Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1897-12-13

those who are the SUBJECTS OF lifelong
inirmities He who can lift twice as
much as you can and walk twice as far
and work twice as long will have d
double account TO meet in the Judgment
How often is it that you do not find
physical energy indicative Of spiritual
power! If clear head is worth more
than ore dizzy with perpetual vertigo
if muscles with the play of health in
them are worth more than those drawn
I'D in chronic ''rheumatics y if an eye
quick TO catch passing objects is better
than one with vision dim and uncertain,
then God will require of US efficiency
just in proportion to what he has given
u.s. Physical energy ought to have as
good digestion of truth as we have ca
Eacity to assimilate food. Our spiritual
hearing ought to be as good as our phys
zeal hearing Our spiritual taste ought
to be as clear as our tongue. Samsons
il body, we ought to be giants in moral
power.
The Lost Strength.
But, while you find a 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 arightl With every
thuInp Of the heart there is something
saying, "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 10 something. :"
But how often it is that men with
physical strength do not serve Christ!
They are like a 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
il doing positive damage Or III luxurious
case, when, with sleeves rolled up and
bronzed bosom, fearless Of the shafts of
opposition, it ought to be laying hold
with all it's might and Juggling away to
lift up this sunken wreck of world.
It 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 rea-
son Of his diseases, all his days sitting
in the door Of the tomb, yet writing
more than 100 volumes and sending out
al influence for God that will endure
as long as the ''Saints' Everlasting
Rest" Edward Payson, never knowing
q well day, yet how he preached and
how he wrote, helping thousands of dy-
ing souls like himself to swim in a sea
of gloryr' And Robert M'Cheyne, a
-J-o hot
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,
yet you know what he did for the ''rise
and progress CT religion" in the church
and in the world.
Wilberforce was told by his doctors
that he could not live a fortnight, yet
at that very time entering upon philan-
thropic enterprises that demanded the
greatest endurance and persistence.
Robert Hall, suffering excruciations, SO
that often in his pulpit while preaching
he 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
well man in his day.
Oh, how often it is that men with
great physical endurance are not SO
great in moral and spiritual stature.
While there are achievements for those
VINO are bent all their days with sick
acknowledgements of patience, achieve
ments Of Christian endurance call
upon men of health today, men of mus
Gle, men of nerve, men of physical pow
er, to devote themselves to the Lord.
Giants in body, you ought to be giants
in soul.
Sanson's Misguided Strength.
Behold also in the story Of my text
illustration of the damage that strength
can do if it be misguided. 1t seems to
me that this man spent a great deal of
his time in doing evil-this Samson Of
my text. To pay bet which he had
lost by guessing of his riddle he robs
and kills 80 people. He was not only
gigantic i'll strength, but gigantic in
mischief, and a type of those men in all
ages Of the world, who, powerful in
Lody or mind or any faculty of social
position or wealth, have used their
strength for ubiquitous purposes.
1t is not the small, weak men of the
day who do the damage. These small
men who go swearing and loafng about
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. They
are vermin that you crush with your
foot. But it is the giants of the day,
the misguided giants, giants in phys
ical power, Or giants in mental acu-
men, or giants in social position, or
giants in wealth, who do the damage
The men With sharp pens that stab re-
lirinn and throw their nniSnn all