The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-09-28
TO SHINE AS STARS
HOW THE CHRISTIAN WORKERS
WILL BE REWARDED ABOVE

r. Talmage breaches a Sermon Full of
Hope for Discouraged Toilers in the
Lords Vineyard Christian Constella.
lions That Will Beam on Forever
This discourse flashes a bright light
into the life of Christian workers and
offers a sublime hope for all those who
are discouraged in their attempts to do
good. DR.. Talmage's text Is Dan
lei xii, 3, They mat turn many to
righteousness shall shine as the stars
forever and ever"
Every man has a thousand roots and
q thousand branches. His roots reach
down through all the earth. His
branches spread through all the heav-
ens. He speaks with voice, with eye,
with hand, with foot. His silence Of
ten is loud as hunder and his life is a
dirge O a doxology. There Is no such
thing as negative influence. We are
all positive in the place we occupy.
making the world better or making 1t
worse, on the Lords side or on the dew
lis, making up reasons for our blessed
ness or Punishment, and we have al
ready done work in peopling heaven or
hell. I hear people tell Of what they
are going to do. A man who has burn
ed down a city might as well talk Of
some evil that he expects to do, or a
man who has saved an empire might
as we'll talk Of some good that he tx
poets to do. By the force of your evil
influence you have already consumed
infinite values, or you have by the
power of a right influence won whole
Kingdoms for God.
1t would be absurd for me, by elabo-
rate argument, to prove that the world
Is off the track. You might Is well
stand at the foot of an embankment,
amid the wreck Of a capsized rail train,
proving by elaborate argument that
something Is out Of order. Adam
tumbled over the embankment 60 cen
turtles ago, and the whole race, in one
long train, has gone on tumbling in the
same direction. rash! Crash! The
only question now Is, By what lever
age a the crushed thing be lifted? BY
what hammer may the fragments be
reconstructed? I van to show you
We may turn many to Righteousness
and what will be our future pay for 50
doing.
CHARM OF A RIGHT EXAMPLE.
First, we may urn them by the
charm of a right example. A child
coming from a filthy home was taught
It school to wash it's face. It went
home sc much improved in appearance
that it's mother washed her face, and
when the father of the household came
home and saw the improvement in do
nestle appearance he washed his face.
The neighbours, happening in, saw the
change and tried the same experiment,
until all that street was purified, and
the next street copied it's example, and
the whole city felt he. result of one
schoolboy washing his face. That is
a fable by which we set forth that the
best way to get the world washed OF
its sins and pollution is to ave our
own heart and life cleansed and puri-
fled. A man with grace in his heart
and Christian cheerfulness in his face
and holy consistency in his behavior Is
a perpetual ermOn and the sermon
differs from others in that it has but
n head n the longer it runs the
better.
There are honest men who walk down
Wall street making the teeth of iniqui-
ty chatter. There are happy men who
go into a sick room and by a look help
the broken bone to knit and the excited
nerves drop to a calm beating. There
are pure men whose presence SilenceS
the tongue of un~cleanness. The might
lest agent Of good on earth is a consist
ent Christian. 1 like the Bible folded
between lids of cloth or calfskin or
morocco, but I like it better when, in
the shape Of a man, it goes out into the
world a Bible illustrated. Courage
is beautiful to read about, but rather
would l see a man with all the world
against him confident as though all the
world were for him. Patience is beau
tiful to read about, but rather would l
see a buffeted soul calmly waiting for
the time Of deliverence. Faith is beau
tiful to read about, but rather would l
find a man in the midnight walking
straight on as though he saw every
thing. Oh, how many ouls have been
turned to God by the charm of a bright
example!
When, in the Mexican war, the troops
were wavering, a general rose in his
stirrups and dashed into the enemy's
lines, shouting, M en-, follow mel"
They, seeing his courage and DISPOSE
ton, dashed on after him and gained
the victory. What men want to rally
them for God is an example to lead
them. All your commands to others to
advance amount to nothing as long as
you stay behind. To affect them Alright
you need to start for heaven yourself,
looking only to give the stirring cry OF
Men, follow"
THE POWER OF PRAYER.
Again, we may turn many to right
eousness by prayer. There is no such
detective as prayer, for no n can hid
away from it. It puts its hand on the
shoulder Of a man 5000 miles off. 1t
alights on a ship midatlantic. The
little child cannot understand b law
of electricity or how the telegraph op-
orator, by touching h instrument
here, may dart a message under the sea
to another continent, nor can we, with
our small intellect, understand how the
touch of a Christians prayer shall in
stantly strike a soul on the other side
of the earth. You take ship and so to
some other country and get there at II
o'clock in the morning. You telegraph
to America and the message gets here
at 6 o'clock the same morning. In other
words, 1t seems, to arrive here five
hours before it started. Like that is
prayer. God says, Before they call I
will ear" To overtake a loved n on
tho road Won NAV SDur IN a lathered