The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1891-05-06
olSUNDAY TH0UGHTSDo
%ON%
MORALS% MANNERS
BIT A CLERGYMAN.

Boanerges. The parsons who do the best
work are unknown to fame. But the poor
and miserable know them. Instant IN
season and out of season, in summer as in
winter, these self-sacrifcing servants OF
the Nazarine go about doing good. They
run upon willing and generous errands of
beaevolence. Wherever there is strug-
gle, wherever there is downfall, wherever
there is death, wherever there is sorrow,
there they are aiding, lifting, healing,
comforting. Is not this beautiful min
lstrv? II is lust so in all
departments of religious work. The best
Sunday-school teachers are those who are
most familiar with their bibles, who pray
most, who are most apt to teach, and who
are always present when the clock strikes
the hour for the session to begin. The
best church members are those who are
enrolled among the reliables.
Dogs like to be noticed. They are jeal-
Gus of anybody who distracts attention.
But when a dog is in full cry after a rab-
bit he doesn't care whether he is noticed
or not. So with Christians. When they
are idle they demand constant care and
attention. You must pet them or they
are in a pet But when they are in blood
they are too busy to be self-conscious.
Too many Christians nowadays do moth
ing but watch the job. Passing along the
street you see cellar being dug. Half
dozen men are at work with pick-ax and
shovel. Lining the sidewalk and looking
on are two or three dozen loungers. 'Tis
so in the church. The poor minister,
some OF the officers and a devoted knot of
women, are doing all the work, and the
rest of the members look on-and criticise.
Doctor" said patient to his physician.
81 am troubled with insomnia. Can you
do anything for mep
Cant you sleep at night?" inquired
the man of the pills and lotion.
"Oh, yes" was the reply; 81 sleep well
enough at night, but I can't sleep in tie
daytime"
Many church members are not troubled
in that way. They sleep equally day and
night and especially on Sunday.
God seems to delight in using weak
things to confound the strong, and things
that are not to bring to naught things
that are. Thus human pride is abased
and the Divine glory advanced. What,
for example, could have seemed more in
adequate than the rod of Moses to abase
the pride of Pharaoh; or than Joshuas
rams horn to throw down the walls of
Jericho? In the same line of suggestion.
NJ. Capped says in his Theses" Never
did the power of Jesus Christ appear more
illustriously than when he subjugated
principalities and powers, and trlumphed
over them by the ministry of the cross.
Sinners, redeemed harlots, tentmakers.
fishermen, ignorant people, without social
standing, without letters, without arms,
unhelped by philosophy or eloquerce or
intrigues, contemplate folks, "earthen
vessels" as st. Paul avowed, went up and
down and discipled the world. Idols fell,
heather temples were RACED, oracles were
struck dumb, old superstitions were an
initiated, and the great and small, kings
and their subjects, whole provinces, and at
last the vast empire of the Caesars present.
ed themselves at the foot of the cross.
IT'S not enough to say, "this is the finger
of the Lord" we must rather exclaIm,
this is the outstretched arml Happy
i'earthen vessels!" Glory in that We were
dust and ashes. Your weakness and
brittieness display thousand times more
the glory than the greatest dignity could
have displayed it, had We been golden
vessels, angels or cherubim, dominions or
thrones.
In view Of these facts, let no one say 81
am weak, / am poor, l am ignorant. 1 am
unknown, can't be of service" We are
responsible for what we have, not for
what We have not. The man in the para
BILE was rebuked and punished, not be-
cause he had only one talent, but because
he did not use and increase that one.
. Shau ISu rr.4 l.o.v THok
of her darlings, her present cross and
future crown, and teaches the girls to be
pure and tidy and helpful and handy, and
trains the boys TO be neat and industri-
ous and economical and honest. Is there
throne on earth so humble and yet go
mighty as hers?
We are walking through lovely dell
Suddenly we smell the scent of a violet,
"come," we say, "let us find that violet"
But the violet is such shy. modest flower
that we cannot find it. We search far
and near, high and low, without result.
Meantime the fragrance of that unseen,
undiscovered flower fills the dell.
Such is the fragrance that fills many an
unknown life and many home shut out
from the worlds observation. Flowers of
love- of self-sacrifice, OF devotion grow in
screened places, and their breath makes
even desert places beautiful and fragrant
$50 shines good deed in a naughty
world"
That is q singular fact which Buckle
brings out wide Civilization" j, cap l4),
concerning atheism. While it pervaded
society and honeycombed letters, yet
atheistic books did not appear until the
year 1850, when the French "Encyclope-
die" was published. Before this there is
scarcely an atheistic book or tract to be
found.
It's almost equally strange that books
of unbelief are even now little sought
after-considering the number of unbe-
levers. The works of Theodore Parker
for instance, one of the ablest of his
school, have never passed to a second edi-
ton. Boston, the hotbed of isms, has
been unable, after making the effort, to
force a second edition. Meantime, 300,-
100000 copies of the bible are in circula-
ton, and the demand is for more. Every
body, as Talleyrand said, is cleversr than
anybody.
Nan has often lost or perverted reIig-
ious truth. but has never discovered it,
Anon.
The highest art is always the most re-
igious, and the greatest artist is always a