The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-07-13

known unbidden and unwelcomed.
II there are many clouds. there is
also plenty of sunshine. II there is
time to weep. there is also a time to
laugh. Those miserable folk who are
always abusing life and telling us it
Is not worth living are looking at It
IN the wrong way. If YOU look at
tair and sunshiny landscape through
black spectacles. 1t will all seem dark
and gloomy. If you gaze at life
through the wrong end OF tho tele-
scope. everything will look dwarfed
and shrunken, and the joys and bless
ings that We hope to have will seem a
long way off.
1t is too true that life Is often a
failure. but it is the fault of those
who have wasted IT, II Is no wonder
that such people. in their dying hours.
gaze back mournfully into the past
and find all barren and desolate. Look
at the deathbed Of Churchill. the poet.
There he lies. dying miserably in a
foreign land. and saying with his last
breath. What fool have been"
Read of Bolingbroke. who wrote to
Dean Smith when the- were advancing
In years, and asked how they should
play the last act of the farce called
life. So too. the dying wit. Radicals,
at his last moment. laughed and said.
Draw -he curtain. the farce is played
out"
To such man life is a mere period
OF careless mirth and thoughtless in
difference. To many others It Is a
WEAKNESS and vexation of spirit.
Talleyrand. the great minister to
kings and republics. the friend OF en-
perors. and the servant of mobs, wrote
just before his death: Behold. eighty
three years have passed away. What
cares. what aEitations. what ankle
ties what ill-w!ll-and all without any
results. except great fatigue OF mind
and body. and a profound feeling OF
discoura CEMENT with regard to the
future. and disgust with regard to the
past!"
Byron. the gifted roet. told his doc
tor in his last illness that lie had
grown heartily sick Of life and would
welcome the kour OF departure. have
exhausted all the nectar contained in
the cup of life" said he; at is time 20
throw the dregs away"
But the Christian cannot so regard
his life. He knows that he was bought
with the precious blood Of the Lamb.
lie appreciates the eternal Importance
OF his actions. and he knows that his
time IS not his own. I'VE are not your
own; We are bought with a price"
The religion of Christian. like the
color OF cloth. goes through his whole
life. He Is not in n position TO dis
charge his duties by so many prayers
and so many attendances at church.
And IT is only the man who under
stands life this way that Will apprec!-
ate the wise mans words. when he
said 1T is not death that 7 fear. but
life. My duty is to live 1t is Gods re-
sponsiblity when I am called to an
other place"
Looking at life then, from the Chris
'ian point OF view, we see that we are
all like workers IN a vineyard. in
trusted with talent. as the servant OF
His household Every Christian should
feel. y must work the work OF Him
that sent me. for we are like travel
ers who only pass by certain road
once Whatever good we may do. let
us do 1t now. for we shall not pass
this way again
Life is not only a field Of labor: it is
field Of battle. To some 1t NAV be
a selfish struggle to grow rich. TO
others It Is holy calling, and there
Is no discharge in that war" Like
crusaders OF old, We must light
ne good fight of faith for the glory
OF God and the honor Of our Lord
The Christian has vowed a vow He
cannot turn back. The man of the
world fights for honor. wealth, sue
cess. The Christian fights that he NAV
overcome evil With god. He fights
that he may make the road clearer and
easier for those who come after him
He Nights that he may sweep away
ignorance and superstition, and leave
the world and his fellow men better
than he found them. In this great
battle each Christian has his place and
his work, from the least to the great
est. Brave apostles and martyrs Ike
st. Paul could truly say at the last.
Il have fought a good fight" Yes.
and the simplest laborer who brushes
his passions and develops his higher
life nights good fight also Some OF
the truest and greatest are unknown
TO fame. but their names are written
In Gods mueter-rol, in the Lambs
book Of life. You Will find them in
cottage rooms and In palace chambers,
among the sick and suffering, the poor
and the afflicted-heroes who have
learned to bear their cross with patti
ence. 10 crush the rebcllious thought,
to stife the disconnected word, and to
say Thy will be done"
The man is Gods hero who goes