Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1897-12-17

then God will require Of us efficiency
Just in proportion to what be has given
us. Physical energy ought TO have As
good digestion of truth as we have ca
pacity to assimilate food. Our spiritual
hearing ought to be as good as our phys
ical hearing. Our spiritual taste ought
to be as clear as our tongue. Samsons
in body, we ought to be giants in moral
power
The Lost Strength.
But, while you find great many men
who realize that they ought to use their
money Alright and use their intelligence
Alright, how few men you find aware OF
the fact that they ought to use their
physical organism Alright With every
thump of the heart there is something
saving, "Work, work." And lest We
should complain that we have no tools
TO work with God gives us our hands
and feet, with every knuckle and with
every joint and with every muscle, say
ing to US, Lay hold and do something"
But how often it is that men with
physical strength do not serve Christi
They are like ship full manned and
full rugged, capable of vast tonnage,
able TO endure all stress Of weather, yet
swinging idly at the docks, when these
men ought to be crossing and recrossing
the great ocean Of human suffering and
sin with Gods supplies Of mercy. How
often it is that physical strength is used
in doing positive damage or in luxurious
ease, when, with sleeves rolled up and
bronzed bosom, fearless Of the shafts OF
opposition, it ought to be laying hold
with all its might and tugging away TO
lift up this sunken wreck Of world.
1t is a most shameless fact that much
Of the business of the church and OF the
world must be done by those compare
lively invalid. Richard Baxter, by res-
son Of his diseases all his days sitting
In the door Of the tomb, yet writing
more than 100 volumes and sending out
an influence for God that will endure
as long as the Saints Everlasting
Rest" Edward Payson, never knowing
a well day, yet how he preached ana
how he wrote, helping thousands OF dy-
ing souls like himself to swim In q sea
of gloryp" And Robert M'Cheyne, .
walking skeleton, yet you know what
he did in Dundee and how he shook
Scotland with zeal for God. Philip Dod-
bridge, advised by his friends, because
of his illness, not to enter the ministry,
vet you know what he did for the "rise
and progress Of religion" in the church
and in the world.
Wilberforce was told by his doctors
that he could not live a fortnight, yes
at that very time entering upon philan-
thropic enterprises that demanded the
greatest endurance and persistence
Robert Hall, suffering excrucianons, 20
that often in his pulpit while preaching
be would stop and lie down on sofa
then getting up again to preach about
heaven, until the glories Of the celestial
city dropped on the multitude, doing
more work perhaps than almost any
we'll man in his day.
Oh. how often it is that men with
great physical endurance are not 20
great in moral and spiritual stature
While there are achievements for those
who are bent all their days with sick
ness-achievements Of patience, achieve
ments Of Christian endurance-I call
upon men of health today, men OF mus
Gle. men Of nerve, men Of physical pow
or. to devote themselves 10 the Lord
Giants in body, you ought to be giants
in soul.
samson's Misguided Strength
Behold also in the story OF my ts1s
illustration Of the damage that ErengiA
can do il il be misguided. 1t seems 70
me that this man spent great deal o.
his time in doing evil-this Samson OF
INV text. To pay bet which ae hsd
lost by guessing of his riddle he roos
and kills 80 people. He was not only
gigantic in strength. but gigantic IN
mischief. and type Of those men N al
ages Of the world, who, power1ui IN
body or mind or any faculty OF social
nosition or wealth, have used their
strength for iniquitous purposes
II is not the small, weak men OF the
dav who do the damage. These small
men who go swearing and loanng aooss
your stores and shops and BANKING
houses. assailing Christ and the Bible
and the church-they do not do the
damage. They have no influence Iney
ara yermin that you crush with your
foot But it is the giants OF the oAy'
the misguided giants giants IN phys
ical mower. or giants in mental acu'
: men. or giants III social position. q
giants in wealth, who do the damage
The men with sharp pens that STAB 10.
ieion and throw their poison al
through our literature, the men WHO
: use the power Of wealth to sanction In
a iouity and bribe justice and make truth
Z and honor bow to their golden scsptet'
: Misguided giants-look out for them.
{ In the middle and latter part OF the 'As'
s century, no doubt, there were thousand
b ~ men in Paris and Edinburgh ane
= London who hated God and blasphemet
r the name Of the Almighty, but tney o,o
= but little mischief-they were nnal
s men, insignificant men. Yet there "er'
+ giants in those days ,,.
Who can calculate the soul havoc OF
4 Rousseau, going on with very enthu
i ,iasm Of iniquity, with fiery imagins
IS tion seizing upon all the impulsiye ne
d lures of his day, or David Hume VIII
t e,nployed his life as a spider employ
y its summer, in spinning out nife'
!. webs 10 trap the unwary, or Voltairs
d tho most learned man Of his day, mar
% shaling a great host Of skeptics and lead
II ing them out in the dark land q inn
deity, or Gibbon, who showed an IN
I. controllable grudge against religion =
"a his history of one of the most fsscina'
d ing periods Of the worlds exiseens<
"a "The Decline and Fall Ct the Roms
n Empire"-s book in which, with q
the splendors Of his genius he masnifs
a the errors Of Christian disciples whii'
=. with a sparseness Of notice that news
,e can be forgiven he treated Il the onn'
" tian heroes Of whom the world was ns
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