Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1893-12-22

stone. Who built the bikes OF Holland?
| The government that orderedthe enterprise
| No; the plain workmen who carried the
| earth and rang their trowels on the wall.
Who are those that built these vast citicsg
| The capitalists? No; the carpenters, the
masons, the plumbers, the piasterers, the
timers. the roofers, dependent on day .
wages Tor a livelihood. And so in the great
work o. assuaging human suffering and en-
tightening human ignorance and battling
human iniquty. In that great work, the
chief part Is TO be done by ordinary men,
with ordinary speech, in an ordinary man
ner. and by ordinary means.
The trouble is that in the army OF Christ
we all want TO be captains and colonies and
brigadier generals We are not willing to
march with the rank and file and 60 duty
with the private soldier. We want to belong
TO the reserve corps and read about the bat
tie while warming ourselves at the campflres
or on furough at home. our feet upon an
ottoman. we sagging back into an armchair.
As YOU 60 down the street you see On eX-
cavation, and four or five men are working
and perhaps twenty or thirty leaning on tho
rail looking over at them. That is the way
il is in the church of God to-day. Where
YOU find one Christian hard at work, there
are fifty men watching the job.
Oh my friends, why do you not so TO
work and preach the gospel? You say. 81
have no pulpit" You have. 1t may be the
carpenters bench. it may be the mason's
wall The robe in which you are TO proclaim
this gospel may be a shoemaker's apron.
But woe unto you If you preach not this Cos
pei somewhere, somehow II this world IS
ever brought to Christ it will be through the
unanimous 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 ten talents. while many a one with only
two talents. or no talents at all, is doing u
great work, and so ''the lame take the prey
There are thousands Of ministers OF whom
you have never heard i'm log cabins at the
| West. in mission chapels at 1.-THE East-who are
warning against the legions OF darkness, sue
cessfully warning. Tract distributors, month
nv month undermining the citadels OF sin.
You do not know their going or their COM
ing. but the footballs OF their ministry are
heard in the palaces Of heaven. Who are the
workers in our Sabbath schools throughout
this land to-day? Men celebrated, men bril-
liant. men of vast estate? Forthe most part,
not that Mt all.
| have noticed that the chief characteristic
| OF the most of those who are successful in the
work is that they knOwtheir Bibles, are earn
est 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 night, not
by power not 10y profound argument, not by
| brilliant antithesis, but by the blessing OF
/ God on plain talk. and humble story, and 81
| lent tear. and anxious look, 'the lame take
the prey.
oh this work Of saving the youth OF our
| countrv-hOw few appreciate what It is J
This generation tramping on to the grave
we will soon all be gone. What OF the next
An engineer on locomotive going across
the Western praries day after dag saw a little
child come out in front Of cabin and wave
| 10 him. SO he got in the habit OF waving
back to the little child. and it was the day
| iov TO him TO see this little one come out in
! front of tae icabin door and wave to him
while he answered back.
One day the train was belated and 1t came
! on to the dusk OF the evening. As the eng
! neer stool al his post he saw by the head
light that little girl on the track, wondering
why the train did not come, looking for the
! train. knowing nothing OF her peril. Agreat
horror seized upon the engineer. He re-
versed the engine. He gave itin charge otthe
| other man on board, and then he climbed over
the engine aud he came down on the cow
catcher He said, though he had reversed tho
| engine. it seemed as though II were going at
lightning speed faster and faster, though II
was really slowing up. and with almost su-
pernatural clutch he caught that child by
the hair and lifted it up, and when the train
stopped and the passengers gathered around
to see what was the matter, there the old en-
gineer lay, tainted dead away, the little
| child alive and in his swarthy arms.
ooh. " YOU say. ''that was we'll done. But
I want Won to exercise some kindness AID
some appreciation toward those in the CON-
munity who are snatching the little ones
from under the wheels oil temptation and sin
-snatching them from under thuhderihe
| rail trains Of eternal disaster, bringing them
up into responsibility in this world and into
| glory for the world to come. You appreciate
what the engineer did Why can you not
appreciate the grander work done 10y every
! Sabbath school teacher AMI by every Chris
tian worker;
On. start on the road to heaven to-day.
! You are not happy. The thirst Of your soul
will never be slaked by the fountains oil SIN.
! You turn everywhere but TO God for help.
| Right where you are, call on Him. lie
| knows YOU He knows all about you. lie
| knows all the odds against which you have
! been contending in life. Do not go 10 Him
| with a long rigmarole of prayer, but just
| look up and say, Help Help
Yet YOU say, "My hand trembes so from
nv designations, | cannot even take hold OF
HYMN book 10 sing" Do not worry about
that, my brother l will give out hymn at
the close so familiar you can sing 1t without
a book. But YOU say, IL have such terrible
habits on me, l can't get rid OF them. My
answer is, Almighty grace can break up tha'
| habit and will break it. But you say, Inc
wrong did was TO one dead and in HEAVIER
/ 4 . That NOu
can correct it. BY the grace ofGod, go into
the presence of that one, and the apologies
YOU ought to have made on earth make IL
heaven.
ooh" say some men, 'if l should try e
do right, if should turn away from my evil
doing unto the Lord, l would be iostled,
,rould be driven back. nobody would have
any sympathy for me- You are mistaken
Here, in the presence Of the church on earth
and in heaven, give you to-day the right
hand of Christian fellowship. God sent me
here to-day &c preach this, and he sent you
| here 10 hear this: Let the wicked fOrsake
his way. and the unrighteous man his
thought. and let him return unto the Lord,
who will have mercy, and unto our God, VINO
will abundantly pardon.
Though YOU may have been the worst sin
ner YOU may become the best saint, and IN
the great day Of judgment it will be found
| that "where sin abounded grace docs much
more abound. and while the spells OF an
everlasting kingdom are being awarded Tor
YOUR pursuit it will be found that THE lame
| took the prey" Blessed be God that we are
| this Sabbath one week nearer the obliteration
Of all the inequalities Of this life and all its
1isquetudes.
Years ago, on boat on the North River,
the pilot gave n very sharp ring to the bell
| for the boat to slow up. The engineer at
tended to the machinery, and then he came
up with some alarm on deck to see what was
the matter He saw it was a moonlight night
and there were no obstacles In the way. He
went TO the pilot and said "Why did you
ring the bell in that way? Why do you want
TO stop? There's nothing the matter And
the pilot said to him, "There is mist gath
, ering on the river don't you see thatI and
there is night gathering darker and darker
| and can't see the way.
Then the engineer, looking around and
seeing It was a bright moonlight, looked
| into the face Of the pilot and saw that he
was dyirg, and then that he was dead. Col
grant that when our last moment comes we
NAV DC found AT our post dons our wnoie
duty. And when the mists OF the river OF
death gather on our eyelids may the goo l
Pilot take the wheel from our han Is AMI
guide US into the calm harbor Of eternal
rest
Drop the anchor, furl the saii
am safe within the vale