The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-05-28


of st. Modobert. 1t was said that his
mother was blind, and one day while look
ing at bis mother he felt so sympathetic for
her blindness that he rushed forward and
kissed her blind eyes, and, the legend says,
her vision came Immediately. That was
only legend, but it is a truth, a glorious
truth, that kiss of Gods eternal love has
brought to many blind eye eternal illum-
ination.
A step further: There are those in all
communities who toll nightly for liveli-
hood. They have scant wages. Perhaps
they are diseased, or have physical infirmi-
ties, so they are hindered from doing a con-
tinuous days work A city missionary
finds them up the dark alley, with no fire,
With thin clothing, with very coarse bread.
They never ride in the street-car; they can
not afford the cents. They never see any
pictures, save those in the show window on
the street, from which they are often
| jostled, and looked at by some one who
seems to say in the look: "Move on! What
are you doing here, looking at picturesN
Yet many of them live on mountains of
TRANSPORTATION. At their rough table he
who fed the five thousand breaks the bread
They talk often OF the good times that are
coming. This world has no charm for them,
but Heaven entrances their spirit. They
often divide their scant crust with some for
lorn wretch who 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: II was hungry
| and ye fed me-" No cohort of Heaven will
be too bright to transport them. BY Gods
help they have vanquished the Assyrian
host They have divided among them tho
spoils Lame, lame, yet they took the
prey.
was riding along the country road one
day, and saw man on crutches. l over
took him. He was very old. He was 60
ing very slowly. At that rate, it would
have taken him two hours to go mile.
said Wouldn't you'll to ride Z" He said.
"Thank you, l would. God bless you.n
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 had a right to take them away
Blessed be his name. was very sick, and
l had no money, and my neighbors came in
and took care of me- and wanted nothing.
l suffer a great deal with pain, but then
have so many mercies left. The Lord has
been a good Lord to me-" And before we
had got far, | was in doubt whether l was
giving him ride or he was giving me
ride! He said: "Now, if you please I'll
get out here. Just help me down on my
crutohes, if you please. God bless you.
Thank you, sir. Good morning. Good
|
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 toward the
shining gate With his old crutch he had
struck down many a Sehnacherib of temp
tation which has mastered you and me.
Lame, SO fearfully lame, SO awfully lame;
but he took the prey.
A step further: There are in all commu-
| nit IhJr nm laa ar ar
and in the years Immediately following
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 out2 Start
ing under the greatest disadvantage, 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 letter
home, when a sharpshooter's 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 letter pasted
fast, which told the story of that fathers
long march, and how he suffered in the hos
pltal; 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 bat
tied 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 suf-
fered nothing during those times have had
sons go out into lives of Incidence and vag-
| abondage, 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: "Ohi If
/ only had wealth, or if had eloquence, or
if had high social position, how much
would accomplish for God and the church r'
/ stand here to-day to tell you that you
have great opportunities for usefulness.
Who built the pyramids The king who
ordered them built No; the plain work
men who added stone after stone ald stone
after stone. Who built the dikes of Hol-
land The government that ordered the
enterprise No; the plain workmen who
carried the earth and rung their trowel on
| the wall. Who are those who have built
these vast cities Tire capitalists No; the
carpenters, the masons the plumbers, the
plasterers the timers, the roofers, depend
ent on days wages for livelihood. And
| so in the great work of assuaging human
suffering and enlightening human ignorance
| and halting human lniquity. In that great
work, the chief part is to be done by ordl-
nary men, with ordinary speech, in an
ordinary manner, and by ordinary means
The trouble is that in the army of Christ we
all want to be captains and colonols 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 be-
long to the reserve corps, and read about
the battle while warming ourselves at the
camp fires, or Oh furlough at home, our feet
upon an ottoman, we sagging back into an
armchair.
AS you go down the street, you see an ex-
cavation and four or five men are working,
and, perhaps, twenty or thirty leaning on
| the rail looking over at them. That Is the
way it Is In the church OF God to-day; where
you find one Christian hard at work, there
are fifty mon watching the job.
OH nay 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, 1t may be the mason's
wall. 'rhe robe in which you are TO pro-
claim this Gospel may be a shoemaker's
apron. But VOC unto you if you preach
not this Gospel somewhere, somehow II
this world is ever brought TO Christ, II will
be through tho unanimous and long-con-
| tinued efforts Of men VINO, waiting for no
special endowment, cohsecrate TO God what
they have. Among the most useless people
in the world are men with ten talonts while
| vyif vO no