The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1894-05-11

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find it, and the dying sailor scolded hin
and said "Ain't you ashamed of your
self not to read your Bible?" So the boy
explored the bottom of his trunk anC
brought out the Bible, and his mother
had marked a passage that just ftteC
the dying sailors case, 1.-THE blood o.
Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth from al
SIM" That helped the sailor to die il
peace, So one generation helps another
and good things written or said or done
are reproduced long afterward.
The World For an Audience.
During the passing of the last gener
alton some peculiar events have unfold
ed. One day while resting at Sharon
Springs, N. Y, think it was in 1870,
the year after my settlement in Brook
Ign, and while walking in the park OF
that place, l found myself asking the
| question: 81 wonder if there is any spe-
| cial mission for me to execute i'll this
world? If there is, may God show it tC
me!' There soon came upon me great
desire to preach the gospel through the
secular printing press 1 realized that
the vast majority of people, even in
Christian lands, never enter a church,
and that it would be an opportunity OF
usefulness infinite if that door of pub
location were opened.
And SO | recorded that prayer in a
blank book and offered the prayer day
i'll and day out until the answer came,
though in a way different from that
which l had expected, for it came
through the misrepresentation and per-
secution of enemies, and have to re-
cord it for the encouragement of all
ministers of the gospel who are misrep-
resented, that if the misrepresentation
be virulent enough and bitter enoU |
and continuous enough there is MOTH
ing that so widens ones field of useful
ness as hostile attack, if you are really
doing the Lords work. The bigger the
lie told about me, the bigger the de-
mand to see and hear what | really was
doing. From one stage of sermonic pub
location to another the work has gone
on until week by week, and for about
% years, l have had the world for my
audience, as no man ever had, and to-
day more so than at any other time.
The syndicates inform me that my SER
mons go now to about 5000, 900 Of
people in all lands. | mention this not
in vain boast, but as a testimony to the
fact that God answers prayer. Would
God l had better occupied the field and
been more consecrated to the work.
May God forgive me for lack of service
in the past and double and quadruple
and quintuple my work in future.
In this my quarter century sermon l
record the fact that side by side with
the procession of blessings has gone
procession of disasters I am preaching
today in the fourth church building
since l began i'll this city. My first ser
mon was i'll the old church on Scher-
merhorn street to an audience chiefly
of empty seats, for the church was al
most eXtinguished. That church filled
and overlooking, we built a larger
church., which after two or three years
disappeared in flame. Then we built
another church, which also in a line Of
fiery succession disappeared in tl.e's.ano
way. Then we put up this building, and
may it stand for many years, a fortress
of righteousness and a lighthouse for
the storm tossed, its gates crowded with
vast assemblages long after we have
ceased to frequent them!
A Noble Work.
We have raised in this church over
81, $50, 600 for church charitable pur-
poses during the present pastorate, while
we have given, free Of all expense, the
gospel to hundreds Of thousands of stran-
gers, year by year. record with graf
itude to God that during this genera
ton of 20 years l remember but two
Sabbaths that 1 have missed service
through anything like physical indis-
positions. Almost fanatic on the sub,
ject of physical exercise, have made
the parks with which our city is bless
ed the means of good physical condi
ton. A daily walk and run in the open
air have kept me ready for work and in
good humOr with all the world. | say
to all young ministers of the gospel, it
is easier to keep good health than to re-
gain it when once lost. The reason so
many good men think the world is 60
ing to ruin is because their own physic-
al condition is on the down grade No
man ought to preach who has diseased
liver or an enlarged spleen. There are |
TWO things ahead of us that ought to
Keep us cheerful in our work-heaven |
and the millennium.
And now, having come up to the
milestone in my pastor
lte, | wonder how many more miles l
I'm to travel? Your company has been |
exceedingly pleasant, o my dear people, |
md l would like to march by your side |
until the generation with whom we are |
low moving abreast and step to step |
hall have stacked arms after the last |
)attle. But the Lord knows best, and |
We ought to be willing to stay or go.
A Summer Outing.
Most of you are aware that propose
It this time, between the close of my
year of pastorate and be-
ore the beginning of my twenty-sixth
ear, to be absent for few months i'll
rider to take a journey around the
world. l expect to sail from San Fran
isco in the steamer Alameda May 81.
I'll