The Monitor-register., 1896-04-03

dip the stream and Tie evening tide To
resonant with boatman's song, the
bright prov splitting the crystalline bill
low.
We shall have the smooth and grassy
lawn, and we will call out people of all
occupations and professions and ask
them to join in the ball players sport.
You will come back from these outdoor
exercises and recreations with strength
In your arm and color in your cheek and
q flash in your eye and courage in your
heart. In this great battle that is open
ing against the kingdom of darkness
we want not only a consecrated soul,
but a strong arm and stout lungs and
mighty muscle. I bless God that there
are SO many recreations that have not
on them any faint of iniquity, recrea
lions In which we may engage for the
strengthening of the body, for the clear
ing of the intellect, for the illumination
of the soul.
There is still another form of recrea-
tlon which l commend to you, and that
Is the pleasure of doing good. I have
seen young men, weak and cross and
sour and repelling in their disposition,
who by n heavenly touch have waken-
ed up and become blessed and buoyant,
the ground under their feet and the sky
over their heads breaking forth into
music. "Oh," says some young man in
the house today, II should like that rec
reatlon above all others, but I have not
the means. My dear brother, let us
take an account of stock. You have a
large estate if you only realize it. Two
hands, two feet. You will have per-
maps during the next year at least $40
Tor charitable contribution. You will
have 1850 cheerful looks if you want
to employ them. You will have 5000
pleasant words if you want to speak
them. Now, what an amount that is to
start with
You go out tomorrow morning, and
you see a case of real restitution by the
wayside. You give him Q cents. The
blind man hears the pennies rattle in
his hat, and he says, "Thank you, sir;
God bless youI' You pass down the
street, trying to look Indifferent, but
you feel from the very depth of your
soul a profound satisfaction that you
made that man happy. You go on still
farther and find a poor boy with a
wheelbarrow, trying to get it up on the
%curbstone, He fails in the attempt. You
say, Island back, my lad let me try"
You push it up on the curbstone for
him and pass on. He wonders who that
well dressed man was that helped him.
You did a kindness to the boy, but you
did a great joy to your own soul You
will not get over it all the week.
On the street tomorrow morning you
will see a sick man passing along.
"Ah," you say, "what can l do to make
this man happy? He certainly does not
want money; he is not poor, but he is
sick" Give him one of those 2, 900
cheerful looks that you have garnered
| up for the whole year. Look joy and
hopefulness into his soul. 1t will thrill
him through, and there will be a reac-
ton upon your own soul. Going on a lit
tie farther, you will come to the store
of a friend who is embarrassed in bust
ness matters. You will go in and say:
"What a fine store you havel I think
business will brighten up, and you will
have more custom after awhile. Think
there is coming a great prosperity to all
the country. Good morning" You pass
out. You have helped that young man,
and you have helped yourself.
A Thought to Garry.
Colonel Gardiner, who sat with his
elbow on a table, spread with all extrav-
agant viands, looking off at q dog on
the rug, saying, "How 1 would like to
change places with him, I be the dog
and he be Colonel Gardiner" or those
two Moravian missionaries who wanted
to go into the lazafetto for the sake of
attending the sick, and they were told
"H you go in there, you will never
come out. We never allow any one to
come out. for he would bring the conta-
gion." Then they made their wills and
went in, first to help the sick and then
to die. Which was the happier-Colo-
mel Gardiner or the Moravian mission
aries dying for others? Was it all sacri-
fee when the missionaries wanted to
bring the gospel to the negroes at the
Barbados, and, being denied the privi-
lege, sold themselves into slavery, stand
ing side by side and lying side by side
down in the very ditch of suffering, in
order that they might bring those men
up to life and God and heaven? Oh,
there is a thrill in the joy of doing good
It is the most magnificent recreation to
which a man ever put his hand or his
head or his heart.
But before closing I want to impress
upon you that mere secular entertain
ments are not a fit foundation for your
soul to build On. / was reading Of a
woman who had gone all the rounds of
sinful amusement, and she came to die.
She said, 81 will die tonight at 6
o'clock" "Oh," they said, 81 guess
not; you don't seem to be sick" 81
shall die at 8 o'clock, and my soul will
be lost. I know it will be lost. I have
sinned away my day Of grace" The
moor came. They desired her to seek re-
ligious counsel. "Oh," she said, sit is
of no use. My day is gone. I have been
all the rounds Of worldly pleasure, and
it is too late. I shall die tonight at 6
o'clock" The day wore away, and 1t
came to 4 O'Clock and to 5 O'Clock, and
she cried out at 5 O'Clock: Destroying
spirits, ye shall not have me yet; 1t is
/ HUI D, IL Is uU6 OI Liz moments W0uC
| by, and the shadows began to gather,
and the clock struck 6, and while it
was striking her soul went. What hour
| God will call for us 1 do not know
whether 6 o'clock tonight, or 8 O'Clock
| this afternoon, or at 1 o'clock, or at this
moment. Sitting where you are. falling
forward, or dropping down, where will
you go to?
The last hour of our life will soon be
| here, and from that hour we will review
this days proceedings. 1t will be a SOL
emn hour. If from our death pillow we
have to look back and see a life spent in
sinful amusement, there will be a dart
that will strike through our soul sharp
er than the dagger with which Virgin
ius slew his child. The memory of the
past will make us quake like Macbeth.
The iniquities and rioting through
eH.@@o s to i reeevs KoA ND