Connecticut western news., 1895-06-06

ognition and reverence. The most of the Christian work for the worlds reclama- tion and salvation will be done by peo- pie of one talent and two talents, while the ten talent people are up in the astro- nomical observatories studying other worlds, though they do little or nothing for the redemption of this world, or are up in the rarefied realms of 'higher criticism" trying to find out that Moses did not write the Pentateuch or to prove that the throat of the whale was not large enough to swallow the minister who declined the call to Nineveh and apologizing for the Almighty for certain inexplicable things they have found in the Scriptures. It will be found out at the last that the Krupp guns have not done so much to capture this world for God as the oxgoads.
 A Victory With Pitchers-
 Years ago was to summer in the Adirondacks, and my wealthy friend, who was great hunter and fisherman, said, "I am not going to the Adiron- dacks this season, and you can take my equipment and will send it up to Paul Smith " We'll, it was there when ar rived in the Adirondacks, splendid outfit, that cost many hundreds of dol lars, gorgeous tent, and such elabo- rate fishing apparatus such guns of all styles of exquisite make and reels and pouches and bait and torches and lunch baskets and many more things that I could not even guess the use of. And my friend of the big soul had even writ ten on and engaged men who should ac- company me into the forest and carry home the deer and the trout. If the mountains could have seen and dunder- stood it at the time there would have been panic among the aptlers and the fins through all the "John Browns Tract. We'll, am no hunter, and not roebuck or game fish did l injure. But there were hunters there that sea- son who had nothing but plain gun and a rug to sleep on and a coil of fish ing line and box of ammunition and bait, who came in ever and anon with as many of the captives of forest and stream as they and two or three attend ants could carry. Now, fear that many Christian workers who have most elabo- rate educational and theological and professional equipment, and most won- derful weaponry, sufficient, you would think, to capture whole community or whole nation for God, will in the last day have but little except their fine tackLng to show, while some who had no advantages except that which they got in prayer and conservation will, by the souls they have brought to the shore of eternal safety, prove that they have been gloriously successful as fishers of men, and in taking many who, like the hart, were panting after the water brooks.
 What made the Amalekites run be- fore Gideon's army? Each one of the army knew how much racket the break ing of one pitcher would make. So 300 men that night took 300 pitchers and 8 lamp inside the pitcher, and at given signal the lamps were lifted and the pitchers were violently dashed down. The flash of light and the racket of the 300 demolished pitchers sent the enemy into wild flight. Not much of a weapon, you would say, is a broken pitcher, but the Lord made that awful crash of crockery the means of triumph for his people And there is yet to be battle with the pitchers. The night of the worlds dissipation may get darker and darker, but after awhile, in what watch of the night I know not, all the ale pitchers, and the wine pitchers, and the beer pitchers, and the whisky pitchers of the earth will be hurled into demoh- <,o,, ,,xv <o,,xvo,,+o5 s,,af,~, ov,J rt,~,~ tian reformers, and at that awful crash of internal crockery the Amalekitish host of pauperism and loaferdom and domestic quarrel and cruelty and assas- sination will fly the earth Take the first weapon you can lay your hands on. Why did David choose the sling when he went at Goliath and Goliath went at him2 Brought up in the country, like every other boy, he knew how to man. age sling. Saul's armor was first put on him, but the giants armor was too heavy. The helmet was clapped on him as an eAtinguisher, and David said, "I cannot go with these, for I have not proved them." And the first wise thing David did after putting on Saul's armor was to put it off. Then the brook Elah, the bed of which was dry when I saw it and one vast reach of pebbles, fur nished the five smooth stones of the brook with which Goliath was prostrat- ed. Whether it bo boy s sling or bro- ken pitcher or an oxgoad, take that which you can manage, and ask God for | help, and no power on earth or in hell can stand before you.
 Elaboration to Gird on the Armor. Go out, then, charge you, against | the Philistines. We must admit the odds are against us-600 to one. In the mat ter of dollars, those devoted to worldli- ness and sin and dissipation, when com pared with the dollars devoted to hoi- ness and virtue-600 to one The houses set apart for vice and despoLation and ruin, as compared with those dedicated to good, GOO to one. Of printed news paper sheets scattered abroad from day to day, those depraving as compared with those elevating are 600 to one. The agencies for making the world worse compared with the agencies for making the world better, 600 to one But Moses in his song, chapts, "How should one chase thousand, and two put 10, 900 to flight?' and in my text one oxgoad conquers 500 uplifted battle axes, and the day of universal victory Is coming, unless the Bible be fabrica- tion and eternity a myth and the chari- ots of God are unwheeled on the golden streets, and the last regiment of the ce- lestial hosts lies dead on the plains of heaven. With us or without us the work will be done. Oh, get into the ranks somewhere, armed somehow; you with a needle, you with pen. you with good book, you with loaf of bread for the hungry, you with vial of medicine for the sick, you with . pair of shoes for the barefooted, you with word of encouragement for the