The Monitor-register., 1896-01-24

What an opportunity you have, you who
spend so much of your time on rail trains
or on shipboard, whether on lake or
river or seal Spread the story of Gods
goodness and your own redemption
wherever you CO. You will have many
a long ride beside some one whom you
will never see again, some one who is
waiting for one word of rescue or CON
ISOLATION Make every rail train and
steamer moving palace of saved souls.
Casual conversations have harvested a
great host for God
There are many Christian workers in
| pulplts, in mission stations, in Sabbath
schools, in unheard Of places who are do
| ing their best for God and without any
recognition. They go and come, and no
one cheers them. Perhaps all the reward
| they get is harsh criticism, or repulse,
| OR their own fatigue. If you have ever
heard of any good they have done. let
| them know about it. If you find some
one benefited by their aims, or their
| prayers, or their cheering word, 60 and
tell them. They may be almost ready to
/ give up their mission. They may be al
| most i'll despair because of the seeming
| lack of results. One word from you may
| be an ordination that will start them on
the chief work Of their lifetime. A
| Christian woman said to her pastor:
"My usefulness is done. / do not know
why my life is spared any longer, be-
cause can do no good" Then the pas
tor replied, you do me great good ev-
cry Sabbath She asked, "How do do
you any good?" 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 that helps me, and in the
third place I often see tears running
down your cheeks, and that helps me- "
What a good thing he did not wait until
she was dead before he said so!
Why Not Bestow Praise?
There are hundreds of ministers who
have hard work to make sermons be-
cause no one expresses any appreciation.
They are afraid of making him vain.
The moment the benediction is pro-
nounced they turn on their heels and 60
out. Perhaps it was subject on which
he had put especial pains. He sought for
the right text, and then did his best to
put the old thought into some new shape.
He had prayed that it might go to the
hearts Of the people. He had added to
the argument the most vivid illustra-
tions he could think of. He had deliver
ed all with power that left him nerv-
ously exhausted. Five hundred people
may have been blessed by it and resolved
upon higher life and nobler purposes.
Yet all he hears is the clank of the pew
door, or the shuff1ing of feet in the
aisle, or some remark about the weather,
the last resort of inanity. Why did not
that man come up and say frankly,
"You have done me good?" Why did
not some woman come up and say,"I
shall go home to take up the burden Of
life more cheerfully?" Why did not
some professional man come up and say:
"Thank you, dominic, for that good ad
vice? I will take it, God bless you. !"
Why did they not tell him SO? I have
known ministers, in the nervous reac-
tion that comes to some after the de-
livery of sermon with no seeming reg
suit, to go home and roll on the floor in
agony.
But to make up for this lack of out
spoken religion there needs to be and
will be great day when, amid the So
lemnities and grandeurs Of listening
| universe, God will SAY so. !" No statis-
tics can state how many mothers have
rocked cradles and hovered over infan-
tile sicknesses and brought up their
families to manhood and womanhood
and launched them upon useful and sue
cessful lives, and yet never received one
"Thank you" that amounted to any
thing. The daughters became queens in
social life or were affianced in highest
realms of prosperity; the sons took the
first honors of the university and became
radiant in monetary or professional
spheres. Now the secret of all that up
lifted maternal influence must come ont.
Society did not say so; the church did
not say so; the world did not say SO, but
Oh that day Of all other days, the last
day, God will say SO.
There are men to whom life is grind
and conflict, hereditary tendencies to
be overcome, accidental environments to
be endured, appalling opposition to be
met and conquered, and they never SO
much as had rose pinned to their coat
lapel in admiration. They never had a
soing dedicated to their name. Thef
never had a book presented to then
with complimentary word on the flyf
leaf All they have to show for their.
! lifetime battle is scars. But in thas3e1
day the story will come out, and THAI
life will be put in holy and transcendent
rhythm, and their courage and persist
ence and faith and victory will not only
be announced but rewarded. "These are
they that came out of great tribulation
and had their robes washed and made
| white in the blood of the Lamb" God
will say so!
| We miss one of the chief ideas of a
last Judgment. We put into the picture
the fire, and the smoke, and the earth
quake, and the descending angels, and
the uprising dead, but we omit to put
into the picture that which makes the
last judgment magnificent opportu-
nifty. We omit the fact that it is to be a
day of glorious explanation and COM
mendation. The first justice that mil
lions of unrewarded and unrecognized
and unappreciated men and women get
will be on that day, when services that
never called forth so much as a newspa-
per line of finest pearl or diamond type,
as the printers term it, shall be called
up for coronation. That will be the day
of enthronement for those whom the
world called "nobodies. Joshua, who
commanded the sun and moon to stand
still, needs no last Judgment to get JUS
tice done him, but those men do need a
last Judgment who at times in all
armies, under the most violent assault,
in obedience to command themselves
stood still. Deborah, who encouraged
Barak to bravery in battle against the
oppressors Of Israel, needs no last judg-
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| .ENA much gayety-
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