The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1892-04-20

life we take ten or twenty years for the
gradual closing CT active work, and that
leaves only so little time between opening
and stopping work that all we accomplish
| Is so little an angel of God needs TO exert
| himself to see it all.
THE GOSPEL OF USEFULNESS.
Nearly everything see around, beneath
| and above in the natural world suggests
useful service. If there is nothing in the
| Bible that inspires you to usefulness go
out and study the world around you this
springtime, and learn the great lesson of
usefulness. What art thou doing up
there, little star? Why not shut thine
eyes and sleep, for who cares for thy shin
ing?" NO" satin the star. Il will not
sleep. / guide the sailor on the sea. l
cheer the traveller among the mountains
| / help tip the dew with light. Through
the window of the poor mans cabin / cast
beam of hope and the child on her moth
er's lap asks in glee whittier come and
what do and whence 60 To CLEAN and
glitter, God set me here. Away! have no
time to sleep"
The snowflake comes Struggling down.
'Frail, tickle wanderer, why contest thou
here?" Il am no idle wanderer." responds
the snowflake. High up in the air was
born, the child of the rain and the cold,
anu dS Tie tilNlnC DtutSG Il Guile, anu am
no straggler for God tells me where to put
my crystal heel. To help cover the roots
the grain and grass, to cleanse the air, to
make sportsmen more happy and the ingle
fire more bright, come. Though so light
am that you toss me from your muffier
and crush me under your foot, am doing
my best to fulfill what / was made for.
Clothed in white | come on a heavenly
mission, and, when my work is done and
God shall call, in morning vapOr l shall go
back, drawn by the fiery courses of the
SUM-"
"What dcest thou, insignificant grass
blade under my feetl" Il am doing a
work" says the grass blade. "as best can.
help 10 make upthe soft beauty of field
and lawn. / am satisfied, If, with millions
of others no bigger than /, we can give
pasture 10 fiocks and herds. / am wonder
fully made. He who feeds the ravens gives
me substance from the soil and breath
from the air, and he who clothes the lilies
of the field rewards me with this coat of
green"
LESSONS OF THE CLOUDS.
"FOr what. lonely cloud, goest thou
across the heavensl" Through the bright
air voice drops from affair, saying: up
and down this sapphire floor l pace to
away. ! gather up the waters from lake
and sea, and then, when the thunders toll,
] refresh the earth, making the dry ground
TO laugh with harvests of wheat and fields
of corn. | catch the frown of the storm
and the hues Of the rainbow. AT evening
tide on the western slopes | will pitch my
tent, and over me shall dash the saffron,
and the purple, and the fire of the sunset.
A pillar Of cloud like me led the chosen
across the desert, and surrounded BIZ such
as the Judge of Heaven and Earth will
at last descend. for Behold he cometh
with cloudsr
Oh, my friends, if everything in the inan-
innate world be useful, let us immortal men
and women be useful, and in that respect
be like the palm tree. But l must not be
tempted by what David says Of that green
shaft of Palestine, that living and glorious
pillar in the eastern gardens, as seen in
olden times-tht palm tree; must not be
tempted by what the Old Testament says
OF it, To lesseh MY emphasis of what John,
the evangelist, says OF it in my text.
Notice that it was beautiful and lawful
robbery OF the palm tree that helped make
up Christ's triumph on the road to Jeru-
salem that Palm Sunday. The long, broad,
green leaves that were strewn under the
feet of the colt and in the way of Christ
were torn of from the trees. What pity,
some one might say, that those stately and
graceful trees should be despoiled The
sap Oozed oct at the places where the
branches broke. The glory of the palm
tree was appropriately sacrificed for the
Saviour's triumphal procession. So it al
ways was, 50 it always viii be in this
world-no worthy triumph of any sort
without the tearing down of something
else.
Brooklyn bridge, the glory Of our CONT
nent, must have two architects Frustrated,
the one slain by his tolls and the other for
lifetime invaded. The greatest pictures
of the world had, in their richest coIoring,
the blood OF the artists who made them.
The mighticst oratorios that ever rolled
through the churches had, in their pathos,
the signs and groans of the composers,
who wore their lives ont in writing the
harmony. american Independence was
triumphant, out it moved on over the life
less forms of tens Of thousands of nlen who
fell at Bunker Hill ana Yorktown and the
battles between which were the hemor-
rhages OF the nation.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD ADVANCES.
The kingdom o. God advances in all the
earth, but it must be over The lives Of mis-
siOnaries who die of malaria IA the iungles
or Christian workers who preach and pray
and toll and die in the service. The Saviour
triumphs in all directicns-but beauty and
strength must be torn down from the palm
trees OF Christian heTOism and conservation
and thrown in his pathway.
To what better use could those palm
trees on the southern shoulder of Mount
Oliyet and clear down into the Valley of
Gethsemane put their branches than to
surrender them for the making of Christis
journey toward Jerusalem the more pic
turesque, the more memorable and the
more triumphant! And TO what better use
could we put our lives than into the sacri-
fee for Christ and his cause and the hap
piness Of our fellow creatures? Shall we
not be willing to be torn down that right
eOusness shall have triumphant way9
Christ was torn down for us. Can we not
afford to be torn down for him? If Christ
could suffer so much for us, can we not
suffer little for Christi II he can afford
on Palm Sunday to travel TO Jerusalem to
carry a cross, can we not afford a few
leaves from our branches to make emerald
his way2
The process IS going on every moment in
al directions. What makes that father
have such hard work to find the hymn to-
day? lie puts on his spectacles and holds
the book close up, and then holdsit far off,
and Is not quite sure whether the number
Of the hymn Is $50 or $50, and the fingers
with which he turns the leaves are very
clumsy. He stoops good deal, although