Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1892-02-05

who relieved him of his moneyl But never
mind, the deacon has his black coat on now.
He looks solemn and goes home talking
about 1.-The blessed sermon"
If the wheat in the churches should be~nut
into q hopper, the first turn of the crank
would make the chaf fly, tell YOU. Some
of these men are great sticklers for Gospel
preaching They say: You stand there in
preach like an angel, and We stand out
here and attend to business. Don't mix
things. Don't get business and religion in
the same bucket. You attend 10 your mat
tiers and we will attend to ours" They do
not know that God sees every cheat they
have practiced in the last six years; that He
can look through the iron wall of their fire.
proof safe; that He has counted every dis
honest dollar they have in their pocket, and
that day of Judgment will come These
inconsistent Christian 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 benedic-
ton is pronounced shut the pew door and
say as they go out, ''Goodby, religion, III be
back next Sunday"
l think that the Church of God and the
Sabbath are only an armory where we are
to get weapons. When war comes, if
man wants to fight for his country he does
not go TO Troy or Springfield to do battling,
but he goes there for swords and musEets.
l look upon the Church of Christ and the
SaDOaCn DAY as only bne place ana ClTne
where and when we were to get armed for
Christian conflict; but the battlefield is on
Monday, Tuesday, 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 m
take it with us behind the pillow and the
counter. The Sabbath day is worthless II 1t
last only twenty-four hours.
There are many Christians VINO say: 1--WE
are willing to serve God, but we do not
want to do it in these spheres about which
we are talking; and it seems SO inSiOid and
monotonous. If we had some great oc-
casion, if we had lived in the time Of Luther,
if we had been PaulS travelling companion,
if we could serve God on great scale, we
would do it, but we can't il this everyday
life" I admit that great deal Of the ro-
nance and knight errantry of life have dis
appeared before the advance OF this practi-
cal age. The ancient temples OF Rouen have
been changed into storehouses and Smlthles.
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
for firewood. The muses. that used to
read about have disappeared before the emf
grants AK and the trappers gum and that
man who IS waiting for life bewitche1 Of
wonders will never find it.
There is, however, field for endurance
and great achievement, but 1t is in every
day life. There are Alps to SCALE there are
Tablespoons to swim, there are fires to brave;
but they are all around US now. This is
the hardest kind of martyrdom to bear. 1t
took grace to lead Latimer and Ridley
through the fire triumphantly when their
armed enemies and their friends were looking
on; but it requires more grace now to bring
men through persecution. when nobody 10
looking on. could show you in this
city a woman who has had rheumatism for
twenty years, who has endured more suffer-
ing and exhausted more grace than would
have made twenty martyrs pass triumph.
antly through the fire. If you are not faith
full in an Insignificant position in life, you
would not be in grand mission. If you can
not stand the bite of a nudge, how 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 is not
ashamed to take care of one little flower.
/ say: "What are you doing 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 fowerm No" says star, 'pll
watch over it tonight" No" says a
cloud, "rll give it drink" Ne" says the
sun, ''Pn warm it in my bosom" Then l
see the pulleys going, and the clouds are
doing there, clouds" And they reply,
eve are giving drink to that flower"
Then the wind rises and comes bending
down the wheat and sounding its psalm
through the forest, and l cry. "Whither
away on such swift wing, o wind?' And
Of that flower" And then bow down and
say, "Will God take care of the grass of
the field? And a flower at my foot re-
spends, eyes; He clothes the lilies of the
field, and never yet has forgotten me,
poor little flower" Oh, when see the great
heavens bending themselves to what seems
Insignificant ministrations, when l find out
that God does not forget aEy blossom of the
spring or any snowflake of the winter I
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 i'll the construction Of
spiders eye as in the conformation of fam
ing galaxies.
Plato had fable which have now nearly
forgotten, but it ran something like this:
He said spirits of the other world came back
to this world to find body and find
sphere of work. One spirit came and took
the body Of a king and did his work An
other spirit came and took the body of a poet
and did his work After awhile Ulysses
came, and he said, Why, all the fine
work is taken. There is nothing left
for me-" And some one replied, "Ah! the
best one has been left for you" Ulysses
said. Whats thatr' And tho reply was,
THE body of common man, doing a COM
mon work and for a common reward" A
good fable for the world and just as good a
fable for the church. Whether we eat or
drink, or whatsoever we do, Let Us do it to
the glory OF Cos.
Again, we need to bring the religion OF
Christ into our commonest trials. For Sc
verv losses, for bereavement for trouble
that shocks like an earthquake and that
blasts like a storm, we prescribe religious
consolation; but, business man. for the small