The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1894-05-25
FRIDAY MORNING. MAY %. 1894
AT THE CHURCHES.

tohtihu'u iioui hist pdSV
To every one | believe, at some period
of their lives, IL has pleased God to re-
veal himself through the Holy Spirit not
indeed with such remarkable manifesto
ton, as to Paul, in every case, yet in such
a manner as to cause Them to feel that
there was something better to be realized
and something to be attained beyond the
mere fact of life and living, and with the
realization there may have come long
ing to be and do more then has heretofore
| been ATTEMPTED In their lives.
l. There mas have come to them a
vision of individual duty
Duty is two fold. We owe duty to
mankind and to society, and duty to
God. The duty we owe TO mankind is in
part strict observance of the Laws
which aie promulgated for tic Ma.Gl well
being of society, of which we are part;
and duty to God which consists in con-
scientiously fulfilling in our own lives the
principles of truth and righteousness,
set forth in this word which is the rule
and guide of our lives. 1t is the duty to
God which l wish particularly to dwell
upon. The vision may have appeared in
the form of the duty of personal service,
1t is easy, II is true, to sthe our con-
science on that question and say, 81 am
all right if live about right, if | don't
make any profession or identify myself
with any church. But what is the stand
ard of our righteousness Is it our own
understanding of right? Is that a sufii-
cient criterion to judge by and are we as
rational and responsible beings, satisfied
to risk our own judgement of what is or
what is not our duty toward God, on the
question of our knowledge however good
it may be Nothing will quicker plunge
the human soul into maelstrom of
doubt and skepticism and agnosticism,
than to try and reason out with its own
weak and imperfect knowledge, at best,
Gods will concerning them. Rather
should we "trust in the Lord with all our
heart and hear not unto our own under
standing" What does it mean to trust
from when cometh all wisdom and UNI
derstanding How many have a convic-
ton that they ought to serve God Let
me ask to how many has God appeared in
vision of the soul and said ''Follow
me p How many may have made answer,
81 will think about it" and then have for.
gotten that they ever said it? How many
have said to God in times of great dan.
ger, eff | ever live through this crisis
will serve God faithfully" and still to
day are hating between two opinions
: These are vital questions and important
and deserve serious and solemn refec
ton from each and every one. Are WI
obedient to the heavenly vision
: ii Or we may have had a vision o
D loyalty to Christ whom we serve. Nov
love to Christ begets loyalty to him AM
I conversely, without love there can be nj
= loyalty. There may be service, indeed
G but divided service. We may say it i
Z easy to follow in the footsteps of tn
L Master or follow in the straight path o
}, duty but when we have tried to do so W
II have found that there was an infinite dis
II lance between Christ and us. lie $
Il holy and we so full of selfishness, an
II pride, and vanity, and the service ma
have grown hard and unattractive. An
IS by and by we have found that we hay
e been walking with our faces toward tn
II earth, we look up and by stronger eS
y ercise of faith grasp the hand outstretcl
l. ed to help, and 10, the service grows ligh
y and the way pleasant. Singleness of pun
e pose and loyalty of service will give u
e the victory over every Encouragement.
IS III. Or yet we may have had a visio
ot of helpfulness in service The apostl
says in continuing his defense "Havin
D. obtained help unto this day | continue
"a In every exigency of life we may invok
~ the divine help. In every crisis of Lii
n. we may rely on the arm that is strong t
e. deliver Whatever may have been Ii
Is vision which has come to us, which Go
u has sent to us by His Spirit, the questio
le is have we been obedient to it? Go
N grant that we may not have been disob
: dent to any of them but serve Him wit
u a pure heart fervently, Choking for til,
blessed hope and the glorious appearin
of the great God and our Saviour, Jest
Christ, who gave himself for lis that
might redeem us from all iniquity an
purify unto himself a peculiar peopl
Jealous of good works"