The Russellville Democrat., 1888-06-07

knocks at their door at night and on the
blast of the night wind, as the door opens
to let them in, is heard the voice Of Him
who said: ~ was hungry and We fed Me-"
No cohort OF Heaven will be too bright TO
transport them. By Gods help they have
vanqnished the Assyrian hosts. They have
divided among them the spoils. Lame,
lame, yet they took the prey.
was riding along the country road one
day. and saw a man on crutches. | OVER
took him. He was very old. He was going
very slowly. At that rate it would have
taken him two hours to go mile. Isaid:
s'wouldn't you like to rider" He said;
ssThank Won, I would. God bless youin
When he sat beside me he said;"You see,
/ am very lame and very old, but the Lord
has been a good Lord to me. / have
buried all my children. The Lord gave
them, and the Lord has right to take
them away. Blessed be His name. was
very sick, and / had no money, and my
neighbors came in and took care of me,
and | wanted nothing. / suffer great
deal with pain, but then | have so many
mercies left The Lord has been good
Lord to me-"
And before we had got far ! was in
doubt whether was giving him ride or
he was giving me a ridei He said:
''Now, if you please, I'll get out here.
Just help me down on my crutches, If you
please. God bless you. Thank you, sir.
Good morning. Good morning. You
have been feet to tho lame, sir, you have.
Good morning"
Swarthy men had gone the road that
day. l do not know where they came out,
but every hobble of that old man was to-
ward the shining gate. With his old
crutch he had struck down many Sem
nacherib Of temptation which had master
ed you and me. Lame, so fearfully lame,
so awfully lame; but he took the prey.
A step further: There are in all COM
munities many orphans. During our last
war, and in the years Immediately follow
ing, how many children we heard say:
'Ohl my father was killed in the war;
Have you ever noticed-I fear you have
not-how well those children have turned
out? Starting under the greatest disad-
vantage, no orphan asylum could do for
them what their father would have done
had he lived. The skirmisher sat one
night, by the light of fagots, in the swamp,
writing O letter home, when sharp
shooters bullet ended the letter which
was never folded, never posted and never
read.
Those children came up under great dis
advantage. No father to fight their
way for them. Perhaps there was
in the old family Bible an old. yellow LETT
ter pasted fast, which told the story of
that fathers long march, and how he suf-
fered in the hospital; but they looked
still further on in the Bible, and they came
to the story of how God is the father Of
the fatherless, and the widows portion,
and they soon took their fathers place in
that household. They battled the way for
their mother. They came on up, and
many Of them have in the years since the
war taken positions in Church and State.
While many of those who suffered moth
ing during those times have had sons go
out into lives of Incidence and vaga-
bondage, these who started under so
many disadvantages because they were
SO early bereft, these are the lame who
took the prey.
A step further: There are those who
would like to do good. They say:
"Ohl if only had wealth, or if / had
eloquence, or if had high social position
how much l would accomplish for God
and the Church."
stand here to-day to tell you that you
have great opportunities for usefulness.
Who built the Pyramids? The King who
ordered them bullt2 No; the plain work
men who added stone after stone and
stone after stone. Who built the dikes o
Hollandy The Government that ordered
the enterprises No; the plain workmen
who carried the earth and rung their
trowel on the wall. Who are those who
have built these vast cities? The capital
lists? No; the carpenters, the masons,
the plumbers the plasterers, the tin
ners, the roofers, dependent on days
wages FOR livelihood. And so in the
great work OF assuaging human suffering
and enlightening human ignorance and
hating human iniquity. In that great
work, the chief part is to be done by ordi-
nary manner, and by ordinary means.
The trouble is that in the army of Christ
we all want to be Captains and Colonies
and Brigadier- Generals. We are not
willing to march with the rank and file
and to do duty with the private soldier.
We want to belong to the reserve corps,
and read about the battle while warming
ourselves at the camp fires, or on fur
Tough at home, our feet upon an ottoman,
we sagging back into an arm chair.
AS you go down the street you see an
ing, and perhaps twenty or thirty leaning
on the rail looking over at them. That is
the way it is in the Church of God day.
Where you find one Christian hard at
work there are fifty men Watching the
job.
Oh, my friends! why do you not go to
work and preach this Gospel You say:
II have no pulpit" You have. 1t may
be the carpenters bench; it may be the
mason's wall. The robe in which you are
to proclaim this Gospel may be shoe
makers apron. But woe unto you If you
preach not this Gospel somewhere, some
where. If this world is ever brought to
Christ it will be through the unanimous
and long continued efforts of men who,
waiting for no special endowment, con-
secrate to God what they have. Among
the most useless people in the world are
men with ten talents, while many a one
with only two talents, or no talent at all,
is doing great work, and so ''the lame
take the prey"
There are thousands of ministers of
whom syou have never heard--in log
cabins at the West, in mission chapels at
the East-who are warning against the
legions of darkness, successfully war;
ring. Tract distributors, month by month
undermining the citadels of sin. You do
not know their going or their coming, but
the footballs Of their ministry are heard
in the palaces of Heaven. Who are the
workers In our Sable th-schools through
out this land to-day? Men celebrated,
men brilliant men of vast estate? For
the most part, not that at all. have no.
ticed that the chief characteristic OF the
most of those who are successful in the
work Is that they know their bibles, are
earnest in prayer, are anxious for the
salvation OF the young, and Sabbath by
Sabbath are willing to sit down unob-
served and tell of Christ and His resur-
rection. These are the humble workers
who are recruiting the great army OF
Christian youth--not by might. not hv