dence and a test of their ability and
faithfulness. So the Lord of life would
have US worthy of the trust and prove
our capability of improving it, Does
any one really believe that life brings
no responsibility? We know it with
gladness when we find that others are
the happier through our life. We
know it with sorrow when we find that
others are the losers by our inditfer-
ence or selfishness. We may claim
that all life Is failure, but that con-
fesses our own unworthiness, 1t IS
true that we all feel sometimes as If all
life were frittered away in trifies, but
the servants were commended because
they had been faithful in a few things,
The inference is that the profits had
been gathered slowly and little by
little. Is it small thing that brightens
by a short and cheerful visit the shadow
that has come over some household? Is
it a trile that the wolf has been driven
from some door that he was eager to
enter? Is it. a little matter to find
and point out the silver lining on threat
ening clouds? Is it easy to take up
daily duty when the soul rebels at the
monotony? Is it easy to put our trust
in the divine promises when God Him.
self seems to have turned against us?
No wonder that the grasshopper some
times becomes burden, and the loos-
ening Of the silver chord is not dread
ed. Every life has its own share OF
responsibility. We are not to try to
avoid it, but to discharge it with faith
fulness. Let US realize that there are
two shades of meaning to the word
faithful. 1t means q patient and
often a discouraging persistence in
we'll doing, but it means also that we
are to be full of faith. Faith in God
who will not suffer us to be tried above
that we are able, and faith in ourselves
that we can, with Gods help, do what
is expected of US. Faithfulness in liv-
ing suggests itself to US especially at
this All Saints. We cannot forget, we
would not if we could, we cannot
understand, that which God has for
hidden. 1t may seem to US that it is
temporal as well as eternal failure,
but God is merciful as well as just,
and will save from the result of every
human life whatever is worth saving.
That it is often very little is the fault
of the human will that refused to full
fill the responsibility Of living. That
some will leave us even as we ourselves
will go is part of life itself. We miss
them, but we would not recall them,
except in memory. Who could grieve
when God gave rest to her whose
only physical trouble was that % she
was tired" She was In her
seventy-second year as a COM
municant of the church, and always
faithful and regular during that long
period. 1t is a remarkable record, and
naturally her life of nearly ninety
years could recall many of the changes
that come and go so rapidly. She was
the daughter of a Governor of this
State, and kept up to the very last an
interest in every social and political
movement Ever cheerful at home,
and active in church and charitable
work until increasing years prevented,
many will miss her, though none should
grieve for her. The week before Christ
mas officiated at the funeral in the
family burial ground of one who had
passed her eightieth birthday. She also
was the daughter Of q Governor OF the
Territory, an honor which she never
forgot, but always maintained through
the many changes Of q long life. On
the Feast of the Publication we buried
one who had passed the allotted term OF
wears. She lived beyond the city's linn
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