The L'Anse sentinel., 1898-11-19

| about what worldly business YOU shall
undertake until you are so positive you
can in earnestness smite your hand on
your plow handle or your carpenters
bench, or your Blackstone's "Ccm-
mcntaries," or your medical diction-
airy, or your DR.. Dicks "Didactic The
ology," saying: 'For this end was
born.' There are children who early
develop natural aflinities for certain
| styles of work. When the father of the
Astronomer Forbes was goin4to Lon
don he asked his children whaFpresent
he should bring each one of them. The
| boy who was to be an astronomer cried
out: Bring me telescope!"
But my subject now mounts into the
momentous. Let me say that you are
made for usefulness and Heaven. l
iudge this from the way you are built.
You so into n shop where there is
| only one wheel turning and that by
wcrkman's foot on Il treadle, and you
say to yourself: Here is something
| good being done, yet on small scale
iut If you go into factory covering
many acres and you find thousands of
and shuttles flying and the whole
scene bewildering with activities,
driven by water or steam or electric
power, you Conclude that the factory
was put up to do great work and on a
vast scale. Now, look at you, and If
] should find that you had only one
| faculty of body, only one muscle, only
| one nerve, if you could see but not
hear, or could hear and not see If you
| had the use of only one foot or one
hand, and, as to your higher nature, if
you had only one mental faculty and
| YOU had memory but no Judgment, or
| Judgment but no will, and if you had
& soul with only one capacity, should
say not much is expected of you. But
stand up, oh, man, and let me look you
s1uarely in the face. Eyes capable of
seeing everything. Ears capable of
hearing everything. Hands capable Of
grasping everything, Minds with more
wheels than any factory ever turned,
more power than any Corliss engine
ever moved. \ soul that will outlive
all the universe except heaven, and
would outlivc all heaven if the life of
the other immortals were Il moment
short of the eternal. Now, what has
the world n right to expect of you?
What has God right to demand of
YOU? God is the greatest of econo-
mists in the universe, and He makes
nothing uselcssly, and for what pur-
rose did He build your body, mind and
soul as they are built? There are only
two beings in the universe who can
answer that question. The angels do
not know. The schools do not know.
Your kindred cannot certainly know.
God knows. and you ought to know.
| \ factory running at an expense of
100000 year and turning out goods
worth 70 cents year would not be
such an incongruity as you, Q man,
with such semi-infinite equipment do
ing nothing. or next to nothing, in the
way of usefulness. what shall do?'
you ask. My brethren, my sisters, do
not ask me. Ask God. There's some
path of Christian usefulness open. 1t
may be a rough path or it may be Il
smooth path. long path or a short
path. 1t may be on the mount of con-
spicuity or in the valley unobserved.
but it is path on which you can start
with such faith and such satisfaction
and such certainty that you can cry
out IN the face of earth and hell and
heavens: "To this end was born"
DO not wait Tor extraordinary quail
fications. Philip. the conqueror, gained
| his greatest victories seated on mule,
| 4 Z fA, nj f
| Btcophalus to ride into the conflict yo,l
will never get into the worldwide fight
at all. Samson slew the Lords en-
emies with the iawbone of the stupid
est beast created Shamgar slew 600
of the Lords enemies with an OK goad.
| Under God spittle cured the blind
mans eyes in the New Testament story.
Take ell the faculty you have and say:
20 Lord, here is what | have! Show
me the field, and back me up by omnipo-
tent power. Anywhere, anyhow, any
time for God"
1t may be helpful if l recite my own
experience in this regard. / started
| for the law without asking any divine
direction. | consulted my own tastes.
liked lawyers and courtrooms and
judges and juries, and reveled in hearing
the Frelinghuysens and the Bradleys
of the New Jersey bar, and as assistant
OF the county clerk, at 16 years of age,
| searched titles, naturaliZed foreign
ers, recorded deeds received the con-
fession of judgments, swore witnesses
and juries and grand juries, but after
awhile l felt a call to the gospel minis
try and entered it, and felt some salts
faction in the work; but one summer.
when | was resting at Sharon Springs
and while seated in the park OF that vii
lage, said to myself: "If have an es-
pecial work to do in the world. ought
to find il out now" and with that de-
termination l prayed as had never be-
fore prayed, and got the divine direc-
ton, and wrote it down in my memoran-
dun book, and saw my life work then
as plainly as l see it now. Oh, do not
be satisfied with general directions!
Get specific directions. Do not shoot
Mt random. Take aim and fire.
| And now 1 came to the climacteric
consideration. AS near as / can tel,
| yoY xyara hnilt for N bn ppy afarpity oIf