Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-10-09

who can answer that question, The angels
DO not know The schools 90 not know.
Your kindred cannot certainly know. God
knows, and you ought to know. factory
running az an expenss o. SOC 900 year,
and turning out goods worth seventy cents
q year would not be such an iuccngruity
as you man. with such sami-infnite
/ equipment doing nothin0 or next To noth'
/ ing, in the way OF usefulness. what shall
doT' you ask. Ny brethren, my sisters, do
/ not ask ME. Ask God.
There's some path OF Christian usefulness
/ open. IL may be rough path, or it may be
a smooth path, a long path or a short path
/ 1t may be on a mount of conspicuity or in a
valley unobserved, but it is o path on
which you can start with such faith AMI
such satisfaction and such certainty that
/ you can cry out in the fac5 of
earth and hell ami heaven, "TO this end was
! born" Do no5 wait for extraordinary
qualifications. Philip the COnquer0r gained
his greatest victories seated on Il mrle, AM
/ il you wait for some caparisone Bucepaaus
to ride INFO the conflict you will never ge5
into the world wide h,ht at ALL Sampson
slew the Lords enemies with ths jawOone o.
the stupi1est beast create1 Sla gar slew
six hundred Of the Lori's enemies with an
OK goa1. Under God spittle cured the blin1
mans eyes in the New Testament story. Take
all the faculty you have and say: - Lord,
here is what have. Show me tn field an
back me up by omnipotsnt power Any
where, anyhow, any time for Go1.'
Two men riding on horseback came TO
trough to water the horses. While tlo
horses were drinking one OF tia men said 70
the other few words about the value OF the
soul, and then they rode away, and in oppo-
site directions. But the words uttered were
the salvation Of the ons to whom they were
uttered, and he became the Rev. Mr.. Caam-
pion, one of the most distinguished mission
aries in heather lands, for years wondering
who did for him the Christian kin lness. AMI
not finding out until. in a bundle OF BOOKS
sent him to Africa, he found the biography
of Brainerd Taylor and picture OF him, and
the missionary recognized the face in tlat
book as the man who, at the wat eriug trough
for horses, had said the thing that saved his
soul. What opportunities you have had in
the past. What opportunities you have
now. What opportunities you will have In
the days to come
Put on your hat, oh, woman, this after
noon, and go in and comfort that young
mother who lost her babe last summer. Pat
on your hat oh, man, ani 60 over AMI SEQ
that merchant who was compelled yester lay
to make an assignment, and tell him o. ths
everlasting riches remaining for all those
sing for that man who cannot get well, and
you will help him into heaven. Let it be
your brain, your tongue, your eyes, youv
ears. your heart your lungs, yOur hands.
your feet your body. your mind, your soul,
your life, your death, your time, your eter-
nifty for God, fe ling in your SOU, 10 this
end was born"
II may be helpful to some if recte my
own experiencein thisregarl. ! started for
-. L. ...itl 1irnetlOn
consulted my own tastes. like lawyers
and courtrooms and judges and iur.es, AMI
reveled in hearing the Frelinghuys9ni an
the Bradlevs of the New jersey bar, and as
assistant of the county clerk, at sixteen
years of age, ] searched titles, naturalized
foreigners, recorded deeds. receive the con-
fession of judgments, sw0re witnesses an
iuries and grand iuries. Bu5 after awhile L
felt a call to the Gospel ministry AID entered
it, and | felt some satisfaction IN the wo:@
But one summer when l was resting at
Sharon Springs. and waile seltedin the park
of that village 1 said t. myself, If have
an especial work to do in the world ought
TO find it out now. and with that determln-
alton prayed as had never before prayed
and got the divine direction, and wrote 1t
down in my memorandum book, ald / saw
my life work then as plainly as see IL now
Oh, do not be satisfied with general direc-
tions. Get specific directions. DO not Sloos
at ran ION Take aim and fire. Conc9A'
trate. NapOleon'S success IN battle cam
from his theory OF breaking through tn;
enemy's ranks at one point, not trying II
meet the whole line OF the eneny's force %
n similar force One rea son why ne los.
Waterloo was because hs did not wori MS
usual theory, and spreal his force ou5 over
wide range. On Christian man. OH, Chris
tian woman, break through SOM AeF''
Not general engagement TOR UO1, bu0
particular engagement, an made IN answer
to prayer Il there are sixteen hum ret
million peoDle in the world, then there are
sixt en- hundred million different missions to
fulfill. different styles of WORK to 10, diitar-
ent orbits in which 70 rsvolve, aniit you do
not get the divine direction there are at least
fifteen hundred aud ninety-aine millionpos'
sibilities that You viii make mistake. ~
vour knees before God get the matter settlei
so that you can firmly say, 70 this en1 was
] bern"
And now 1 come to the climlctarc con-
sideration. As near as | can tell, you wee
built for a haopy eternity, all the disasters
which have happened 70 your nature - be
overcome by the blood OF the Lamb IL You
will heartily accept that Chrlstly arrang-
nent We are all rcjoicel at the increase
of human longevity. People live, a' near as
| can observe, about ten years longer than
they used 10. The molern doctors do nos
bleed their patients on all occasions as dill
the former doctors. In those times ii m1l
had fever they bled him, If he hal col
sumption they Del him, il be had rheuma-
tism they ble1 him, aud il they could not
make out exactly what was the matter they
blei him. Oden time phlebotony was
deaths coadjutor. All this has changed
From the way SEQ people skipping abol,
at eighty years ofage, | conclude that it'
insurance companies will have 70 chanSe
their table OF risks, and caar5e a man no
more premium at seventy than they used -
do when he was sixty, and no more premium
at fifty than when he Was forty. by tue a.
vancement of medical science and the wide.
acquaintance with the laws Of health, and
the fact that peoDle know better how tc
take care Of themselves, human life IS pro-
longed. But do you realize what, after an,
Is the brevity of our earthly state, In tao
times when people lived seven an eight
hundred years, the patriarch Jacob said that
his years were few.
Looking at the life Of the youngest person
in this assembly and supposing he lived to
be a nonagenarian how short the Tune anu
soon gone. while banked up in front OF us Is
an eternity so vast that arithmetic has not
figures enough TO expressits length or height
For a happy eternity you were born unless
you run yourself against the divine inten-
tons II standing in your pres 'nc9 my eye
should fall upon the feeblest soul here as that
soul will appear when the world lets 1t up.
and heaven entrances it, | suppose l would
be 50 overpowered that l should drop dowa
as one dead.
You have examined the family Bible AM
explored the family records, AMI you may
have daguerreotypes Of some of t1e kindred
of previous generations you have had pn1-
tographs taken Of what you were IN boyhoot
or girlhoo1, and what you were ten years
later, and it is very interesting to any one
TO be able to look bacilupo pictures OF WAIT
be was ten or twenty or thirty years ago;
but have you ever had a picture taEen OF
what you may be and what you will be II
YOU seek after God AMI feel the Solrlts re-
generating power? Where shall | plant tho
camera to take the picture? l plant it on
this platform. | direct it toward yo1. Sit
still or stand still while l take thu picture.
II shall be an instantaneous picture. There!
| have it. 1t is done You can see the pic
ture in its imperfect state and get some idea
OF what it will be when thoroughly de-
veloped. .
There Is your resurracted body, so Drll'
liant that ( be MONDAY sun is patch OF mid
night compared with it. There isyour soul,
so pure that all the forces Of diabolism could
not spot it with an impsrfection. There Is
your being. so mighty and so swift that
fight from heaven TO Mercury or Mars or