The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1892-02-04

put into hopper, the first turn Of the
crank would make the ehaff fly, L tell
you. Some men are great sticklers tor
Gospel preaching. They say: You
stand there In bands and surplice and
gown and preach-preach like an angel,
and we " i'll stand out here aud attend
to business. Don't mix things. Don't
get business aud religion in the same
bucket. You attend 10 your matters
and we will attend to ours.n They do
not know that God sees every cheat they
have practiccd 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 thoir pocl-
CT, and that day Of judgment will
come. These inconsistent Christian men
"lll sit on the Sabbath night in the house
o1 God singing at the close of the service,
'Rock of Ages, cleft for me-" and then
when the benedctlOn Is pronounced shut
the pew door and say as they 90 out,
"Goodby, religion, I'll be back next
Sunday"
| think that The Church Of God and
the Sabbath are only au armory where
we arc TO get weapons. When war
comes, II man wants To fight for his
country he does not 90 TO Troy or Spring.
field to do battling, but he goes there for
! swords and muSkets. / look upon the
Church OF Chrlstand the Sabbath dav as
| only The place and time where aud when
we arc to get armed for Christian con-
tllct; but the battlefield Is on Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
and Saturday. ''St. Martins" and
"LcnoX'? AMI "Old Hundred" do not
amount to anything unless they sing all
! the week. A sermon is useless unles;,
we can take it with us behind the plow
and the counter. The Sabbath day is
worthless ii it last only twenty-four
hours. There are many Christians who
says: "We arc willing TO serve God,
but we d. not want TO do it. in these
spheres about which we are talking; and
it seems so insipid and monotonous. If
we had some great occasion. il we had
lived IN the time of Luther, If we had
been PauPs travelling companion, if we
could serve God on a great scale, we
would do it. but we can't in this every
day lifc."
| DO not think that any work God gives
you to do in the world is on too small q
scale for you to do. The whole univers G
is not ashamed TO take care of one little
flower. l say: "What are you dong
down here IN the grass, you poor little
flower? Are you not afraid nights?
You will be neglected, you will die of
thirst, you will not be fed. Poor little
hower!" ''No," says a star, "I'll watch
over it tonight" ''Ne," says cloud,
"lll give it driuk." ''No," says the
sun, ''1'll warm it ip my bes om." Then
L see the pullcYs going, and the clouds
arc drawing water, and say. "What
are you doing there, o clouds?'' And
the reply. eve arc giving drink to that
flower"
Then the wind rises and comes bend
ing down the wheat aud sounding its
psalm through the forest, and 1 cry,
"Whithcr away on such swift wing, 0
wlnd?" And 1t replies, I'VE are going
to cool the cheek OF that flower" And
then bow down and say, "Wlll God
take care of the grass of the iield?" And
a flower ct my foot responds, Yes; he
clothes the lilies of the field, and lever
ye! has tors sotten me, poor little flow
er." Oh, when l see the great heavens
bending themselves to what seems in
significant mmlstrations, when l 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 min
ute things i'll life, and that what we do
we ought to do well, since there is as
much perfection il the construction or a
SPIDERS eye as IN the conformation of
flaming galaXics.
Plato had fable which l have now
nearly forgotten s~but it ran something
like this: He said spirits of the other
world come back to his world to ind a
body and find Il sphere OF work. One
spirit came and look the body of king
and did his work. Another spirit came
and took the body Of a poet and did his
work. After awhile Ulysses came, and
he said, "Whv, all the fine bodies are
taken. and all the grand work ia taken.
There is nothing let for me-" And
some one rcplicd,- "Ah! the best one
has been lett tnr YOU" Ulysses said,
"What's thal?" And the reply was,
"I'he body Of q common man, doing a
common work aud for common re-
ward" A good fable for the world and
Just as good fable for the church.
Whether we eat or drink, Or whatsoever
we do, let us do it to the glory Of God.
Again, VIC need to bring the religion
OF Christ into our commonest trials.
For severe losses, for bereavement, for
trouble that shocks like an earthquake
and that blasts like storm, we prescribe
religious consolation; but. business man,
for the small annoyances of last week,
how much Of The grace of God did you
apply? "Oh," you say, these trials
are too small for such applicatonw My
brother, they are shaping your character,
they arc souring your temper, they are
wearing out your patience and they are
making yeu less and less of man. |
90 INTO sculptor's studio and see him
Shaping statue. He has chiscl in one
hand and a mallet in the other, and he
gives very gentle .stroke-click, click,
CncM I, l say, "Why don't lyou strike
harder!" "Oh," he replies, that would
shatter the statue. / can't do il that
way. | must do it this way!''
SO he works on, and alter awhile the
teatrues come out, and everybody that
enters the studio is charmed and fasci.
mated. We'll, God has your soul under
process Of development, and 1t is the lit