The Penn's Grove record., 1892-04-29
PENIS GROVE. n. j., FRIDAY. APRIL 29. lSG:

De excused, Tor ne mad no time To listen any
longer. Then st. Thomas went to the de.
vout women OF his time and expressed his
doubts. They said they were sorry, but
they had no time to listen. Then st.
Thomas concluded that it was because they
were SO busy that the A1ostl es AMI the de-
vout women had no doubts.
Idleness not only leads a man into asSo-
Citations which harm his morals, but often
thrusts upon lin the worst kind of skep-
ticism. Loafers are almost always infidels.
Or fast getting to be. Consummate idlers
never read the Bible, and IL they appear in
church can be distinguish ! in an audience
Of a thousand by their listlessness, for they
are too lazy to hear. 1t is not SO much
among occupied merchants, Industrious me-
shanics and professional men always busy
that you hear the religion OF Jesus
maiigned, 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."
l never knew a man given up to thorough
hleness that was converted. Simon and
Andrew were converted while fishing, and
Lydia while selling purple, and the shepherds
81 Bethlehem watching their aocks heard
lhe voice OF angels, and Gideon was thrash.
ing on the thrashing floor, but no one was
ever converted with his hands in his pockets.
Let me tell the idler that there Is no hop.
tor him either In this world or in the world
which is TO come. II the Son of God, whe
owned the whole universe, worked in the
sar penter shop of Joseph, surely we. who
pwn 50 little, yet want so much, ought to bs
busy. The redeemed in heaven are never
Idle. What exciting songs they singh
On what messages Of love they fly through
al the universe, fulfilling Gods high behests
and taking worlds in one circuit; rushing
with infinite fierceness against sin and
cruelty and oppression, and making the
gates Of hell to quake at the overthrow Of
Ehe principalities Of darkness, and in the
lame twinkle of an eys speeding back to
iheir thrones with the news OF sinners re-
p~entant. The River of Life is ever flowing,
and the palms ever waving, and the hallelu-
lahs ever rising. and the harps ever sound
Ing. and temple always open, and the golden
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 so few
workers. We go into the vineyard of the
church and we near 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 punches OF
Eshcol and Engedi, and at a touch they will
turn into wine more ruddy han that OF
Libanus and Helbon. But where are the
men to gather the vintage and tread the
wine press? There comes to your ear a
vound of a thousand wheat fields ready for
the sickle. The grain is ready. 1t is tail, it
Is full, it Is golden. It waves in the sunlight.
1t rustles In the wind. 1t would fill the
barns. 1t would crowd the gamers. After
. while it will lodge, or the mildew aud the
~ust will smite it.
Oh, where are the reapers to bind the
Sheavesi The enemies OF God are mar
shaled. You see the glitter Of their buck
lers. You hear the paving Of their chargers,
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.
1ance. They come, not in number like the
hosts Of Sennacherib, but their multitude is
like the leaves Of the forest, and the sound OF
their voices like the thunder Of the sea.
Mailed in hells impenetrable armor, 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 ami
Ian thousand angels Of darkness mingle in
the fight. Where are the chosen few who
will throw themselves into the jaws Of this
King James gave to Sir John Scott, for
Ills courage, a charter Of arms with a num-
Der of spears for the crest and the motto,
"Readyl aye, readyP' and yet, when Col
calls us to the work and the cause demands
our e~spousal and interests dreadful as the
Judgment and solemn as eternity tremble in
che balance, how few OF us are willing to
throw ourselves into tn, breach, crying,
'-Readyi aye, readyW
Oh, | should like to see Col arise for the
defense of His own cause and the disenthral-
ment Of a world in bondageI How the fet.
kou, ,va,,ll opan and hour tho dorkpaau would
by, and how heaven would sing. You have
seen an army like that which God
shall gather from the four winds of heaven
10 aght His battles. They hall cover every
hilltop and stretch through every valley and
nan 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 lesa
complete, for II In that hour when all should
be ~vigilant the church uf God should neglect
to seize the prize and the cause should seem
to fall from the graveyards and ceme'
of all Christendom the good and faith
full of the past would spring to their feet in
time to save the cause, and though the sun
not again stand still above Gideon, or
the moon in the valley of Ajalon, the day
would be long enough to gain a decisive VIC
tory for Tod and the truth,
But my text is descriptive also of those
who hunt for opportunities, and when they
them do not use them. The rabbit they
by an early morning tramp lies
for weeks uncooked in the dooryard. The
deer that they brought Town after long and
pursuit in the Adirondacks lies
the doorsill undressed, and the savory
venison becomes a malodorous carcass. They
roast not that which they took in hunting.
Opportunities laborously captured, yet use.
less, and that which came in invitingly, like
a string Of plover and quail and wild duck
hung over a hunter shoulder, turns to some
thing worse than nothing.
So with Agrippa when almost ~persuaie led
to be a Christian. So with the lovely young
man who went away from Christ very sor-
rowful. So with tens of thousands who
have whole hands full, whole skies full OF
winged opportunities which profit them
nothing at all, because they roast not that
which they took in hunting. Oh, make out
this captured moment a banquet for eter-
The greatest prize in the universe to
be won is the owe and pardon of Christ.
Win that and you can say:
Now j have fonnd a Friend
Whose love shall never end
Jesus is m inel