The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-02-19
A SATURDAY SERMON
For where your treasure is, there W
your heart be also. st. Matthew VI Il.

Even in this world there are count
less things worth being possessed of
besides gold or its equivalent. Unfor-
tunately for themselves. too many
people appear to think otherwise
Their hearts are set on the acquisition
of wealth. 1t consumes their energy
by day and occupies their dreams by
night. They plan, they scheme, they
worry and they fret to increase their
hoard. No matter how much money
men of this type have they want
more. It's gold, gold, gold that they
think about for twenty-four hours
out of every twenty-four. They are
able, perchance, to have fine houses,
horses and carriages. automobiles and
the like, but they haven't the time to
enjoy any of them. The relentless
pursuit of wealth attracts all their at
tention. Their noses are as close to
the grindstone as are those of their
less lucky brethren who get in a rut
and have to struggle strenuously for
the most meager necessities. Hover
Ing around them continually are
flock of harpies who settle down on
the estate that is left behind and ruin
or despoil those portions of 1t that
they are not able to get for them
selves. Behind such a slave to gold
there is a life that has not amounted
to very much, either to himself or to
any one else. His passion for wealth
may have been partially satisfied, he
may have Haunted much of 1t to pub
lie view through enormous gifts to
charity, but what has 1t all availed
him? Not much of anything. And as
to his future-well, ait is easier for
camel to go through the eye of a
needle, than for a rich man to enter
the kingdom of God"
It's a good thing for the perman-
ancy and progress of civilization,
though, that all men and women, even
some of considerable means, are not
of the class referred to. They are
able to find in life a field for good and
pleasurable works and they are able
to pass out of it with the confidence,
good will and respect of all who knew
them. Money appeals to them merely
to the extent that they must earn
enough of it to keep themselves and
their families in comfortable circum-
stances. They find plenty Of time af-
ter their days work is done to enjoy
the many pleasures of life that are on
every side. They have a soIicitous re-
gard for the welfare of others. Theirs
are helping hands which are always
| extended where there is need for
them, not necessarily in the dispense
ton of aims, but in 1abora that will
help others to help themselves. The
smile of friendship is ever on their
faces. They have a word of encour-
| agement for every one. They may
not get into the limelight like the
men whose never ending contest for
wealth, the only measure of success
| they know, makes them conspicuous.
But they are the beacon lights along
the way Of life. And while their
glirnmer may be faint, it is sufficient
to steer the craft of society away from
the shoals that would wreck it. Their
passing away does not attract col
umns of newspaper space, nor are
| glowing eulogies said over their biers
| But they are sorely missed in the lit
tie circles where they have been the
guiding star. Their lives have amount
ed to something real; their accom-
plishments have been material even II
the world in its mad pace does not
stop to recognize them. And their
future-it is secure in that serene
eternity where such treasures as have
been laid up are subject to the cor
ruption of neither moth nor rust. land
where thieves do not break through
nor steal"