The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-08-17

petite for the rough rations of the army, and he
gives him q rare morsel from the Amalekitish
banquet-and the two hundred crippled and
MANNED and aged soldiers who tarried on garr-
son duty get just much Of the spells of battle
as any of the two hundred men that went to the
front. las his part is that goeth down to the
battle so shall his part be that tarrieth by the
stuff.
rewards are for those who do conspicuous serv-
ice In distinguished places-great martyrs. great
patriots great preachers, great philanthropists.
Bot my text sets forth the idea that there is just
as much reward for man that stays at home
and minds his own business and who, crippled
and unable to 90 forth and lead in great move
ments and in the high places OF the earth does
his whole duty just where he Is. Garr,son duty
Is as important and as remuneratIve as services
at the front LAS his part is that goeth down to
the battle. so shall mis- part be that tarrieth by
the stuff"
The Earl of Kintore said to me in railway
train, "Mr Talmage, when you get back to
America l want You to preach sermon on the
discharge of ordinary duties in ordinary places,
and then send me copy of it," Afterward an
English clergyman, coming to my country,
brought from the Earl of Kintore the same mes
sage. Alas! that before l got ready to do what
ne asked me to do. the good Earl of Kin
tore had departed this life. But that
man felt sympathetic with those who had
ordinary duties perform, in ordinary places and
in ordinary ways great many people are dis
couraged when they hear the story of Moses, and
of Joshua, and of David, and of Luther, and of
John Knox, and of Deborah, and of Florence
Nightingale. They say, "Oh, that was all good
and right for them but l shall never be called
TO receive the law on Mount Sinai, shall never
be called to command the sun and the
moon to stand still, shall never be called
to Stay giant, | shall never preach Mars
Hill, shall never defy the Diet of Wurms, Ishall
never be called to make queen tremble for her
crimes, snail never preside a hospital"
There are women who say. "If had as brilliant
sphere as those people had, should be as
brave and az grand; but my business Is to get
the children off to school, and to hunt up things
when they are lost, and to see that dinner is
ready, and to keep account of the household ex-
penses, and to hinder the children from being
strangulated by the whooplng cough, and to go
through all the annoyances and veXatlons OF
housekeeping. On my sphere is so infnitesi-
NAL and so insignificant am clear discouraged
Woman, Gcd places you on garrison duty, and
your reward will be just as great as
moving so often, night by night,
with a light in her hand through the hospitals,
was called by the wounded the lady of the
lamp Your reward will be just as great as
that of Mrs. Hertzog, who built and endowed
theological seminary buildings. Your reward
will be just as great that of Hannah More,
who by her excellent books won for her admirers
Garric1, and Edmund Burke, and Joshua Rey
holds. Rewards are not to be according to the
amount of noise you make in the world, nor
even according to the amount Of good you do,
but according to whether you work to your full
capacity, according to whether not you do
your full duty in the sphere where God has
placed you
HIGH ENCOURAGEMENT FOR FIDELITY.
Suppose you give to two of your children err
rands and they are TO go off TO make purchases,
and to one you give dollar and to the other
you give twenty dollars. Do you reward the boy
that you gave twenty dollars to for pur
chasing more with that amount of money tn an
the other boy purchased with one dollarl OF
course not. If God give wealth, or social position
or eloquence, or twenty times the faculty to
man than He gives to the ordinary men, is He
going to give TO the favored man reward be-
cause he has more power and moro influence?
Oh no. In other words If you and do our
whole duty. and you have twenty times more
talent than have, you will get no more divine
reward than will. Is God going to reward you
because He gave you mores That would not
be fair; that wonld not be right. These 200 men
of the text who tainted by the brook Besor did
their whole duty: they watched the baggage,
they took care of the stuff, and they got as much
of the spOils of victory as the men who went to
the front. ''As his part is that goeth down to
the battle so shall his part be that tarrieth by
the stuff"
There is high encouragement in this for all
who have great responsibility and little credit
for what they do. You know the names of the
great commercial houses of these cities Do you
know the confidential cerks-the men who have
the key to the safe, the names of the men who
know the combination lock? A distinguished
merchant goes forth at the summer wa
tering place and he flashes past and
you say: "Who is that2" oh" replies
some one, don't you know that is the great
importer. that is the great banker that is the
great manufacturer" The confidential clerk
has his week off. Nobody notices whether he
comes or goes. Nobody knows him. and after
while his week is done, and he sits down again
at his desk. But God will reward his fidelity
just much as He recognizes the work of the
merchant phllanthropist whose investments this
unknown clerk faithfully guarded. Business
men know the names of the presidents and prom
inent directors of the great railroads; but they
10 not know the names of the engineers the
names Of the switchmen, the of the
1agmen, the names of the brakemen. These
men have awful responsibilities and some
times, through the reckiessness of an engineer
or the unfaithfuness of a switchman, it has
brought to mind the faithfulness of nearly all
the rest of them. Such men do not have recog
milton of their services. They have small wages
and much complaint. / very often ride upon
locomotives, and | very often ask the question,
as we shoot around some curve, or under some
ledge of rocks, How much wages do you getl
and am always surprised to find how little for
such vast responsibility. Do you not suppose
God is going 10 recognize that fidelity! The
head of some railway company going up DEATH
TO receive from God his destiny, was no better
known in that hour than was known last night
the brakeman who on the railroad was damned
to death amid the couplings. 'As his part is
that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part
be that tarrieth by the stuff
Once for thirty-siX hours expected every
moment to go TO the bottom of the ocean The
waves struck through the skylights and rushed
down into the hold of the ship and Kissed
against the boilers. 1t was an awful time but
by the blessing of God and the
faithfulness of the men in charge we
came out of the cyclone and we arrived at home
Each one before leaving the ship thanked Cap
tain Andrews | do not think there was man
woman that went off that ship without thank
ing Captain Andrews. and when years after |
heard of his death | was impeled to write
letter of coincidence to his family i'll Liverpool.
Everybody recognized the goodness. the cour-
age, the kindness of Captain Andrews: but it
occurs to that we never thanked the
engineer He stood away down in the darkness