Milford chronicle., 1892-01-29
m Ord, DEL, FRIDAY, JANUARY 49, 1892.


Of his money! But never mind, the deacon
mas his black coat on now He looks sol
! emn and goes home talking about "the
: blessed sermon.w
THE HE WHEAT AS'9 CHAFF NOW MINGLED.
A Ohe wheat in the churches should be put
INTO hopper, the first turn of the crank
" So1ld make the chalf fly. tell you. Some
/ Of Snese men are great sticklers for Gospel
pre- ching. They say: "You stand there in
! band and surplice and gown and preach
preach ike an angel, aud we will stand out
| here andA attend to business. Don't mix
things. B2on't get business and religion in
the same Bucket. You attend to your
! matters andAA we will attend to ours E"
They do not kkGow. that God sees every
cheat they have practiced in the last six
years; that h,l can look through the iron
wall Of thelr fireproof safe; that he has
| counted every dishonest dollar they have
in their pocket and that day Of judg
ment will come Fhese inconsistent Chris
tian 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 rs
they go out, "GOodby, religion, I'll be back
next Sunday"
| Sabbath are only an armOry where we are
| to get weapons. When war comes, If r man
wants to fight for his country he does not
| 60 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 fol
| Christian conflict; but the battlefield is on
Monday, Tuesdsy, Wednesday, Thursday,
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 pillow and
/ the counter The Sabbath day is worthless
| II it last only twenty-fouF hours
There are many Christians who say;
eve are willing to serve God, but we do
not want to do it in these spherea about
which we are talking; and it seems so in
sipid and monotOnOus II we had some
great occasion, if we had lived in the time
/ Of Luther, il we had been Paul's travelling
companion, IL we could serve God on u
| great scale, we would do it, but we can't
In this everyday life" ! admit that a
! great deal Of the romance and knight or
rantry Of life have disappeared before the
advance of this practical age. The ancient
temples of Rouen have been changed into
storehouses and smithies. The residences
| of poets and princes have been turned into
brokers' shops The classic mansion Of
Ashland has been cut up into walking
sticks The groves where the poets said
| the gods dwelt have been carted out fol
fireWood. The muses. that we used to read
about have disappeared before the emf
| grants ak and the trapper's gun, and that
IararitahnI of
wonders will never find it.
THE GREAT FIELD OF DAILY LIFE.
There is, however, r field for endurance
I and great achievement, but it is in every
day. Jfe There are Alps to scale, there are
| H AspOnts to swim, there are fires to
Fvyfve; but they are all around us now.
! T his is the hardest kind of martyrdOm to
| Gear It took grace to lead Latimer and
Ridley through the fire triumphantly
when theirRrmed enemies and their friends
we're looking on; but It requires more
| grace now to bring men through peTsecu
ton, when nobody is looking on. l could
showyOu in this city a woman who has had
rheumatism for twenty years, who has en-
dured more suffering and exhausted more
| grace than would have made twenty mar
| tyrs pass triumphantly through the fire
| l. YOU are not faithful in an insignificant
position in life, you would not be faithful
| In a grand mission. II you cannot stand
the bite of "A midge. r could you endure
the breath Of basilisk?
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 il
] not ashamed to take care Of one little
/ flower / say: "What are you doing down
| here in the grass, you poor little howerf
Are YOU not afraid nights? You will be
neglected, yOu will die Of thirst, You will
not be fed Poor little aowerH' No"
says star, "l'll watch over it tonight" ="
NO" says cloud, "Vll give it drink"
"No," says the sun, I'm warm it IN my
bosom" Then see the pulleys going, and
/ the clouds are drawing water, ani | say
''What are yOu doing there, o cloudsT
And they reply, 1--WE are giving drink to
/ that flower"
Then the wind rises and comes bending
! down the wheat and sounding its psalm
I through the forest, and / cry, WHITTIER
/ away on such swift wing, o wind!" And
/ it replies, 1--WE arc going to cool the cheek
/ of that flower" And then bow down and
1 saw "Will God take care of the grass OF
/ the ieldP" And a flower ut my foot re-
| sponds, "Yes; he clothes the lilies Of the
! field. and never yet has forgotten me,
/ Door little flower" Oh, when ! see the
| great heavens bending themselves to what
seems insignificant ministrations, when !
/ find out that God does not forget any bios
| som of the spring or any snowflake OF the
/ winter ] come to the conclusion that we
| can afford to attend to the minute things
/ in life. and that what we do we ought to
( do well, since there is as much perfection
/ In the construction Of spiders eye as in
/ the conformation of flaming galaXies.
Plato had "A fable which l have now
/ nearly forgotten, but it ran something IKE
| this: He said spirits Of the other world
came back to this world to ilnd body and
! And a sphere of work. One spirit came
! and took the body Of king and did his
work. Another spirit came and took the
body Of poet and did his work. After
awhile Ulysses came, and he said, why
all the fine bodies are taken, and all the
grand work is taken There is nothing left
for me-" And some one replied, All the
best one has been left for you" Ulysses
said. "What's thatg" And the reply was,
s'The body Of common man, doing com
mon work and for a common reward" A
rood fable for the world and just Us good
fable for the church. Whether we cat or
drink. or whatsoever we do, let us DO 1t to
the glory of God.
PHE LITTLE FOXES SPOIL THE VINES.
Again, we need to bring the religion OF
Christ into our commonest trials. For Sc
we're losses. for bereavement, for trouble
that shocks like an earthquake and that
blasts Ike a storm, we prescribe religious
consolation: hut business man, Tor the
small aunoyitnces Of last week, how much
OF the grace of Cod did you applyg "Oh,
YOU say, these trials are too small Tor such
application Ny brother, they are shaping
YOUR character, they are souring your TEN
DER. they are wearing out your patience
] and they are making you less and less Of q
man. / go into a sculptor's studio and
4 see him shaping a statue. He has chisel
IN one hand and mallet in the other, and
he gives a very gentle stroke-click click
click / say, "Why don't you strike
harder?" "Oh," he replies, that would
shatter the statue. l can't do 1t that way
Imust do it this wayw
So he works on, and after awhile thu
features come out, and everybody tha