The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1896-02-07

7
80 aud come, and no one cheers thom. Por-
hhpa all the reward they get is harsh critic
Ism, or rop18c, on their own fatigue. ~ you
have ever heard OF amy good they have done,
Jet them know about a. If you end some
one benefited by their aims, on their prayers,
OF their cheering word, 70 and toll Thorn.
They may DO almost ready 90 give up their
mission. They may bo almost ia despair be-
cause of the seeming lack OF results. Ono
word from you may be an ordination that
VIII start them on the chief work of their
lifetime. A Christian woman said 10 her
pastors "Ay usefulness is done. DO not
know why my uie is spared any longer, be-
cHus8 4 can DO no good" Then the naEtoz
rcplied' '1ou DO ms great good every Sab
BATH She asked. CHOW do do y0u any
g0od3' and he replied, "ln the nrt place.
you are always in your sent in the church,
and that helps me, and ia tho second place
you are always wide awake and alert look
ing right mp into my face. and that helps me,
and in the third place i often see Gears rum
ming down your cheeks. and that helps me.
What good thing ne did not wait until she
was dcud before he said sol
There are hundreds OF ministers who have
hard work 20 make sermons because no one
expresses misrepresentation. They are afraid
OF making him vain. the moment the
benediction Is pronounced they turn on their
heels and go out. Perhaps e was q subject
on which he had put especial pains. He
sought FOR the right text. and then did his
best 20 put the old thought INTO some new
shape He had prayed that it might 90 to
the hearts OF the people. He had added 10
the argument the mos, vivid illustrations he
could think or. He had delivered an with
q power that left him nervouslY exhausted.
Five hundred people NAV have been blessed
by. II and resolved upon higher life and
nobler purposes Yet all he hears Is the
clank OF the pew door, or the shutting 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
"Aou have done me COod?" Why did not
some woman come up and say, II shall go
home to take up the burden OF lie more
eheerlullW' Why did not some professional
manc come up and say: "phank YOU, dominic
for that good udyice? I will take a. God
bless you" Why did they not tell him so2
have known ministers, I'm the nervous reac-
ton that comes 20 some after the delivery OF
a sermon with no seeming result, TO go home
and roll on the floor in agony.
But TO make up for this lack Of ouispoken
religion there needs TO be and will be a
great day when. amid the solemnities and
grandeurs bi a listening universe, God will
"sav s0' No statistics can state how many
mothers have rocked cradles and lowered
over iEiantile sicknesses and brought up
their families to manhood and womanhood
/ and LAUNCHED them upon useful and success
/ full lives, and vet never received one ''Thank
you" that amounted to anything. The
daughters became queens in social life or
We're ailianced in highest realms Of pros
/ perity; the sons took the fast bOnors OF
the diversity and became radiant in none
tary or professional spheres. Now the secret
Of all that upliited maternal influence must
come out. Society did not say so, the
church did not say so, the world did not say
50, but on that day OF all other days, the last
day, God will say So
There are men 20 whom life is a grind
and conflict. hereditary tendencies 10 be
overcome, accidental environments TO be
endured. appalling opposition to be met and
conquered, and they never so much as had
n rose pinned to their coat lapel in admira-
ton. They never had a song dedicated to
their name. They never had book pre-
sented to them with a complimentary word
on the dy-leaf. All they have to show for
their lifetime battle is scars But in the last
00v the story will come out, aud that life
will be put in holy and transcendent
rhythm, and their courage and persistence
and faith and victory will not only be an
nounced 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 earthquake, and the
descending angels, and the uprising dead,
but we omit 70 put into the picture that
which makes the last judgment a magnificent
opportunity. We omit the fact that it is TO
be q day Of glorious explanation and COM
mondation. The first justice that millions
OF unrewarded and unrecognized and unap-
preciated men and women get will be on
that day, when services that never called
forth so much as a newspaper line of finest
pearl or diamond type, as the printers term
1t, shall be called up for coronation. Tha;
will be the day OF enforcement for those
whom the world called melodies" Joshua
who commanded the sun ana moon TO stand
still, needs no last judgment to get justice
done him. but those men do need q last
judgment who at times in all armies, under
the most violent assault, in obedience 10 com.
mand themselves stood still. Deborah, who
encouraged Barab to bravery in battle against
the oppressors of Israel. needs no last judg
ment to get justice done her, for thou
sands Of years have clapped her applause.
But the wives who in all ages have eneour
aged their husbands in the battles OF life
women whose names were hardly known be
yOnd the next street or the next farmhouse
must have God say to them: "You did we'll
You did gloriously I saw you down in tina
dairy. / watched you in The old farmhouse
mending those children's clothes. / heart
what you said in the way of cheer when tn
: breadwinner Of the household was in DIES
pair. remember all the sick ycradles vol
have sung to. remember the backaches
: the headaches. the heartaehes know tn
story Of your knitting needle as we'll as
I know the story Of a queens seepter. You
l castle on the heavenly hill is all ready 70
: you. Coup and take it." And turning t,
! the surprised multitudes of heaven he vii
, say. "She did what she could" God vii
say so.
. And now close with giving my own per
d sonaltestimony for I must not enjon upol
: others that which I decline myself to dc
3 Born at Bound Brook, N. j., Of parentac
l as pious as the world ever saw, I attest BIZ
r fore earth and heaven that I have alway
= felt the eleyating and restraining inhuenc
d Of having had good father and a goo
> mother, and il / am able to do half as we
d for my children as the old folks did for me
e will be thankful forever. The years OF m
Il life passed on until, at about eighteen yeal
g OF age. / felt the pressure Of eternal reaiti
y and after prayer and religious counsel