The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1884-07-02

And now 1ull GouS w ORD is OF Une SlGnS
of the weary-great souls and valiant
workers overborne with the heat and bur-
den of the day, and crying ont under their
faintness. Hear Moses, weighed down
with the care of Israel: "Wherefore hast
Thou afflicted Thy servant9 Have 1 con,
ceived all this peopleY Have I begotten
them that Thou shouldst say unto me,
Carry them in thy bosom? / am not abba
to bear all the people alone If Thou deal
thus with me, kill me, pray Thee, out OF
hand, and let me not see my wretched.
ness" Hear Gideon, faint in the midst Of
the battle and crying: "Omy Lord, if the
Lord be with us, why then is all this be-
fallen usP But now the Lord hath forsaken
us, and delivered us into:the hands of the
Midianites." Hear Elijah, sinking down
beneath the juniper tree and utterly tired
of life praying: sit is enough now, Oh
Lord, take away my life; for lam not bet
ter than my fathers" Hear David: "Oh
that l had wings like dove: for then
would fly away and be at rest" What
sighs of sorrow are here! And when we
come down to latter times, we read the
same story, busy workers with aching
brains, with hands that hang down, with
tired eyelids upon tired eyes. 81 am
weary of life, il this can be called life,"
said Luther. II pray the Lord will come
forthwith and carry me home." And
Whitfield in the midst of prodigious labors
exclaimed, "Lord, am weary, not of Thy
work, but in Thy work. Let me speak for
these once more, then seal Thy truth and
die."
recall the utterances Of holy men for
the purpose of verifying the words of the
prophet-that even the strong and stall
wart saints become faint in service. And
how is it to-day? venture to think that
there has rarely been time when so many
of Gods servants have cried out with
faintness as now. "Prodigious toll, and
little visible result" is the report that
comes Up from the whole field, East,
West, North and South. In Christian
conference recently, minister said that
"whereas in the Apostles day one ser.
mon converted three thousand souls, now
1t takes three thousand sermons to con-
vert one soul" And it is not great ex.
aggeration to speak thus. When we look
over the field and think Of the score or less
Of souls brought into the church in year;
and then think of the money spent, the
sermons preached, the meetings held, the
house to house visits made, the tracts dis
tributed, and the prayers offered, 1t seems
literally as though we had to compass
Heaven and earth to make one convert. 1t
is the law Of nature that one seed should
multiply itself a hundred.fold by sowing.
But when we SOW the seed Of life, how ii
seems to require hundred seeds to pro.
duce one grain of wheat.
And this is the characteristic Of our
times-great activity and small returns.
am not complaining. II we get becalmed
and haven't breath of wind to move us,
the only way is for us to take the oars and
do the best we can to bring the vessel to
port. But we are poor sailors If we do not
realize the difference between sitting with
our hand upon the rudder and letting oul
ship fly before the wind, and tugging and
straining every muscle to row it ashore
"The wind bloweth where 1t listeth," say,
Jesus. know not why the spirit should
have been with us in such mighty power
| In the days of Edwards, and why it IL
present in so little power in our day. We
bow to the fact and toll on, determined to
do the best we can. But of the WEAKNESS
of such work there can be no doubt. An
English pastor saw an old man hard at
work, pounding stone for the road, and
singing while he worked. "Well, friend
glad to see you enjoy your noble BATTLE =
he said. "Yes," the workman replied
eyes, your reverence, thank the Lord,
am fond of work, but all the same am
glad am going to world where work
won't make my back ache"
"They that wait upon the Lord shall re.
new their strength"
We talk about taking recreation. Prayer
Is the Christians recreation. Il recreates
him by bringing the divine life within
rested when we are tired, is to go to God.
1t is the plainest and simplest thing posi-.
BILE that we are to do when we are weary
We are to take days vacation, and re-
tire with the Lord. 1 will not glory save
in mine infirmities, but can say, truly
that th happiest days have ever known
have been those Of such retirement-goinp
apart, with only three of us present; God
and the Bible, and myself. These seasons
of waiting on God are not SO common a.
they have been in other days. And thai
Is the reason Christians are so jaded and
| dull Honest old Scotch saint yyas chs
who said that herdidea of Heaven was
that 1t would be a place where she coulG
sit all day long in clean white apron
and sing psalms. Don't you see how tht
idea came to her? She knew what goot
times she had had with the Lord here
when her kitchen work was all done fol
the day, and she had put on her clean at
tire and sat down with her Bible; ant
what better could Heaven be, than Just ai
extension of all this? Oh, we do not hav,
good times enough with our Heavenly
Fathcr--we don't stay with Him and ge
refreshed and reinvigorated by Him, ant
that is the reason we are so dull ant
weary. "They that wait upon the Lord
That means, you see, to tarry with Him
Not few moments snatched In the morn
ing-a hurried and fragmentary greet
ing, as two friends salute eacI
other when they each are hasten
ing to business; but real all da.
or all weeks visit with the Lord-that |
resting. And do not believe man eve
tried this who was not strong and tireles
| and yvell.anuinned for seryica. I,uthe