The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1896-01-31

| torIieoo, ana III is De1nG COPIED, anO
long after you are gone it will bloom OF
blast In the homes of those who knew
you and be a Gorgon or a Madonna.
Look out what you say. Look out what
you do. Eternity will hear the echo.
The best sermon ever preached is holy
life. The best music ever chanted is G
consistent walk. If you want others to
serve God, serve him yourself. If you
want others to shoulder their duty,
shoulder yours. Where Abimelech goes
his troops go. Oh, start out for heaven
| today, and your family will come 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. Oh, the inf
mite. the semiomnipotent power of good
or bad examplel
l saw last summer, near the beach, a
wrecker's machine. 1t was a cylinder
with some holes at the side, made for
the thrusting in of some long poles with
strong leverage, and when there is any
vessel in trouble or going to pieces in
the offing, the wreckers shoot rope out
to the suffering men. They grasp it, and
the wreckers turn the cylinder, and the
rope winds around the cylinder, and
those who are shipwrecked are saved
So at your feet, today, there is an infu-
ence with tremendous leverage. The
rope attached to it swings far out into
the billowy future. Your children, your
childrens children, and all the genera
tions that are to follow will grip that
influence and feel the long reaching
pull long after the figures on your tomb
stone are SO near worn out that the Wis
itor cannot tell whether it was 1896 or
1895 or 1896 that you died.
Concerted Action.
Still further I learn from this subject
the advantage of concerted action. If
Abimelech had merely gone out with a
tree branch, the work would not have
been accomplished, or if 10, 90 or 80
men had gone, but when all the axes are
lifted and all the sharp edges fall, and
all these men carry each his tree branch
down and throw it about the temple,
the victory is gained-the temple falls
My friends, where there is one man in
the church of God at this day shoulder
ing his whole duty there are a great
many who never lift an ak or swing
bough. 1t seems to me as if there were
ten drones in every hive to one busy
bee: as though there were 90 sailors
sound asleep in the ships hammocks to
men on the stormy deck. 1t seems
as if there were 1000 men belonging
to the reserve corps, and only 1000 ac-
tive combatants. Oh, we all want our
boats to get over to the golden sands,
but the most of us are seated either in
the Prov or in the stern, wrapped in
our striped shawl, holding big handled
sunshade, while others are blistered in
the heat and pull until the oarlooks
groan and the blades bend till they
snap. Oh, you religious sleepyheads,
wake upl You have lain SO long in one
place that the ants and caterpillars have
begun to crawl over you'll What do you
know, my brother, about living gospel
made to storm the world? Now, my idea
of Christian is man on fire with zeal
for God, and If your pulse ordinarily
beats 60 times minute when you think
of other themes and talk about other
themes, if your pulse does not go up to
rs or 80 when you come to talk about
Christ and heaven, it is because you do
not know the one, and have poor
chance of getting to the other.
In former charge one Sabbath l
took into the pulpit the church records,
and laid them on the pulpit and open
ed them and said: Brethren, here are
the church records. I find great many
of you whose names are down here are
off duty" Some were afraid l would
read the names, for at that time some
of them were deep in the worst kind Of
oil stocks and were idle as to Christian |
work. But if ministers of Christ today |
should bring the church records into the |
pulpit and read, oh, what fiutter there |
would bel There would not be fans |
enough in church to keep the cheeks |
COOL l do not know but it would be a |
good thing if the minister once in |
awhile should bring the church records
in the pulpit and call the roll, for that
10 WudO SOhoiuoi ONOlJ OhuiO iOoOiu
to be-merely muster roll of the Lords
the reading of it should re-
veal where every soldier is and what he
is doing.
Call the Roll.
Suppose in military circles ON tho
of battle the roll was called,
and out of 1000 men only 100 men in the
regiment answered. What excitement
there would be in tho campl What
would the colonel say? What high talk
ing there would be among the captains
and majors and the adjutants. Suppose
word came to headquarters that these
excused themselves on the
ground that they had oversight them
selves, or the morning was damp and
they were afraid of getting their feet
wet, or that they were busy cooking ra-
lions. My friends, this is the morning
Of the day of God Almighty battle. Do
you not see the troops? Hear ye not all
The trumpets of heaven and all the
drums of hellP Which side are you on?
If you are on the right side, to wha
cavalry troop, to what artillery service,
10 what garrison duty do you belong?
In other words, in what Sabbath school