The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-09-18

Gods ear as the snap of worlds con-
fagration, and that the most insignif-
cant thing, in your life is Of enough i'm
portance to attract the attention Of the
Lord God Almighty?
My brother, you cannot be called to
do anything SO insignificant but God
will help you in it. Il you are a fisher
man, Christ will stand by you as he did
by Simon when he dragged Gennesaret.
Are you drawer Of water? He will
be with you as at the we'll curb when
talking with the Samaritan woman.
Are you custom house officer? Christ
will call you as he did Matthew at the
receipt Of custom. The man who has
only days wages in his pocket as GER
tainly needs religion as he who rattles
the keys of bank and could abscond
with a hundred thousand hard dollars.
And yet there are men who profess the
religion of Jesus Christ who do not bring
the religion of the gospel into their ordi-
nary occupations and employments.
There are in the churches Of this day
men who seem very devout ON the Sab
bath who are far from that during the
week. A country merchant arrives in
this city, and he goes into the store to
buy goods of man who processes reli-
yion, but has no grace in his heart. The
country merchant is swindled. He is too
exhausted to go home that week; he tar
ries in town. On Sabbath he goes to
some church for consolation, and what
is his amazement to find that the man
who carries AROUND the poor box is the
very one who swindled him. But never
mind. The deacon has his black coat on
now and looks solemn Snd goes home
talking about that blessed sermon! Chris
tians on Sunday. Workings during the
week.
GOD SEES SMALL SINS.
That man does not realize that God
knows every dishonest dollar he has in
his pocket, that God is looking right
through the iron wall of his money safe,
and that the day of Judgment is coming,
and that "as the partridge stitch on
eggs and hatcheth them not, SO he that
getteth riches and not by right shall
leave them in the midst of his days, and
at his end shall be fool" But how
many there are who do not bring the
religion Of Christ into their everyday
occupation. They think religion is for
Sundays
Suppose you were to go out to fight
for your country in some great contest,
would you go to do the battling at Troy
or at Springfield? No, you would go
there to get your swords and nluskets.
Then you would go out in the face of the
enemy and contend for your country.
Now, 1 take the Sabbath day and the
church to be only the armory where we
are TO get equipped for the great battle
Of life, and that battlefield is Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Fri
day and Saturday. Antioch" and ''St.
Martins" and ssOld Hundred" are not
worth much if we do not sing all the
week. A sermon is of little account il
we cannot carry it behind the counter
and behind the plow The Sabbath day
is of no value if it last only "A hours.
ssOh," says some one, ''if had great
sphere, Iwould do that. If Icould have
lived in the time Of Martin Luther, if I
could have been Paul's travelling COM
panion, if had some great and resound-
ing work to do, then I should put into
application all that you say" I must
admit that the romance and knight err
rantry have gone out Of life. There is
but very little of it left in the world.
The temples Of Rouen have been changed
Ill oh
Ashland has been cut up into walking
sticks. The muses. have retreated be-
fore the emigrants ak and the trapper's
gun, and Vermonter might go over the
Allegheny and the Rocky mountains and
see neither an Dread nor Sylph.
The groves where the gods used to
dwell have been cut up for frewood, and
the man who is looking for great spheres
and great scenes for action will not find
them. And yet there are Alps to scale,
and there are Hellesponts to swim, and
they are in common life. 1t is absurd
for you to say that you would serve God
if you had great sphere. If you do not
serve him on small scale, you would
not on a large scale. If you cannot
stand the bite of nudge, how could you
endure the breath of basilisk?
A TARIFF ON ANNoYANCEs.
Our national government does not
thing it belittling to put tax on pins
and a tax on buckles and a tax on shoes.
The individual taxes do not amount to
much, but in the aggregate to millions
and millions Of dollars. And | would
have you, oh, Christian man, put high
tariff on every annoyance and vexation
that comes through your soul. This
might not amount to much in single
cases, but in the aggregate it would be
great revenue of spiritual strength and
satisfaction.
4 bee car suck honey even out OF
nettle, and if you have the. grace of God
in youe heart you can get sweetness out
of that which would otherwise irritate
and annoy. A returned missionary told
me that company of adventurers row.
ing up the Ganges were stung to death
by flies that infest that region at certain
seasons. I havs seen the earth strewh
with the carcassas of men slain by insect