The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1896-01-25

oAbNA - III "a L CiA POI SUNS
but the next day 20, and the next day
40, and from that time to this, for owe
"a years, every day, Sabbath excepted
that Fulton street prayer meeting ha:
been a place where people have asked
prayer and to prayers havt
been announced, and the throb of thai
greet heart of supplication has thrilled
not only into the heavens, but cleai
around the world, more than any spot
on earth. That has been the place
where the redeemed of the Lord said
sol
Let the same outspolkcnness be en-
ployed toward those by whom we have
been personally advantaged. We wait
until they are dead before we say SO.
Your parents have planned for your
best interests all these years. They
may sometimes, their nervous system
used up by the cares, the losses, the
disappointments, the worrIments OF
life, be more irritable than they ought
to be, and they probably have faults
which hav become oppressive as the
years go by. But those eyes, long be-
fore they took on spectacles, were
watching for your welfare, and their
hands, not as smooth and much more
deeply lined than once, have done for
for you, many a good days work. Life
has been to them more of a struggle
than You will ever know about, and
much of the struggle has been for
you, and how much they are wrapped
up in your welfare o will never APP
preciate. Have you by word or gift or
behavior expressed your thanks? Or
If you cannot quite get up to say it
face to face, have you written it in
some holiday salutation? The time
will soon pass and they will be gone
out of your sight, and their ears will
not near and their eyes will not see.
II you owe them any kindness of deed
or any words OF appreciation, why do
you not say &c?
NY subject takes a wider range. The
Lord has hundreds of thousands of
people among those who have never
Joined His army because of some high
ideal of what a Christian should be, or
because of a fear that they may not
hold out, or because of a spirit of pro-
crastination. They have never pub
licly professed Christ. They have as
much right to the sacrament and as
much right to all the privileges of the
the church as thousands who have for
years been enrolled in church member
ship, and yet they have made no posi-
tive utterance by which the world may
know they love God and are on the road
to Heaven. They are redeemed of the
Lord, and yet do not say SC.
Oh, what aneaugmentation it would
be if by some divine impulse all those
outsiders should become insiders. I
tell you what what would bring them
to their right places. and perhaps
nothing else will. Days of persecu-
toni If they were compelled to take
sides as between Christ and His me-
mics they would take the side of
Christ, and the faggots and the instru-
ments of torture, and h ~anathemas
of all earth and hell would not make
them blanch. Martyrs are made out
OF such stu fl as they are. But let them
not wait for such days as / pray to God
may never come, Drawn by the sense
of fairness and justice and obligation,
let them show their colors. Let the
redeemed of the Lord say'sol
A Christian woman said once to her
pastor: My usefulness is done l do
not know Why my life is spared any
longer. because I can do no good.
Then the pastor replied: You do me
great good every sabbath" She asked:
''How do / do you any good9" and he
replied: 'In the first place, you are
always in your seat in The church, and
that helps me, and in the second place,
you are always wide awake and alert,
looking right up into my face, and
helps me; and in the third place,
1 often see tears running down your
cheeks, and that helps me-" What a
good thing he did not wait untl she
vas dead before he said sol
There are hundreds of ministers who
have hard work to make sermons be-
ton. They are afraid of making him
vain. The moment the benediction is
pronounced they turn on their heels
and go out, Perhaps it was a S kect
which he had put especial
He sought for the right text, an
did his best to put the old
into some new shape. He had
hat it might go to the hearts g
He had added to the argu
the most vivid illustrations he
could think of. He had delivered all
with a power that left him ~pervously
FIVE hundred people may
been blessed by 1t, and resolved
upon a higher life and nobler pur.
poses. Yet all he hears is the clank
of the pew door, or the shuf1ing of
feet in the aisle, or some remark about
the weather, the last resort of IMAM
ity. Why did not that man come up
and say frankly: You have done me
sood?" Why did not some woman
come up and say: Il shall go home
md take UP the burden of life more
,heerfully?" Why did net some pro-
f~essional nan say: THANK you, domr
inie, for that good advice. Twill take
It. God bless you?"
But to make up for this lack of out
religion there needs to be and
will be a Great Day, when amid the
and grandeurs of a listen
ing universe God will '.say so.' No
statistics can state how many mothers
nave rocked CRADLES and lowered over
Infantile siokRasses and brought up
their families to manhood and woman
hood, and launched them upon useful
ind successful lives, and yet never re-
ceived one thank you" that amounted
to anything.
There are men to whom life in a
grand and a conflict, hereditary ten
to be overcome, accidental en-
to be endured, appalling
to be met npd conquered,
md they never SO much as had Q rose
,ipped to their coat lapel in admira-
ion. They never had a song dedi-
.ated to thelp pane. They lever had
! book presented 70 them with a COM
word on the dy'leaf. All
hey haye to show for their lite-time
,attls is SCARS. But in the Last Day
he story will come out, and that life
will be put ia hsly and transcendent
end their courage and persist
nee and fatSh and victory will not
,n1y be announced. but rewarded,
These are they that came out of great
and had their robes washed
md made white in the blood of the
God will say so.
We miss one of the chief ideas of a
asst judgment. We put into the picture
he fire, and the SMOKE, and the earth
Iuake, and the descending angels, and
unrisinp dead. but we omit To ant