The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1895-03-08

you the medicine at just the right time
and turning your pillow when it was
hot, and with hands that many years
ago turned TO dust soothed away your
pain, and with voice that you will
never hear again, unless You join her in
the better country, told you to never
mind for you would feel better by and
by, and by that dying couch, where she
looked SO gale and talked so slowly,
catching her breath between the words,
and you felt an awful loneliness com
ing over your soul-by all that / beg
you to come back and take the same re-
ligion. Ii was good enough for her 1t
is good enough for you, Nay, have a
better plea than that. plead by all the
wounds and tears and blood and groans
and agonies and death throes of the Son
Of God, who approaches you this mo-
ment with torn brow, and lacerated
hand, and whipped back, and saying
Come unto me, all ye who are weary
and heavy laden, and will give you
rest.
Life Savers.
Again, there is field of usefulness
but little touched occupied by those who
are astray in their habits All northern
nations, like those of North America
and England and Scotland-that is, in
the colder climates-are devastated by
alcoholism. They take the fire to keep
up the warmth In southern countries,
like Arabia and Spain, the blood is SO
warm they are not tempted to fiery liq-
uids. The great Roman armies never
drank anything stronger than water
| tinged with vinegar, but under our
northern climate the temptation to heat
ing stimulants is most mighty, and mil
lions succumb When mans habits go
wrong, the church drops him; the social
circle drops him; good influence drops
him; we all drop him. OF all the men
who get Off track but few ever get on
again. Near my summer residence there
is life saving station on the beach,
There arc all tie ropes and rockets, the
boats, the machinery for getting people
off shipWrocl.s. One summer saw there
Is or 20 men who were breakfasting
after having just escaped with their
lives and nothing more. Up and down
our coasts are built these useful struc-
lures, and the mariners know it, and
they feel that if they are driven into the
breakers there will be apt from shore to
come rescue The churches of God
ought to be so many life saving stations,
not so much to help those who are in
smooth waters, but those who have been
shipwrecked. Come, let us run out the
lifeboats And who will man them? We
do not preach enough to such men. We
have not enough faith i'll their release.
Alas, if when they come to hear us we
are laboriously trying to show the diff
ference between ublapsarianism and
supralapsari'.nism, while they have a
thousand vipers of remorse and despair
coiling around their immortal spirits!
The church is not chiefly for goodish
sort of men whose proclivities are all
right, and who could get to heaven pray
ing and singing in their own homes 1t
is on the beach to help the drowning.
Those bad cases are the cases that God
likes to take hold of. He can save big
sinner as we'll as small sinner, and
when a man calls earnestly to God for
help he will go out to deliver such a
one. If it were necessary, God would
come down from the sky, followed by
all the artillery of heaven and million
angels with drawn swords. Get 100
such redeemed men in each of your
churches, and nothing could stand be-
fore them, for such men are generally
warm hearted and enthusiastic
A Great Mission.
Furthermore. the destitute children
of the streets offer field of work COM
paratively unoccupied. The uncared for
children are in the majority in most of
our cities. Their condition was we'll H.
Illustrated by what boy III this city said
when he was found under cart gnaw
ing a bone and some one said to him,
"Where do you live?" and he answered, |
Don't live nowhere, sirp' Seventy |
thousand of the children of New York |
city can neither read nor write. When |
they grow up, if unreformed, they will |
outvote your children, and they will |
govern your children The whisky ring
will hatch out other whisky rings, and
will kill with their horrid
stencil public sobriety, unless the church
of God rises up with outstretched arms
and infolds this dying population in her
bosom. Public schools cannot do it. Art
galleries cannot do it, Blackwell's is
land cannot do it Almshouses cannot
do it. New York Tombs cannot do it.
Sing Sing cannot do it. People of God,
wake mp to your magnificent mission!
You can do it, Get somewhere some
how, to work
The Prussian cavalry mount by put
ting their right foot int2 the stirrup
while tine American cavalry mount by
putting thUir left foot into the stirrup
don't care how you mount your war
charger if you only get into this battle
'or God, and get there soon, right stir
rup, or left stirrup. or no stirrup at all
The unoccupied fie dis are all around us,
md why should we build ON another
mans foundation? .ft......
i have heard of what was called the
laundering legion. 1t was in 179, q
part of the Roman army to which some
Christians belonged, aud their prayers,
{ was said. Were answered by thunder
md lightning and hail and tempest. |
which overthrow an invading army and
ayed the anlnire And I would tO God