Democratic messenger., 1893-12-30

OF ST Modobert. II was said hat his moth
er was blind. and one day, while lnuLing nj
his mother. he felt 50 sympath hetic for hcr
blindness that he rushed forward AMI kissed
her blind eyes. and, the legend SAYS hci
vision came Immediately. That was only
legend. hut il is n truth. n glorious truth
that the kiss Of Gods eternal love has
brought tn many "a blind eye eternal illu
minatiOn.
A step farther: There nre those in all
communities who toll nightly for u live
lihood. They lGve scant wages Perhaps
they are diseased or have physical infirmi.
ties, so they are hindere,l from doing IL con
tinsous dayS work. a city missionary
Finds them up the dark alleys with no fire.
with thin clothing with very coarse bread.
They never ride in the 81 rect car: they can
not afford the cents. They never see any
pictures save those in the show window on
the street, from which they are often iostlc'i
and looked at by some one who seems td
say in the look: "Mov. on, What are yoL
doing here looking at piciur
Yet many of them live on mountains of
TRANSPORTATION. At their rough table he
who fed the 5000 breaks the bread They
talk often Of the good times coming This
world has no charm for them, hut heaven
| UtN Otitn utNNle
their scant crust with some forlorn wretch
who knocks at their door at night, and ON
the blast Of the night wind. as the door
opens to let them in. is heard the voice IT
him who said, II was hungry, and he fed
me-" No cohort Of heaven will he too
bright to transport them. by Gods help
they have vanquished the Assyrian host.
They have divided among them the spoils
Lame. lame, yet they took the prey.
INCIDENTS FOR ILLUSTRATION.
I WAS riding along the country road one
day. and saw n man on crutches. I over
took him. lie was very old lie was go
ing very slowly. At that rate it would have
taken him two hours tn go mile. | said,
"Wouldn't you like to- ride," lie said:
"Thank you. I would God bless you y
When he sat beside me, he said: You see,
am very lame and very old, but the Lord
has been n good Lord To me. have buried
all my children. The Lord gave them. and
the Lord had right to take them away
Blessed be his namcl was very sick. and
had no money. and my neighbors came
In and took care of me, and | wanted moth
ing l suffer a great deal with pain. hut
then have 81 many mercies left The Lord
has been n good Lord TO me-
| And before we had got far was in doubt
whether was giving him n ride or he was
giving me ride. He said: Now, il you
please. I'll get out here. just help me
down on my crutches. IL you please God
bless you. Thank you. sir. Good morning.
Good morning. You have been feet To he
lame. sir. you have. Good morning
Swarthy men had gone the road that day.
do not know where they came out, but
every hobble of that old man was toward
the shining gate. With his old crutch he
had struck down many Sennacherib Of
temptation which has mastered you and
me Lame 50 fearfully lame. so awfully
lame. but he took the prey.
A step fart her: There are in all commu-
mites many orphans. During our last war
and in the years Immediately following
how many children at the north and south
we heard say, "Oh. my father was killed in
the war;" Have you ever noticed fear
you have not how well those children have
turned out, Starting under the greatest
disadvantage, no orphan asylum could do
for them what their father would have done
had he lived
The skirmisher sat one night by the light
of fagots i'm the swamp writing letter
home. when n sharpshooter's bullet ended
the letter which was never folded. never
| posted anu never TtHtt. nose CnIluTtU
came up under great disadvantage No
father To fight their way for them. Per
haps there was in the old family Bible an
old yellow letter pasted fast which told
the story of that fathers long march and
how he SUFFERED in the hospital. but they
looked still further on in the Bible. and
they came to the story Of how God is the
father Of the fatherless and the widows
| ION unI thav tnnE THAR fufhar's
place in that household.
They battled the way for their mother.
They came on up. and many of them have
already in the years since he war taken po-
sitions in church and state north and south
| While many of those who suffered nothing
during those times have had sons 70 out
| into lives of Incidence and vagabondage,
these who started under 80 many ,lisadvan-
tages because they were so early bereft.
these are the lame who took the prey.
a step farther: There are those who
would like to be good. They say. "Oh. if
only had wealth. or il had eloquence. or il
| had high social position. how much |
would accomplish for God and the church,
! stand here to-day To tell you that you have
great opportunities for usefulness.
Who built the pyramids' The king who
ordered them built? No; the plain work
men who added stone after stone and stone
after stone. Who built the dikes Of Hol-
landi The government that ordered the
enterprise' No. the plain workmen who
carried the earth and rang their trowels on
the wall Who are those who have built
these vast cities: The capitalists. No; the
carpenters. the masons, the plumbers. the
plasterers. the timers. the roofers, depend
ent on days wages for "A livelihood. And
so in the great work of assuaging human
suffering. and enlightening human igno-
rance, and halting human iniquity. In that
great work the chief part is to he done by
ordinary men. with ordinary speech. in an
ordinary manner and by ordinary means.
The trouble is that in the army Of Christ
we all want To bc captains and colonies and
brigadier generals. We are not willing TO
march with the rank aud file and do duty
with the private soldier. We want to he
long to the reserve corps. and read about
the battle while warming ourselves mt the
campfires or ON furlough at home. our
feet upon an ottoman. we sagging back into
an armchair.
As you go down the street you see an eN-
cavation. and four or five men are working
and perhaps 2oor:sO leaning on the rail look
ing over at them. That is the way il is in
the church Of God today where you find
one Christian hard at work there are 50
men watching the job
MINISTER'S WITHOUT TULrITS.
oh. my friends. why do you not go to
work and preach the gospel You say, Il
baye no pulpit" You have. IL may he
the carpenters bench; il may be the ma
sons wall The robe in which you are tn
proclaim this gospel may be a shoemaker's
apron. But woe unto you il You preach not
this gospel somewhere. somehow. II this
world il ever brought tn Christ il will he
through the unanimous and long continued
efforts of men who. waiting for u" special
endowment. consecrate io tiod what they
have. Among the most useless people in
the world are men with ten talents, while
many II 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 heari-in log cabins
+, J.. ,...., i., chaV,ls ut fhaaasf-