n," will
prevail, labor and capital will be peaceful partners and human
brotherhood will rule in righteousness throughout the world.
"O, this is not so bad a world,
As some would like to make it,
And whether it is good or bad,
Depends on how we take it."
Fanny Crosby, whose gospel hymns are continually singing souls into
the kingdom, when but six weeks old lost her sight and for ninety-two
years made her way in literal darkness, without seeing the beauties of
nature about her, the blue sky with its sun, moon and stars above her,
the faces of her loved ones, and yet at ninety-two she said: "I never
worry, never think disagreeable things, never find fault with anything
or anybody. If in all the world there is a happier being than myself,
I would like to shake that one's hand." No wonder out of such
contentment came such songs as, "Jesus is calling," "I am Thine, O
Lord," "Safe in the arms of Jesus."
How different the cultured young woman, with all her senses preserved,
who after passing through a flower garden where perfect sight had
feasted on the beauty of the scene said:
"To think of summers yet to come,
That I am not to see;
To think a weed is yet to bloom,
From dust that I shall be."
Poor soul! Instead of enjoying the summer she had, she was coveting
all the summers between her and eternity. Instead of thanking God for
the immortality of the soul when done with the body, she was
disappointed because she couldn't carry the old body along with her.
Don't let these things trouble you. Live one summer so you will be
worthy to breathe the air of the next if you live to see it; take care
of your body so it will make a decent weed if God chooses to make one
out of your remains.
Enjoy what you have, don't covet what you have not, thank God for your
home on earth, follow Fanny Crosby's receipt for contentment and you
will be happy enough to shake hands with her in the "Land of the
Leal."
Before I close would you like to have me point you to greatness? In
attempting to do so, I would not point you to Congress hall or Senate
chamber. You can find greatness anywhere.
That was greatness when John Bartholamew held the throttle of an
engine going over the Sierra mountains, with a train load of
passengers depending upon his skill and caution, and swinging round a
curve he saw the wood-work of a tunnel before him on fire. To attempt
to stop the train then, would be to halt in the flames.
|