Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1893-04-28
Y. h. BISNP, Island Pond, II

ene1 the arm of the mechanic, or scattered
the briefs OF the lawyer, or interrupted the
sales Of the merchant. They bolt their store
doors against it and fight il back with
trowels and with yard sticks and cry,
"Awav with your religion from our store,
our Office. our factory"
They do not understand that religion In
this workaday world will help you TO do
anything you ought 20 do. 1t can lay 9
keel, It can sail ship. 1t can buy a cargo, It
cln work a pulley, IL can pave L street, it
can tit a wrist5and, it can write a cunstitu
ton, 1t can marshal host. 1t is as appro-
pirate to the astronomer as his telescope, to
the chemist as his laboratory, TO the mason
az his plunbline, 10 the carpenter as his
| plane, to the child as his marbles. to the
/ gran ifatler as his stat.
No time to be religious herei You have
no time not to be religious. You might as
we'll have no clerks in your store, no books
! IN your library, no compass on your ship,
! no rifle in the battle, no hat for your
J head no coat for your back, no shoes for
! yOur feet. Better travel on toward eternity
bare headed and bare footed. and houseless
AMI homeless, AMI friendless, than go
through life without religion.
Did religion make Raleigh any less OF
! statesman, or Hsvelock anv less OF SOL
dar, or Grinuell any less OF a merchant, or
West any less of a painter Religion is the
best security in every bargain, 1t Is the
sweetest nota in every song, it is the bright
est gem in every coronet. No time to bs re-
h;ionsl Why, you will have TO take time
to bs sick, to he troubled, to die. Our
world is only the wharf from which we are
to embark for heaven. No time TO secure
the friendship OF Christ. No time to buys
lamp and trim it for that walk through the
darEueSS wlicd otherwise will be illumined
only by the whiteness Of the tombstones.
No time TO EDUCATE the eye for heavenly
splen1orS, or the hand for choral harps, or
the ear FOR everlasting songs or the soul Tor
honor, glory an immortality. One would
think We had tina for nothing else.
Other persons ayologizs for not entering
the Christian life because it is time enough
yet. That is very like those persons who
send their regrets and say: 'I will come In
perhaps at III or l2 o'clock. | will not be
there at the opening OF the banquet, but
will be there at the close" Not yeti Not
yeti
Now, do not give any doleful view of
this hte. There Is nothing in my nature,
nothing in the grace OF God, that tends to-
ward doleful view OF human life. l have
not much sympathy with A idison's descrtp-
ton OF toe Vision OF Mira" where he rep
res ants human life as being bridge Of q
hun lred arches, and both en- is Of the bridge
covered with clouds, and the race coming
on, the most OF them falling down through
the first span, and all Of them falling down
through the last span. 1t is very dismal
picture. have not much sympathy with
the Spanish proverb which say, The sky
!, goo and the earth is goo1-that which
Is bad is between the earth ami the sky"
But while We Christian people are bound
tO take a cheerful view of life we must also
confess that life is great uncertainty, and
that mau who says, II can't become q
CuriSttan because there is time enough yet"
IS running risk infinite. You do not per-
hlpS reInz' the fact that this descending
grade OF sin get, sleeper and sleeper and
that you are gathering up rush and veloc.
ity which after awhile may not answer to
the brakes Oh, my friends. be not among
taoss wlo give their whole life to the world
and then give their corpse to God. IL
does not seem faT while our pulses are in
tuii play OF health that We serve our.
selves aui serve the world and then make
Il at last the present of a coffin. 1t does
not Sc am ri ,ht tuat we run our ship from
olst to coast, carrying cargoes for ourselves,
AMI tlen wlsn the ship is crushed ON the
rocks give to Col the shivered timbers. IL
is great thing for a man on his dying pill.
low to repont-better than never at all-but
Ipw much better, how much more generous,
It would have Desn ii he had repented fifty
years before! My ffisnds, you will never
get over these procrastinations.
Here is delusion. People think az can
20 ON in sin and worldiiness, but after awhile
Will repent, AMI then II will be as though
| Lad come at the very start" That is a
deiuSon. No one ever gets fully over pro-
cras!ination. 1t you give your soul TO God.
some other time than this, you will enter
heaven with only half the capacity for en-
j)yment anl kuowleigs you might have
han. There will be helgh hts OF bessedness
you might have attained, you will never
resch thrones o. glory on which you might
have uesn seated. but which you will never
climb. We viii never get over pro-
cr1stinatIon. neither in tina nor in eter-
nifty. We have startel on a march from
which there Is no retreat The shad.
owS of eternity gather on our path
why. How inslgpitican. is time compared
With the vast eternity | was thinking OF
Dnls while coming down over the Allegheny
Mountains at noon by that wonderful place
winch you have all heard described as the
HorSehoe-a depression in the side of the
mountain whore the train almost turns backs
again upon itself. and you see how appro-
pirate is the description or the Horseshoe
aud thinking on this very theme and prepar-
M this very sermon it seemed to me as IL
the great courser of eternity speeding along
had just struck the mountain with one hoof
aul gone into illimitabe space. So sh ort is
time, soinsgnit can't is EARTH compared with
the vast eternityl
This morning voices roll down the sky,
and all the worlds OF light are ready to re-
iUice at your disenthralment. Rush not
into the presence Of the King gyed with
sin when you may have this robe Of right
eousnesS. Dash not your foot TO pieces
against the throne OF crucifed Christ.
Throw not your crown OF life Off the battle
mentS. All the scrbes OF Got are this mo-
ment ready with volumes Of living light to
record the news OF your soul enanc ipated.