Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1892-05-06

spectability OF an occupation by the ttti
exertion IL demands, and would not bav,
their children enter any employment wher,
their hands may be soiled. forgetting that
a laborer's overalls are Just as honorable a
a priests robes and an anvil is Just as re-
spectacle as pulpit Health flies from the
bel Of down and says II cannot sleer
here" and from the table spread with
ptarmigan and epicurean viands, saying 81
cannot eat here" and from the vehicle Of
soft cushions and easy springs saying. 81
cannot ride here;" and from houses
luxuriously warmed and upholstered, say
ing. 81 cannot live here" and some day you
meet health, who declined all these luxuriant
places, walking in the plow's furrow, or
sweltering beside the Kissing forge, or spin.
ming among the looms or driving a dray, or
thinning roof, or carrying hods of brick up
| the ladder OF wall.
Furthermore notice that Incidence en-
dangers the soul. Satan makes his chief
conquests over men who either have moth
ing 10 do, or, IL they have, refuse to do It.
There is a legend that St Thomas. years
after Christs resurrection, began again to
doubA and he went to the Apostles and told
them about his doubts. Each Apostle looked
at him with surprise and then said be must
be excused, for he had no time TO listen any
longer. Then St. Thomas went to the de-
vout women Of his time and express ID his
doubts. They said they were sorry but
they had no time to listen. Then st.
Thomas concluded that it was because they
were 30 busy that the Apostl es and the de-
vout women had no doubts
Idleness not only leads a man into asso-
Citations which harm his morals, but often
thrusts upon him the worst kind Of skep-
'tcism. Loafers are almost always infidels,
or fast getting to be. Consum mate idlers
never read the Bible, and IL they appear In
church can be distinguished in an audience
OF a thousand by their hstlessness, for they
are too lazy to hear. Ii is not SO much
amoug occupied merchants, industrious me-
ehanics and professional men always busy
| that you hear the religion Of Jesus
maligned, as In public lounging places, given
up to profanity and dissoluteness They have
no sympathy with the Book that says Let
him that stole steal no more; but rather let
him labor, working with his hands the thing
which is good, that he may have to give to
him that needeth."
| never knew q man given up to thorough
idleness that was converted. Simon and
Andrew were converted while fishing, and
Lydia while selling purple, and the shepherds
OF Bethlehem watching their focks heard
ins is on % the thrasSing an noor, but NO no one vas was
ever converted with his hands in his pockets
Let me tell the idler that there Is no hops
for him either In this world or In the world
which is TO come. IL the Son of God, who
owned the whole universe, worked In the
/ carpenter shop OF Joseph, surely we. who
own so little. yet want so much, ought to be
busy. The redeemed in heaven are never
idle. What exciting songs they singi
On what messages Of love they hy through
all the universe fulfilling Gods high behests
aud taking worlds in one circuit; rushing
with infinite ferceness against sin and
nd fha
gates Of hell TO quake at the overthrow OF
the principalities Of darkness, and In the
same twinkle Of an eye speeding back to
their thrones with tho news of sinners re-
pentant The River OF Life Is ever flowing.
and the palms ever waving, and the hallelu-
jahs ever rising, and the harps ever sound
ing, and temple always open, AMI the golden
streets always a-rush with chariots Of saliva.
| ton, and the last place which you ought
ever to want to go to is heaven, unless you
want to be busy.
Alas, my hearers, that in this world there
should be so many loungers and 30 few
workers. We go into the vineyard Of the
church and we hear the arbor groan under
the heft of the vines and the clusters hang
ing down. large and thick and ripe. cluster
| and cluster, fairer than the bunches OF
Eshcol and Engedi, and at touch they will
turn into wine more ruddy than that OF
| Libanus and Helbon. But where are the
men to gather the vintage and tread the
wine pressI There comes to your ear Q
sound of thousand wheat fields ready for
the sickle. The grain is ready. 1t Is tall, 1t
is full, it Is golden. 1t waves in the sunlight
| 1t rustles in the wind. IL would fill the
barns. 1t would crowd the garnera. After
a while it will lodge, or the mildew aud the
rust will smite it.
! oh, where are the reapers to bind the
sheaves! The enemies Of Col are mar
shaled. You see the glitter of their buck
lers. You hear the paving of their chargera
and all along the line of battle is heard the
shout of their great captain, and at the
armies of the living God they hurl their de-
fance They come, not in numbers like the
hosts of Sennacherib, but their multitude L.
like the leaves OF the forest and the sound Of
their voices like the thunder OF the sea.
Mailed in helPs impenetrable nrmor, they
advance with the waving Of their banners
and the dancing Of their plumes. Their
ranks are not easily TO be broken, for the
batteries Of hell will open to help them and
ten thousand angels OF darkness minyle In
the fight. Where are the chosen few who
will throw themselves into the jaws OF this
conhicty
King James gave to Sir John Scott for
his courage, q charter Of arms with mum
ber of spears for the crest and the motto,
Ready ave, readyf' and yet when God
|
| our espousal and interests dreadful as tbs
Judgment and solemn as eternity tremble in
the balance, how few Of US are willing to
throw ourselves into tn, breach, crying
"Readyi aye, readyr'
oh, should like to ses God arise for the
defense of His own cause and the disenthral-
ment of a world in bondagei How the fet-
ters would snap and how the darkness would
fly, and how heaven would sing. You have
| IN raj yuh
shall gather from the four winds Of heaven
to aght His battles They shall cover every
hilltop and stretch through every valley and
man the vessels on every sea There shall
neither be uproar nor wrath nor smoke nor
bloodshed Harvests shall not lie waste In
the track nor cities be consumed. Instead
Of the groans OF captives shall come the
song Of those redeemed.
Yet the conquest shall be none the lasi
complete, for II in that hour when all should
be vigilant the church OF God should neglect
TO seize the prizs aud the cause should seen
TO fall from the graveyards and oeme
teries of all Christendom the good aud faith
full of the past would spring 10 their feet IL
time to save the cause, and though the sui
the moon in the valley OF Ajalon, the da,
would be long enough to gain decisive VIC
tory for God and the truth.
Hut my text Is descriptive also OF thos
who hunt for opportunities, and when the!
get them do not use them. The rabbit the.
overcome by an early morning tramp lie
for weeks uncooked in tho dooryard In
deer that they brought down after long an
exhausting pursuit in the Adirondacks lie
ON the doorsill undressed, and the SAVIOR
yenison becomes malodorous carcass. The
roast not that which they took in hunting
Opportunities laborously captured, yet us
less, and that which came in invitingly, hA