Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1893-05-05
Y. 4. BISNP, Island Pond, IL

the gospel. You are not afraid Of me- and
am not afraid Of you, aud some day, o
brother, will clasp your hands together,
and will turn your face the other way,
and will take hold OF your shoulders and
while you are helpless in nv grasp / will
give you one hea1long push into the king
dom OF God. Christ says We must compel
you TO come IN. will compel you to come
IN. Can | consent TO anything else with
these men, who are as dear to me as my own
soul? will conpsl rou to come in.
ProfitinS by the mistakes OF the past, l
must do better work for you and better
work for Col. Lest | might. through some
sudden illness or casualty, be snatched away
before have the opportunity OF doing 50. 1
take this occ lsion TO declare my love for
you as people. II Is different work If
pastor is placei in a church already built
up, and he is surrounded by established cir
cumstancss. There are not ten people in
this church that have not been brought into
the church through my ministry. You are
my family. feel as much at home here as
40 in my residence or Oxford street. You
are my family-my father, my mother, my
sister, my son, my daughter. You are my
joy and crown. the subject of my prayers.
Your present and everlasting welfare Is
the object OF my ambition. | have no
worldly ambition. had once. l have not
now. l know the world about as we'll as
any one knows it. have heard the hand
clapping OF its applause, and | have heard
the hiss or its opposition. and | declare to
| you that the former Is not especially to be
sought for, nor is the latter to be feared.
The world has given me about all the COM
fort and prosperity it can give man, and
have no worldly ambition. | have an all
consuming ambition to make full proof Of
my ministry, to get to heaven myself and
| TO take a great crowd with me. Upon your
table and cradle and armchair and pillow
and lounge and nursery and drawing room
and kitchen may the blessing Of the
AL mighty God come down.
During these "A years there is hardly a
family that has not been invaded by sorrow
or death. Where are those grand. old men,
those glorious Christian women. who used
to worship with usf Why, they went away
into the mex: world so gradually that they
had concluded the second stanza or the
third stanxi in heaven before you knew they
were gone. They had on the crown before
you thought they had dropped the staff of
the earthly pilgrimage
And then the dear children. Oh, how
many have gone out Of this churchi You
could not keep them. You folded them In
your arms and said 10 God, I cannot
give them upl Take all else take my prop
erty, taxa my reputation, but let me keep
tlls treasure. Lord | cannot bear this
Oh, II We could all die togetherl Ii we
could keep all tn j, sheep and the lambs OF
the family fold together until some bright
spring day, the b,r1s a-chlnt and the
waters a-glitter, an! then we could alto
geth sr hear the vo.cs OF t 10 good Shepherd
and hand in hani pass through the fioodi
No, no. no, no! Oh, II we only had notice
that we are all to depart together, an we
could say to our families: THE time has
come. The Lord bids US away And then
we could take our little children to their
beds AMI strai8htei out their limbs AMI say:
Now sleep the last sleep. Cool night un-
til it is good morning" And then we could
20 TO our own couches aud say: Nov,
altogether we are ready to go. Our chill
dreu are gone; nov let US DEPART
No, no! 1t is one by one. II may be In
the midnight 1t may be in the winter and
in the snow coming down twenty inches
deep over our grave 1t may be in the
strange hotel aut our arm too weak to pull
the bell for help. 1t may be SO suddenly we
have no time even to say gooiby. Death Is
a bitter, crushing, tremendous curse.
play you three tunes on the gospel harp
OF comfort. Weeping may endure for
night but JOY. cometh in the morning"
That is one. 'All things work together Tor
good to those who lovs God" That is the
second. And the Lamb which is in the
midst OF the throne shall leaf them to liv-
lng fountains OF water, and God shall wipe
all tears from their eyes" That is the
as far as could by argument by illustra-
ton and by caricsture TO fill you with dis
gust with much OF this modern religion
which people are trying now to substitute
for the religion Of Jesus Christ and the rslig.
ion OF the apostles.
have tried TO persuade you that the worst
OF oil cant Is the cant of skeptcism, aud in
stead of your apologizing for Christianity
it was high time that those who do not be-
lieve in Christianity should apologies to you,
an have tried to show that the biggest
Williams in the universe are those who would
try to rob us OF this Bible, and that the
grandest mission Of the church OF Jesus
Christ is that of bringing souls to the Lord
"a soul saving church.
But now those years are gone. II you
have neglected your duty, if 1 have neg
lected my duty, It Is neglected forever.
Each year has its work. IL the work is
performed within the II months It Is done
forever. II ne elected, it Is nes elected for
ever.
When woman was dying she said,
"Call them back" They did not know
what she meant. She had been a disciple
OF the world. She said, "Oh, call them
backp They sail, "Who do you want US
TO call backg' "Oh," she said, ''call than
back. the Jays the months, the years have
wasted. Call them back" But you canuob
call then back; you cannot call year back,
back, or second back. Gone once, 1t ID
gone forever.
When great battle was raging, a mes
ger came up and said to the general. who
was talking with an officer, General, we
have taken standard from the enemy"
The general kept right on conversing with
his fellow officer, and the messenger said
again, General. we have taken a standard
from the enemy" Still the general kept
right On, and the messenger lost mis- patience
not having his message seemingly apprecia-
ted, and said again. General, we have taken
a standard from the enemy the general
then looked at him and said, Take another"
Ah, forgetting the things that are behind,
let us look to those that are before. Win
another castle; take another standard; gain
another victory.
Roll on, sweet day of the worlds emanci-
patton, when "the mountains and the hills
shall break forth into singing, aud all the
trees OF the wood shall clap their hands
an instead Of the thorn shall come up the
fir tree, ami instead OF the brier will come
up the myrtle tree. an 1t shall be unto the
Lord for name, for an everlasting sign
that cannot be cut Off"