Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1896-02-07
For sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains:

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shade have AbeA fh5 euh ris6 on Mount
Washington: and from the Tiptop House, put
there was no beauty in that compared WIN
the dayspring from on high when Cnrlst
gives light to soul. have heard Parepa
sing, but there was no music in that com
pared with the voice of Christ when he salo,
''Thy sins are forgiven thee; go in peace,
Good nevis Let etefy one cut down Drahcn
81 this tree of life and wave 1t. Ley nun
throw ii down and kindle it. Let all the way
from Mount Zalmon to Shechem be niled
with thetossiDg Joy. Good news; rms pom
fire of the gospel shall consume the last teu-
pie of sin, and will illumine the SKY WIN
apocalyptic Joy, that Jesus Christ came INTO
the world to save sinners. Any new plan
that makes man quit his sin, and that pros
trates Il wrongs I am Ne mu b III 1ayor OF az
though all the doctors, and the bishops, and
the archbishops, and the synods, and the
academical gownsmen OF Christianity sane
toned ii. The temple of Berth must come
down, and do not care how 1t comes.
Still further l learn from this subject the
bower of example. If Abimelech had sat
down On the grass and t9d his men to go ana
got tho coughs and go out to the battle, they
would never had gone at all; or II tney nau
II would have been without any spirit or
effective result but when Abimelech goes
with his own AK and hews down a branch
and with Abimelech's arm puts 1t on Aolme-
iech's shoulder and marches on, then. my
text SAYS. all the people did the same. How
natural that was! What made Garibaldi AMI
Stonewall Jackson the most magnetic COM
manders OF this century? They always rode
ahead. Oh, the overwhelming power OF ex-
ampel Here is the father on the wrong roa1.
All his boys go on the wrong road. Here is
father who enlists for Christ Ills chlldren
enlist saw in some OF the picture CALLER
les of Europe that before many OF the great
works of the great masters, the old masters,
there would be sometimes four and five ar
lists taking cop es Of pictures. These copies
they were going to carry with them. pers
haps to distant lands, and l have thought
that your life and character are mas
terplece. and it is being copied, and long al
ter you are gone will Boom or b.ast IN the
homes Of those who knew you and be a COR
gon or Madonna. Look out what you say.
Look out what you do. Eternity Will near
the echo. The best sermon ever preached IS
holy life The best music ever chanted is
consistent walk. Ii you want others TO
serve God, serve Him yourself II you want
Others to shoulder their duty, shoulder
YOURS. Where Abimelech goes his troops
90. Oh. start out for heaven to-day, and
your family will cone after you, and your
business associates will come after you, and
YOUR social friends will join YOU. With one
branch of the tree Of life for baton, marshal
Just as many as you can gather. On, the In
finite, the semiomnipotent power OF good
or bad example!
I saw last summers near the beach,
wrecker's machine. II was cylinder with
some holes at the side. made for and thrust
ing in O; some long poles with strong lever
age. and when there is any vessel in trouble
or going to pieces in the offlng, the wreckers
shoot a rops out to the suffering men. They
grasp il. and the Wreckers turn the cylinder,
| and the rope winds around the cylinder. and
those WHO are shipwrecked are saved. 30 at
your feet, to-day, there is an influence Wilh
tremendous leverage. The rope attachel
to il swings far out into the blllowy future;
Your children. your children's children ana
all the generations that are 10 follow WIN
grin thatinhuence aud feel the long reach
inc null long after the figures on your tomb
stone are so near worn out that The visitor
canno; tell whether it was 1896 or 1875 or
1896 that you died.
still fur. her learn from this subject tae
advantage of concerted action. Ii Abme-
le h had merely gone out wltha tres Dranch,
the work would not have been accomplished,
or IL ten. twenty or thirty men hal gone,
but wheA all thu axes are lifted aud all the
sharp edges fall, and all these men carry
each his tree branch down and threw II
about the temple, the victory is gained-tne
temple falls. My friends. where there is one
man in the church OF God at this day saou--
dering his whole duty there are a great
many who never lift an ak or swing bough.
II seams to me as if there were ten drones in
every hive TO one busy bee; rs though there
were twenty sailors sound asleep IN the
ship's hammocks to four men on the stormy
deck. II seems as If there We're 5000 men
belonging to the reserve corps, and OILY lOoO
active combatants. Oh, we all want our
boats to get over to the golden sanos,
but the most of us are seated either IN
the PROV or in the stern, wrapped IN
our striped shawl holding a big handled
sunsh6de, while others are 0ltstered III the
heat and rull until the oarlocks groan aud
the blades bend till they snap. On, you re-
ligious sleepyheads. wake up! You nave
lain 60 long in one place that the ants and
caterpiIlars have begun to crawl over YOU
What do YOU know, my brother, about liv-
ing gospel made to storm he world? Now,
nv idea of a Christian Is a man on lire with
zeal for God, AMI If your pulse ordinarily
beats sixty times a minute wnen you THINK
of other themes and talk about other themes,
If your pulse does not go up to seyenty-hve
or eighty when you come to talk ABOUT
Christ and heaven, it is because you do not
know the one, and have a poor chance OF
getting to the other.
In a former charge one Sabbath L TOOK
into the rulpit the church records, and
laid them on the pulpit and opened them
and said: Brethren here are the church
records. find great many OF you whose
names are down here are of duty" SON.
were afraid would read the names, Tor a
that time some of them were deep III IN
worst kind OF oil stocks and were Idle as Il
Christian work. But ii ministers OF Chris
to-day should bring the church records Int
the pulpit and read, oh, what fiutter taer
would bel There would not be fans enoug
In church to keep the cheeks cool. DO no
know but il would be good thing II tn
minister once in awhile should bring tn
church records in the pulpit and call tn
roll. for that Is what | consider every churc
record TO be-merely muster roll OF IN
Lords army-and the reading OF 1t saoul
reveal where every soldier is and what ne
doing.
Sunnose IN military circles on the mornin
NJ hattie the roll was called, and out Of LOG
men only 100 men in the regiment answered
What excitement there would be in ID
campl What would the colonel sayH VIVA
high talking there would b among IL
,, captains and majors AMI the adjutanu
Sunnose word came to headquarters tina
these delinouents excused themselves on II
ground that they had oversight themselve
or the morning was damp and tney WEI
afraid OF getting their feet wet. or that tne
: were busy cooking ratious. My friends, tn
is the morning OF the day Of God Almighty
battle. Do you not see the troops2 He'
We not all the trumpets of heaven and a
the drums OF hell? Which side are you OF
, Ii YOU are on the right side. to WI
cavalry troop, to what artillery SERVE
I 70 what oarrisnn duty do YOU DelOn!