St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-02-09
The Crooked Stick,

The Crooked Stick.
"what doth the Lord require of thee i'-MIc, g. g.
Christ has service for all his mem
bers," said James Therral, an old car
penter in a village on Salisbury Plain,
to a young Christian who complained
that she was unworthy to work for the
Lord. "Let not one of the members
say, THE Head has no need of me-
used to think as you do, long ago, but
He taught me otherwise by a Crooked
Stick.
"One day my son went to sale of
timber, and in the lot was a stick so
twisted and bent, that l spoke sharply
to him, saying, You have a bad bar
gain there, lad /; that crooked stick will
be of no use to any one
"It's all TIMBER replied my son, not
the least vexed by my reproof. Ipaid
the same price for it as the rest. De-
pend upon it, no tree grows for moth
ing. Wait bit don't fret, father ;
let us keep a look out there's a place
somewhere for it.
"a little time after this | had a cot
tage to build queer bit of a house it
was, and pretty enough when it was
finished there was corner to turn in
it, and not "A stick in the yard would fit.
| thought of the crooked one, and
fetched it. Many hard days work
would have failed to prepare jOist
like IT. 1t seemed as if the tree had
grown aside for this very purpose.
"Then said l, There's place for the
crooked stick after all Then there's a
place for poor James Therrall. Dear
Lord show him the place into which
he may fit in building thy heavenly
temple That very day learned that
what God gives me he gives me for his
glory and poor and unlettered as |
was, there was work for me. There
is IA work for you God has something
for you to do, and nobody else can do
it ln
This village carpenter had neither
the knowledge of the schoolman, nor
had he taken degree at college yet
was he Il teacher of divine truths, and
he was wise in the wisdom of the chill
dren of light. He would often recur to
the time when, looking solely on his
own weakness and infirmities, he over
looked his only source of strength, and
thought he was too poor and ignorant
to do any thing for the Lord he loved |!
He lived to good old age, blessing
to the souls in his neighbOrhood, and
where, as he liked best to say, he
watched for his Master. When some
who loved their ease too well, or child,
or servant, or sick one complained, 81
can do nothing he would point to the
best built cottage on the Plain, with its
pretty bay-windOw and slanting roof,
and tell them he had once thought the
same himself, but his error had been
corrected by dumb instruction. beam
in that roof-a crooked stick which
seemed fit for nothing; but it found its
proper place in the building at last.
and gave it grace and strength which
no other timber, however superior in
other respects, could have impaired.
Thus the warped tree had preached to
him sermon on true humility, and
made him from that day a humble
steward of the things of the kingdom.
Do we more than half believe the
power of the Gospel to save? We
think, perhaps, a moderate sinner can
be saved, but how about the notorious
unbeliever Is it too hard case for
the Lord Was not our Gospel pro-
vided for just such people? Paul had
been the chief of sinners, and after his
deliverance he could not believe that
any one was beyond the reach of the
Gospel.
William Jay found a man in his
parish i'll almost all evil, and, as he
thought, too far gone to he saved. eff
he can be saved" said the good man,
81 shall never despair of the conversion
of any one again" "Oh," said John
Newton, 81 never did, since he saved
me-" He had been in the depths of
SIN how could he distrust the power
of Saviour that drew him out I? Sin
is no bar to divine grace /; only deter
mlnatiOn to cling to sin. He came to
seek and to save that which is lost.n-
NOn'S Herald.
If only the talented and the great
could be employed in the vineyard of
the Lord, most of us might despair of
being of any service. But it is not al
ways by the mighty or the noble that
God works. 1t is an encouraging feature
in the Divine economy that some of the
greatest gifts in the church have been
converted by the agency of obscure in-
dividuals.
Saul was led to salvation by Ananias.
The great Thomas Chalmers was taught
in the crisis hour of his history by a
minister who was hardly known beyond
his parish and Sturgeon found the
way of salvation in an humble chapel
of the Primitive Methodists.
DIR. Taylor relates how after preach
ing on the text, ''He brought him to
Jesus" his little daughter said she liked
it. "And who do you propose to bring
to Christ 2" continued the father. 81
think | will bring myself first" was the
reply. Go thou and do likewise. Bring
yourself. The Lord will not refuse
other offerings, but no other will be
complete without yourself
Religion is a personal conservation,
and all efficient work has its root in a.
deep personal experience. Give your
self to the Lord, and He will show YOU
what to do and how to do it.
Unnoticed Acts of Love.
When we read the daily papers. with
their long records of crimes, or when