Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1897-09-28
gaming-table, and go down to find OUT
which shin starts first for America

been pottering. A boy gets hold Of his
make something, but it is poor affair
that he makes. The father comes and
takes the same saw and hammer, and
builds the house or the ship. In the
childhood of our Christian faith, we
make but poor work with these weap-
ons of prayer. but when we come to
the stature of men in Christ Jesus,
then, under these implements, the
temple of God will rise, and the worlds
redemption will be launched. God
cares not for the length of our prayers;
Or the number of our prayers, or the
beauty of our prayers, or the place or
our prayers; but it is the faith in
them that tells. Believing prayer
scars higher than the lark ever sang;
plunges deeper than diving-bell ever
sank; darts quicker than lightning
ever flashed Though we have used
only the back of this weapon instead
of the edge, what marvels have been
wrought. If saved, we are all the cap
tives of some earnest prayer. Would
God that, in desire for the rescue OF
souls, we might in prayer lay hold of
the resources of the Lord Omnipotent.
We may turn many to righteousness
by Christian admonition. Do not wait
until you can make a formal speech.
Address the one next to you. You will
not go home alone to-day. Between
this and your place of stopping you
may decide the eternal destiny of an
immortal spirit. Just one sentence
may do the work Just one question.
Just one look. The formal talk that
begins with sigh, and ends with
canting shuttle, is not what is wanted,
but the heart throb of a man in dead
earnest. There is not soul on earth
that you may not bring to God if you
rightly go at it. They said Gibraltar
could not be taken. 1t is rock, six
teen hundred feet high. and three
miles long. But the English and Dutch
did take it. Artillery, and sappers and
miners. and fleets pouring out volleys
OF death, and thousands of men reck-
less of danger, can do anything. The
stoutest heart of sin, though 1t be rock,
and surrounded by an ocean of trans
erosion, under Christian lombard
ment may hoist the flag of redemption.
Again: Christian workers shall be
like the stars in the fact that they have
light independent of each other. Look
up at the night, and see each world
show its distinct glory. 1t is not like
the confagration, in which you cannot
tell where one flame stops and another
begins. Neptune, Herschel, and Mer-
curry are as distinct as if each one of
them were the only star; so our in
dividualsm will not be lost in heaven.
A great multitude-yet each one as OBJ
servable as distinctly recognized, as
greatly celebrated, as if in all the
space, from gate to gate, and from hill
to hill, he were the only inhabitant; no
mixing up-no mob-no indiscriminate
rush; each Christian worker standing
out illustrious-al the story of earthly
achievement adhering to each one; his
self-denials and pains and services and
victories published Before men went
out to the last war, the orators told
| them that they would all be remember
| ed by their country, and their names
| be commemorated in poetry and in
song; but go to the graveyard in Rich
mond, and you will find there six thou
sand graves, over each of which is the
inscription, Unknown" The world
| does not remember its heroes; but
| there will be no unrecogniZed Christian
! worker in heaven. Each one known by
! all; grandly known; known by accla-
| nation: all the past story of work for
| God cleaning in cheek and brow and
| foot and palm. They shall shine with
| distinct light as the stars, forever and
! ever
Again: Christian workers shall
| shine like the stars in clusters. In
| looking up, you find the worlds in fami-
| " circles Brothers and sisters-they
| take hold of each others hands and
| dance in groups. Orion in a group.
| The Pleiades in group. The solar
| system is only a company of children,
with bright faces, gathered around one
| great fireplace. The worlds do not
straggle off. They go in squadrons and
fleets, sailing through immensely. So
| Christian workers in heaven will dwell
! in neighborhoods and clusters.
/ am sure some people I will like
in heaven great deal better than 9TH
ers. Wonder is a constellation of
stately Christians. They lived on
earth by rigid rule. They never laugh
ed. They walked every hour anxious
lest they should lose their dignity.
They loved God, and yonder they shine
in brilliant constellation. Yet should
not long to get into that particular
group. Yonder is a constellation Of
small-hearted NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. in
the eternal astronomy. While some
souls go up from Christian battle,
and blaze like Mars these asteroids dart
a feeble ray like Vesta. Yonder is a
constellation of martyrs, OF apostles, oil
patriarchs. Our souls, as they go UP to
heaven, will seek out the most con-
genial society.
Yonder is a constellation almost mer-
ry with the play of light. On earth
| they were full of sympathies and songs
and tears and raptures and congratula-
tons. When they prayed their words
| took fire; when they sang, the tune
| could not hold them; when they wept