Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1893-12-29


on In the Bible, and they came TO the story
OF how God is the Father OF the fatnerless
and the widow portion, and they soon took
their fathers place In that household
They bsttled the way fortheir mother. They
came on up, and many Of them have already
in the years since the war, taken posirionsi in
church aud State, North and South. While
many OF those who suffered nothing during
those times have had sons 20 out into lives
OF Incidence and vagabondage. these who
started under so many disadvantages because
they were so early bereit, these are the lame
who took the prey.
step farther: There are those who
would ike TO do good. They say, "Oh, Il
only had wealth, or IL | had eloquence, or II
l had high social position, how much |
would accomplish for God and the church p
l stand here to-day to tell you that you have
great opportunities for usefulness.
Who built the pyramidsP The king who
ordered them built2 No 1.-The plain workmen
who added stone after stone and stone after
stone. Who built the dikes of Holland2
The government that orderedthe enterprise?
No; the plain workmen who carried tho
earth and rang their trowels on the wall.
Who are those that built these vast cities2
The captalists2 No; the carpenters, the
masons, the plumbers, the plasterers, the
timers, the roofers, dependent on dayI
wages for livelihood. And so in the great
work OF assuaging human suffering and en-
tightening human ignorance and hating
human iniquity. In that great work, the
chief part is to be done by ordinary men,
with ordinary speech, in an ordinary man
nrr, and by ordinary means.
The trouble is that in the army OF Christ
We all want to be captains and colonies and
bricHdier generals. We are not willing to
march with tho rank and flle and do duty
with the private soldier We want to belong
to the reserve corps and read about the bat
Ito while warming ourselves at the campfres
or on furlough at home, our feet upon an
ottoman, we sagging back into An armchair.
As you 20 down the stree. you see an eI-
oavation, and four or Eve men are working
and perhaps twenty or thirty leaning on the
rail looking over at them. That Is the way
1t 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 trends, why do you not 90 to
work and preach the gospel2 You say, ~
have no pulpit" You have. 1t may be the
carpenters bench, 1t may be the msson's
wall. The robe In which you are to proclaim
this gospel may be a shoemaker's apron.
But woe unto you II you preach not this gos-
pei somewhere somehow II this world is
ever brought to Christ it will be through the
unanimous and lonG-continued efforts OF
consecrate to God what they have. Among
the most useless people in the world are men
with ten talents, while many q one with only
two talents, or no talents at all, Is doing "a
great work. and SO "the lame take the prey"
There are thousands Of ministers of whom
you have never heard-in log cabins at tho
West, in mission chapels at the East-who are
warning against the legions OF darkness, sue
cesstully warning. Tract distributors, month
by month undermining the citadels OF sin.
You do not know their going or their COM
ing. but the footballs OF their ministry arc
heard in tho palaces Of heaven. Who are tho
workers in our Sabbath schools throughout
this land to-day? Men celebrated, ruen bril-
liant, men Of vast estate2 For the most part,
not that at all
have noticed that the chief characteristic
OF the most Of those who are successful In the
work is that they know their 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 by profound argument. not by
brilliant antithcsis. but by the blessing OF ,
God on plain talk, and humble story, and ST.
lent tear, and anxious look, "the lame take
the prey"
oh this work of saving the youth Of our
cOnntry-how few appreciate what 1t Is!
This generation tramping on to the grave
we will soon all be gone. What OF the neIt2
An engineer on n locomotive going across
the Western prairies day after day saw n little
child come ont in front of cabin and wave
TO him. So he got in the habit OF waving
back to the little child, and It was the days
JOY to him to SEQ this little one come out in
front Of the Ecabin door and -ave TO him
while he answered back.
One day the train was belated and II came
on TO the dusk OF the evening. As the engi-
neer stood at his post he saw by the head
light that little girl on the tack. 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. Hegavc itin charge ofthe
other man on board, and then he climbed over
the engine, and he came down on the cow
catcher. He said though he had reversed the
engine. 1t seemed as though II were going at
lightning speed, faster and faster, though 1t
was really slowing up, and with almost su-
pernatural clutch he caught that child by
the hair and lifted 1t up, and when the train
stopped and the passengers gathered around
to SEQ what was the matter there the old en-
gineer lay, tainted dead away, the little
child alive and in his swarthy arms.
"Oh," you say, "that was well done" But
l want you to exercise some kindness and
some appreciation toward those in the COM
munity who are snatching the little ones
from under the wheels OF temptation and sin
--snatching them from under laundering
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 by every
Sabbath school teacher AMI by every Chris
tian worker
Oh, start on the road to heaven to-day
You are not happy The thirst OF your soul
will never be slaked by the fountains OF sin.
You turn everywhere but to God for help.
Right where you are, call ON Him. He
knows you He knows all about you. He
knows all the odds against which you have
been contendiDg in life. Do not go TO Him
with long rigmarole OF prayer, but Just
look up and say, "Helpl Help!'
Yet you say, MY hand trembles so from
my designations, | cannot even take hold OF
a hymn book to sing" Do not worry about
that, my brother | will give out hymn at
the close so familiar you can sing It without
book But you say, II have such terrible
habits on me, | cant get rid Of them" My
answer is, Almighty grace can break up that
habit and will break it. But you say, "The
wrong did was to ono dead and In heaven
now and | can correct that wrong" You
can correct it. BY the grace OF God, go into |
the presence OF thdt one, ana the apOlogles
you ought to have made on earth make in |
heaven.
"Oh," say some men, iii | should try to
do right. ii / should turn away from my evil. |
doing unto the Lord, would DO josted.
would 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
band of Christian fellowship. God sent me
here ts-day to preach this, and he sent you
here to hear this: "Let tho wicked forsake |
hte way, and the unrighteous man his.l
thought, and let him return unto tho Lord,
who will have mercy and unto our God, who |
will abundnntly pardon"
Though you may have boon the worst sim
ner you may become tho best saint, and in
the great day OF judgment 1t will be found |
that "where sin abounded grace does much |