News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1892-01-28

ance of religion as he who rattles
the keys of q bank and could abscond
with a hundred thousand hard dol
lars.
There are those prominent in the
churches who seem to be, on public
occasions, very devout, who do not
put the principles of Christ's religion
into practice. They are the most in
exorable of creditors. They are the
most grasping of dealers. They are
known as sharpers on the street.
They fleece every sheep they can
catch. A country merchant comes
in to buy spring or fall goods, and he
gets into the store of one of these
professed Christian men who have
really no grace in their hearts and
he is completely swindled
He is so overcome that he cannot
get out of town during the week.
He stays in town over Sunday, goes
into some church to get Christian
consolation, when what is his amaze
ment to find that the very man who
hands him the poor box in the church
| is the one who relieved him of his
money! But never mind; the deacon
has his black coat on now. He looks
solemn, and goes home talking about
1.-The blessed sermon" If the wheat
in the churches should be put into a
| hopper, the first turn of the crank
would make the chaff fly, tell you,
Some Of these men are great stick
lers for Gospel preaching. They say:
You stand there in bands and sur
plice and gown, and preach-pfeach
like an angel, and we will stand out
here and attend to business. Don't
mix things Don't get business and
religion in the same bucket. You
| attend to your matters and we will
attend to ours. - They do not know
that God sees every cheat they have
practiced in the last six years; that
he can look through the iron wall of
their freproof safe; that he has
counted every dishonest dollar they
have in their pocket, and that a day
| of Judgment will come. These incOn-
sistent Christian men will sit on the
| Sabbath night in the house of God,
singing, at the close of the service,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me, " and
then, when the benedictiOn is pro
nounced, shut the pew door and say,
as they go out, "Goodby, religion.
I'll be back next Sunday"
THE CHURCH IS THE CHRISTIANS AR
MORY.
think that the church of God and
the Sabbath are only an armOry
where we are to- get weapons. When
war comes, if a man wants to fight
for his country he does not go to
Troy or Springfield to do battling,
but he goes there for swords and
muskets. l look upon the church of
Christ and the Sabbath day as only
the place and time where and when
we are to get armed for Christian
conflict; but the battlefield is on
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thurs
day, Friday and Saturday. st. |
Martins" and "Lenox" and "Old |
Hundred" do not amount to anything
unless they sing all the week. A
sermon is useless unless we can take
it with us behind the plow and the
counter. The Sabbath day is worth
less if it last only twenty-four hours.
There are many Christians who
say: 1--WE are willing to serve God, !
but we do not want to do it in these
spheres about which we are talking, |
and it seems so insipid and monoto |
nous. If we had some great OCCASION
if we had lived in the time of Luther |
if we had been Paul's travelling COM
panion, if we could serve God on
great scale, we would do it; but we
can't in this everyday life" l admit
that great deal of the romance and
knight errantry of life have disap-
peared before the advance of this
practical age.
The ancient temples of Rouen have
been changed into storehouses and
smiEhies. The residences of poets
and princes have been turned into
brokers' shops The classic mansion
of Ashland has been cut up into walk
ing sticks. The groves where the
poets said the gods dwelt have been
carted out for fire wood. The muses.
that we used to read about have dis
before the migrants ak
and the trapper's gun, and that man
who is waiting for a life bewitched of
will never find it. There is,
however, a field for endurance and
great achievement, but it is in every
day life. There are Alps to scale,
there are Tablespoons to swim, there
are fires to brave; but they are all
around us now. This is the hardest
kind of martyrdOm to bear
1t took grace to lead Latimer and
Ridley through the fire triumphantly
when their armed enemies and their
friends were looking on; but it re-
quires more grace now to bring men
persecution, when nobody is
looking on. could show you in this
city a woman who has had rheuma-
tism for twenty years, who has en-
dured more suffering and exhausted
more grace than would have made
twenty martyrs pass triumphantly
through the fire. If you are not
faithful in an insignificant position in
life you would not be faithful in a
grand mission. If you cannot stand
the bite of nudge, how could you
endure the breath of basilisk?
GOD IS GLORIFTED IN ALL GOOD WORK.
Do not think that any work God
gives you to do in the world is on too
small a scale for you to do. The
whole universe is not ashamed to
take care of one little flower. say:
What are you doing down here in
the grass, you poor little fower2 Are
you not afraid nights2 You viii be
neglected, you will die of thirst, you
will not be fed Poor little fowerr'
mo, says a star, I'm watch over it
tonight" NO" says a cloud, 'Tu
give it drink" mo, says the sun,
TN warm it in my BOSOM" Then l
see the pulleys going and the clouds (
are drawing water, and l say, ''What
are you doing there, o clouds2" And (
they reply, 1--WE are giving drink to
that flower"
Then the wind rises, and comes
bending down the wheat and sound
ing its psalm through the forest, {
and I cry, "Whither away on '
such swift wing, o wind2" And it {
replies, I'VE are going to cool the
cheek of that flower" And then |
bow down and say, "Will God take t
care of the grass of the feld2n and l
lower at my foot responds, Eyes; he 6
clothes the lilies of the field, and |
never yet has forgotten me, a poor '
title flower" Oh. when | see the /