The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-12-20

from doing a continuous days Work. y
| city missionary finds them up the dark
| alley, with no fire. with thin clothing.
/ with very coarse bread. They never ride
| in the street car; they cannot afford the
cents They never see any pictures
| save those in the show window on the
street. from which they are often jOstled
and looked at by some one who seems
| to say i'm the look: Move on What
are you doing here looking at pictures p
Yet many of them live on mountains
Of TRANSPORTATION. At their rough table
he who led the 5000 breaks the bread
They talk often of the good times COM
ing. This world has no charm for them.
but heaven entrances their spirit. They
often divide 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 of Him who
said. Il was hungry and he fed me.
No cohort of heaven will be too bright
10 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.
/ was riding along the country road
one day, and l saw a man on crutches.
I overlook him. He was very old. He
was going very slowly. At that rate il
would have taken him two hours TO go
a mile. I said Nv ouldn't you like 10
ride?' He said: Thank you, / would.
I God bless you" When he sat beside
me. he said You see, / am very lame
and very old, but the Lord has been
good Lord TO me- l have buried all my
children. The Lord gave them. and the
Lord had a right to take them away.
Blessed be His name! 1 was very sick,
and l had no money, and my neighbors
came in and took care Of me, and l
wanted nothing. L suffer great deal
with pain but then / have so many
laff / a
Lord 10 me-
And before We had got far I was in
doubt whether 1 was giving him a ride
or he was giving me ride. He said.
Now, if you please, III get out here.
Just help me down on my clutches, IL
you please. God bless you. Thank you,
sir. Good morning Good morning You
have been feet to the lame sir, you
have. Good morning
Swarthy men had gone the road that
day. I 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, so fearful
~ lame. so awfully lame, but he took
the prey.
step farther: There are in all COM
munities many orphans. DGrilg 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 we'll those children have turned
out? Starting under the greatest disad-
vantage, 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 in the swamp writing a
letter home. when a sharpshooter bull
let ended the letter which was never
folded, never posted and never read
Those children came up under great
| disadvantage. No father 10 fight their
way for them. Perhaps there was in
the old family bible old yellow letter
| pasted fast which told the story of that
| fathers long march and how he suffered
in the hospital. but they looked stiIl fur
Their on in the bible. and they came 10
the story of how God is the father Of
| the fatherless and the widows portion
| and they soon took their fathers 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 the war
| taken positions in church and state
north and south. While many of those
! who suffered nothing during those times
| have had sons go out into lives Of in
| dOlence and vagabondage, these who
started under so many Disadvantages
| are the lame who took the prey
A step farther: There are those who
| would like to be good. They say oh if
I only had wealth, or If 1 had eloquence,
or if ! had high social position. how
/ much ] would accomplish for God and
| the church" 1 stand here today to tell
you that you have great opportunities
| for usefulness.
Who built the pyramids The king
who ordered them built? NO. the plain
workmen who added stone after stone
and stone after stone Who built the
/ 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 plumbeTs, the plasterers,
| the timers. the roofers. dependent on
days wages for a livelihood. And so
/ in the great work OF aSsuaging human
| suffering. and enliShtening human ignOr-
/ snce, and hating 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 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 do duty with the private soldier
| We want 20 belong to the reserve corps.
/ and read about the battle while warm
/ ing ourselves at the campfres or on a
/ furlough at home. our feet upon an
| ottoman, we sagging back into an arm
| chair.
| As you go down the street you see an
! excavation. and four or five men are
/ working and perhaps twenty or thirty
| leaning on the rail looking over at them.
/ That is the way it is in the church of
/ God today-where you find one Christian
! hard at work there are fifty men watch
| ing the job.
Ministers without PuIpits.
Oh. my friends. why do you not go 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
| shoemalxers apron But woe unto you
| il you preach not this gospel somewhere,
| somehow If 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 ten talents. while
/ many one with only two talents or
no talent at all, is doing a great work,
| and so 1.-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
II