The west Tennessee star. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1888, 1888-06-08

taken him two hours to go a mile. said:
''Wouldn't you like to ride2'' He said:
''Thank you, I would God bless yOul'
When he sat beside me he said: ''YOu see,
I am very lame and very old, but the Lord
has been a good Lord to me. 1 have
buried all my children. The Lord gave
them, and the Lord has a right to take
them away. Blessed be His name. was
very sick, and I had no money, and my
neighbOrs came in and took care of me,
and I wanted nothing. I suffer a great
deal with pain, but then 1 have so many
mercies left. The Lord has been good
Lord to me-"
And before we had got far was in
doubt whether I was giving him ride or
he was giving me a ride 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 the lame, sir, you have.
Good morning"
Swarthy men had gone the road that
day. 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:
"Oh! my father was killed in the war"
Have you ever noticed-I fear you have
| not-how we'll 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,
I CHI
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 let
| 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.
Oh, my friends! why do you not go to
work and preach this Gospel! You say:
81 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 one
with only two talents, or no talent at all
is doing great work, and SO 1.-THE lame
take the prey"
: A step further: There are those who
! | would like to do good. They say:
''Oh! if / only had wealth, or if I had
eloquence, or if / had high social position
how much 1 would accomplish for Goo
and the Church"
I stand here to day to tell you that yoI
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.
hOlIbnuF Inc government BnAb OTQGTeG
the enterprise? No; the plain workme1
who carried the earth and rung theil
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 a days
wages for a livelihood. And so in thu
I great work of assuaging human sufferfnl
! and enlightening human ignorance anC
halting human iniquity. In that grea
work, the chief part is to be done by ordi
: nary manner, and by ordinary means
The trouble is that in the army of Chris
, we all want to be Captains and Colonell
! and Brigadier- Generals. We are no
willing to march with the rank and fl,
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 armchair.
! AS you go down the street you see ar
excavation aud four or five men are work
. ing, and perhaps twenty or thirty leaning
: | on the rail looking over at them. That il
: the way it is in the Church Of God to-day
Where you find one Christian hard a
work there are fifty men watching tn
q job.
! There are thousands of ministers o
p | whom you have never heard-in lOj
cabins at the West, in mission chapels a
! the East-who are warning against tht
Y legiOns Of darkness, successfully war
ring. Tract distributors, month by mont
: undermining the citadels of sin. You d
= not know their going or their coming, bu
v the footballs of their ministry are hear'
in the palaces of Heaven. Who are tn
v workers in our Sabbath schools through
d out this land to-day? Men celebrated
s men brilliant. men of vast estateS FO
s the most part, not that at all. / have no
ticed that the chief characteristic Of tn
{ most Of those who are successful in tn
{ work is that they know their bibles, ar
d earnest in prayer, are anxious for tn
salvation of the young, and Sabbath b.
l Sabbath are willing to sit down unob
l served and tell of Christ and His resur
r rection. These are the humble worker
who are recruiting the great army o
q Christian youth-not by might, not bl
5 power, not by profound argument, not b.
a brilliant antithesis, but by the blessing
/, Of God on plain talk, and humble story
2 and silent tear, and anxious look. eth
lame take the prey"
= Obi this work Of saving the youth o
e | our country-how few appreciate what i
9 is This generation tramping on to th
I grave-we will soon all be gone. Wha
d next?
The engineer on a locomotive goin
across the Western prairies day after day
saw little child come out in front Of
= cabin and wave to him; 50 he got in tn
g habit OF waving back to the little child
s and it was the days joy 70 him to see thi
: little one come out in front Of the cabi
n door and wave to him, while he answers
d back.
0 One day the train was belated and /
r came on to the dusk of the evening. A
d the engineer stood at his post he saw b
i, the headlight that little girl on the track
+ wondering why the train did not come
looking for the train, knowing nothing O
a its peril. A great horror seized upon th