Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1893-12-18

y M ssl you that you have great opportuni
y ties for usefulness. '''''
n Who built the pyramidsp The hin,
n VINO ordered them builtl No: the pIo;T
. Workmen who added stone after ston,
q ana stone after stone. Who built tb,
I alkes OF Hollands The government thai
Vruered the enterprisel No; the plair
workmen who carried the earth and rans
Their trowels on the wall. Who are thos,
snat built these vast eitiesS The capital.
ists' No; the carpenters, the 1nasons
she plumbers, the plasterers, the tinpers
the roofers, dependent on day's ware,
Tor livelihood. And so in the Crea,
work OF assuaginy human suffering and
enhghtening human ignorance and halt
ing human iniquity. In that great work,
the chief part is to be done BY ordinary
men, with ordinary speech, in an ordinary
manner, and by ordinary means.
The troubls h that in the army OF
Christ we all want to be captains and
eolonels and brigaGier generals. Weare
not willing to march with the rank and
ME and do duty with the private soldier.
Wewant to belong to the reserve corps
and read about the battle while warming
ourselves at the campfres or ON fur
Tough at home, our feet upon an otto
man, we sagging back into an armchair.
As You go down the street you see an
excavation, and four or five men are
working and perhaps 20 or 80 leaning on
the rail looking over at them. That is
the way II is in the church of God to-
day. Where you find one Christian hard
at work, there are so men watching the
job.
Oil my friends, why do yoa not 20 to
work and preach the gospel1 You say,
II have no pulpit" You have. 1t may
be the carpenters bench, it may be the
mason's wall. The robe in which you
arc 70 proclaim this gospel may be a
shoemaker'S apron. But woe unto you
If you preach not this gospel somewhere,
somehow II this world is ever brought
to Christ it will be through the unani-
nous and long continued efforts of men
who. waiting for no special endowment,
consecrate to God what they have.
Among the most useless people in the
world are men with 10 talents, while
many one with only two talents, or no
talent at all, is doing great work, and
so "the lame take the prey"
There are thousands of ministers of
whom you have never heard--in log
cabins at the west, in mission chapels at
the east-who are warning against the
legions Of darkness, successfully war
ring. Tract distributors, month by
month undermining the citadels of sin.
You do not know their going or their
coming. but the footballs Of their minis
try are heard in the palaces of heaven.
Whs are tts workers IN sur Sabbath
schools throughout this land todayi Men
men brilliant, men Of vast
estate, For the most part, not that at all.
have noticed that the chief charac-
teristic of the most of those who are sue
,essful in the work is that they know
their Bibles, are earnest in prayer, are
anxious for the salvation of the young,
and Sabbath by Sabbath are willing to
sit down unobserved and tell Of Christ
and the resurrection. These are the
humble workers who are recruiting the
great army of Christian youth-not by
might, not by power, not by profound
not by brilliant antithesis,
but by the blessing of God on plain talk,
md humble story, and silent tear, and
anxious look, "the lame take the prey"
Oh! this work of saving the youth of
our country-how few appreciate what
t isl This generation tramping on to
he grave-we will soon all be gone.
What of the nexti
NOT TALENTS, BUT EFFORT.
An engineer on a locomotive going
lcross the western prairies day after day
Jaw little child come out in front of
,abin and wave to him. So be got in
he habit of waving back to the little
,hild, and it was the days JOY 10 him to
zee this little one como out in front OF
he cabin door and wave to him while
10 answered back.
One day the train was belated and 1t
,ame on to the dusk of the evening. As
he engineer stood at his post he saw by
he headlight that little girl on the track,
wondering why the train did not come,
ooking for the train, knowing nothing
# her peril. A great horror seized upon
he engineer. He reversed the engine.
Ie gave 1t in ehargeof the other man on
,oard. and then he climbed over the en-
due. and he came down on thecowcatch-
r. He said, though he had reversed the
ngine, it seemed as though itwere go
ng at lightning speed, faster and faster,
houeh il was really slowing up, and
With almost supernatural clutch he
,aught that child by the hair and lifted
I up, and when the train stopped and
he passengers gathered around 10 see
what was the matter, there the old en-
yneer lay, tainted dead away, the little
,hild alive and in his swarthy arms.
"Oh." you say, "that was well done.
3ut want you to exercise some kindness
,nds some appreciation toward those in the
who are snatching the little
,nas from under the wheels Of tempta-
ion and sin-snatching them from under
numbering railtrains OF eternal disaster
bringing them up into respectability IN
his world and into glory for the world
o come. You appreciate what the en-
dneer did. Why can you not appreciate
he grander work done BY every sabbath
Ichool teacher and by every Christian