News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1892-04-28
Is heaven unless you want to be busy.

| Is heaven unless you want to be busy.
SORE NEED OF WORKERS.
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 hear the arbcr
! groan under the heft Of the vines. and
! the clusters hanging down, large and
! thick and ripe, cluster against cluster,
| fairer than the punches Of EshcOl and
Engedi, and at a touch they viii turn
into wine more ruddy than that Of Lib
| anus and Helbon. But where are the
men to gather the vintage and tread tba
wine press? There comes to your cal
q sound Of thousand wheat fields ready
! for the sickle. The grain is ready L
! is tall, it is full, it Is golden 1t waves
in the sunlight. 1t rustIes in the wind.
| 1t would fill the barns. 1t would crowd
the gamers. After awhile it viii lodge,
or the mildew and the rust viii suite it,
! Oh, where are the reapers to bind the
| sheaves? The enemies Of God are mar
| shaled. You see the glitter OF their
bucklers. 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 defiance. They come not in
numbers, like the hosts Of Seunacherib.
but their multitude is like the leaves Of
| the forest and the sound of their voices
like the thunder Of the sea. Mailed in
| hell's impenetrable arbor, 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 dark
ness mingle in the fight. Where are the
chosen few who will throw themselves
! into the Jaws of this conflict?
King James gave to Sir John Scott,
| for his courage, charter of arms with
a number of spears for the crest and the
motto, "Ready! aye, ready" and yet
whan GOD calls us to the work and the
cause demands our espousaI and inter
! ests dreadful as the Judgment and sol
emn as eternity tremble in the balance,
how few of us are willing to throw our
selves into the breach, crying. ''Ready.
aye, ready Oh. | should like to see
! God arise for The defense Of his own
! cause and the discnthTalment of a world
in bondage How the letters would
| snap and how the darkness would fly
and how heaven would sing.
You have never seen aH army like that
which God shall gather from the four
winds of heaven to fight 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 l-or cities be con-
sumed. Instead Of the Groans OF. cap
tives shall come the song of those re
deemed.
Yet the conquest shall be none the less
complete, for, if in that hour when all
should be vfgilant. the CHURCH Of God
should neglect to seize the prize and the
cause should seem to fail, from the
graveyards and cemeteries of all Chris
tendon the good and faithful Of the
past would spring to their feet in time
to save the cause, and though the sun
might not again stand stiu above Glib
con, or the moon in the valley of ia
lon, the day would be long euou~n to
gain decisive victory for God and Tao
truth.
But my text is descriptive also Of
those who hunt for opportunities ana
when they get them do not use them.
The rabbit they overcome by an early
morning tramp lies for weeks uncooked
in the dooryard. The deer that they
brought down after long and exhaust
ing pursuit in the Adirondacls lies on
their doorsill undressed, and the sayory
venison becomes a malodorous carcass.
They roast not that which they took in
hunting. Opportunities laboriously cap
tured, yet useless, and that which came
in invitingly, like string of pl0ver and
quail and wild duck hung over Il hunt
er's shoulder, turns to something worse
than nothing. So with Agrippa when
almost persuaded to be Christian. So
with the lovely young man who went
away from Christ very sorrowful.
So with tens of thousands who have
whole hands full, whole skies f4sl4 -cf-
winged opportunities which profit them
nothing at all, because they roast not
that which they took in hunting. Oh,
make out of this captured moment
banquet for eternity. The greatest prize
in the universe to be won is the love and
pardon Of Christ. Win that and you can
say:
Now have found Friend
Whose love shall never end,