The Iola register., 1898-11-18

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, a long path or a short
path 1t may be on the mount of CON
spicuity or i'm 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
heaven: "To this end was born"
DO not wait for extraordinary quail.
tications. Philip, the conqueror, gained
his greatest victories seated on mule.
and If you wait for some caparisoned
Blcophalus to ride into the conflict YOU
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
nuns eyes in the New Testament story
Take all the faculty you have and say:
80 Lord, here is what | have! Show
me the field, and back me up by omnipo-
tent power. Anywhere anyhow. any
tine for God"
1t may be helpful il recite my own
experience in this regard. I.started
for the law without asking any divine
direction. consulted my own tastes
| liked lawyers and courtrooms and
judges and iuries, and reveled in hearing
the Frelinghuysens and the Bradleys
of the New Jersey bar and as assistant
OF the county clerk. at l6 years of age.
! searched titles uaturalized foreign
ers, recorded deeds received the CON
fession of judgments. swore witnesses
and juries and grand iuries, but after
awhile | 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 prayed as had never be-
fore prayed, and got the divine direc-
ton, and wrote il down in my memoran-
dunn book, and saw my life work then
as plainly as | see il now. Oh. do not
be satisfied with general directions!
Get specific directions. Do not shoot
at random. Take aim and fire.
And now | came to the climacteric
consideration. As near as | can tell.
you were built for a happy eternity. all
the disasters which have happened TO
your nature to be overcome bv the
blood of the Lamb il you will heartily
accept that Christly arrangement. We
are all rejoiced at the increase in hui
man longevity, People live, as near as |
can observe, about ten years longer
than they used to. The modern doe.
tors do not bleed their patients on all
occasions ms did the former doctors. In
those times il n man had fever they bled
him; if he had consumption they blcd
him; il he had rheumatism they bled
him. and II they could not make out ex.
actly what was the matter they bled
him. Olden time phlebotomy was
deaths coadjutor. All this has changed
From the way see people skipping
nbout Mt so years of age conclude that
the life insurance companies will have
TO change their table of risks and
charge "a man no more premium at 20
than they used 10 do when he was 60,
and no more premium at so than when
he was 40. by the advancement of
medical science and the wider ac-
quaintance with the laws of health and
the fact that the people know better
how to take care of themselves human
life is prolonged. But do you realize
what, after all, is the brevity of our
earthly state? In the times when peo-
pie lived 700 and 500 years the patriarch
Jacob said that his years were few.
Looking at the life of the youngest per
son in this assembly and supposing
that he will live TO be nonagenarian.
how short the time and soon gone,
while banked up in front of MS is an
eternity so vast that arithmetic has not
figures enough to express its length. or
breadth. or depth, or height. For
happy eternity you were born. unless
you run yourself against the divine in
- cumming III ,NbuI presence
my eye should fall upon the feeblest
soul here as that soul will appear when
the world let's it up and heaven en-
frances it, suppose | would he so over
powered that I should drop down as one
dead.
You have examined the family Bible
and explored the family records. and
you may have seen daguerreotypes of !
some of the kindred of previous gener- |
atoms you have had photographs taken |
Of what you were in boyhooG or girl !
hood, and what you were ten years
ater and ii is very interesting to any
one TO he able TO look back upon pic. !
lures of what he was ten. or twenty. or |
thirty years ago, but have you ever had |
a picture taken of what you may be |
and what you will be If you seek after
God and feel the spirits regenerating
power? Where shall l plant the cam
IRA 10 take the picture? | plant it on
his platform. | direct il toward you.
Sit still or stand still while | take the
nintttrn uhnI1