The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-06-24

Him on earth, We shall be glorlt1ed with
Him in Heaven" Aim high
Do not be satisfied to be like the
Christians all around about you. BE
more than they have ever been for
Christ An old Arabian king was show
ing a beautiful sword that had been
given him, when one of his courtiers
said: ''This sword is too short You
cannot do anything with it" Said the
kings son: ''To brave man no sword
is too short. If it be too short take one
step in advance, and then it is long
enough" So / say to any Christian
who may feel that he has poor weapons
with which to fight against sin and
darkness and death: Advance upon
the enemy. In the strength of Christ
go forward God is for you, and if
God be for you who can be against
you? Remember that God never puts
you in battle but He gives you weapons
with which to fight"
NY second word of counsel to those
who have recently entered upon Chris
tian life is: Abstain from all perniciOus
associations and take only those that
are useful and beneficent. Stay out OF
all associations that would damage
your Christian character. Take only
those associations that will help you.
A learned man said: 'If l stay with
that man Fenelon any longer L shall
get to be Christian in spite of myself"
In other words, there is n mighty power
in Christian associations. Now, what
kind of associations shall we, as young
Christians, seek after? 1 think we
ought to get in company better than
ourselves, never going into company
worse than ourselves. If we get into
company little better than ourselves
and there be ten people in that COM
pany ten chances to one we will be bet
tered II we get into company little
worse than ourselves and there be ten
people in that company ten chances to
one we will be made worse than we
were before.
Now, when young Christian enters
the church God does not ask him to re-
tire from the world. The anchOrite
that lives on acorns is nOnearer Heaven
than the man who lives ON partridge
and wild duck. Isolation is not de
manded by the Bible. A man may use
the world with the restriction of not
abusing it. But just as soon as you
find any surroundings pernicious to
your spiritual interest, quit those asso-
Citations. This remark is more especial
" appropriate to the young. Now it is
impossible that the young and un-
troubled should seek their associations
with those who are aged and worn out
As God intended the aged to associate
with the aged, talking over fhe past
and walking staff in hand along the
same paths they trod thirty. forty and
fifty years ago, so 1 suppose He intended
the young chiefly to associate with the
young.
NV next word OF counsel is that you
be actively employed. see a great
many Christians with doubts and per-
pleXities and they seem to be proud OF
them. Their entire Christian life is
made up of gloom. and they seem to
cultivate that spiritual dependency,
| when l will undertake to say that in
nine cases out of ten spiritual despond-
ency is a Judgment of God upon idle
ness. Who are the happy people in the
church to-day? The busy people.
Show me a man who processes the re-
| liuion of Jesus Christ and is idle, and |
| will show YOU an unhappy man. The
very first prescription that give to a
man when | find him full of doubts
| and fears about his eternal interest is
to go to work for God Ten thou
sand voices are lifted up asking
for your help. Go and help
Here is wood full of SUM
mer insects An aXman goes into the
woods to cut fircwood. The insects dc
not bother him very much, and every
stroke of the AK makes them fly away.
But let n man go and lie down there
and he is bitten and mauled, and thinks
it is horrible thing to stay in the
wood. Why does he not take an AK anC
go to work? So there are thousands o.
Christians now in the church who &C
out amid great annoyance in hfe-they
are not perpleXed, they are all the tim'
busy: while there are others who do
nothing and they are stung and stune
and stung and covered from head t.
foot with the blotches of Incidence ant
inactivity, and spiritual death
The first thing, then, you have to do
10, Christian young man, Christian
young woman, is to go TO work in th'
service of the Lord if you want to be ;
happy Christian. When an army goe
out. there are always stragglers falling
off here and there, some because the.
are faint and sick. but great many be
cause they are afraid to fight and to-
lazy to march. After awhile the laz.
men on the road hear the booming o
the guns for hours, and they hear tn
shout of victory, and a man on horse bacl
comes up and says: eve have wol
the day." Then they hasten up. How
brave they are after the battle is over
!, Poor at fighting, but grand at ''huzzar
So there are stragglers going after tn
Lords host There come days of dark
ness and battle. Where are they? w
call the roll of the host They make n
answer, but after awhile there comes
! day of triumph in the church, and the
I are all about ''Huzza! Huzzal Didn'
we give it to them
; have another word of counsel
/ give those who have just entere
Christian life, and that is be faithfu
, in prayer. You might as well, bus
: ness man, start out in the mornin
= without food and expect to be stron
: all day-you might as well abstai
t from food all week and expect to b
l strong physically as to be strong witt
out prayer. The only way to &c
. strength into the soul is by prayer, an
i the only difference between that Chri'
: tian who is worth everything and tha
one who is worth nothing is the fact ths
4 the last does not pray and the othC
4 L. AnJ tba only differanca ha+1vao