Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1898-12-23

Ndh III Nui hNS'h'aS Silltc .OuI HuHu Ou
your plow handle or your carpenters
bench, or your Blackstone's "Com-
mentarics," 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 aflinties for certain
styles of work. When the father of the
Astronomer Forbes was going 10 Lon
don he asked his children what present
he should bring each one of them. The
boy who was to be an astronomer cried
out: Bring me n telescope!"
But my subject now mounts into the
momentous. Let me say that you are
made for usefulness and Heaven. !
Judge this from the way you are built.
You 60 into shop where there is
only one wheel turning and that by a
wcrkman's foot on Il treadle, and you
say to yourself: "Here is something
good being done, yet on small scale"
Lut if you so into factory covering
many acres and you find thousands of
lands pulling on thousands of wheels
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
vast scale. Now, l 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
lear, or could hear and not see, II 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
e soul with only one capacity, should
say not much is expected Of you. But
stand up, oh, man, and let ME look you
squarcly in the face, Eyes capable of
seeing everything. Ears capable of
bearing everything. Hands capable OF
grasping everything. Minds with more
wheels than any factory ever turned,
more power than any CorIiss engine
ever moved. A soul that will outlivc
all the universe except heaven, and
would outhvc all heaven ii the life of
the other immortals were n moment
short of the eternal. Now what has
the world 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 useTcssly, and for what pur-
rose did lie 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 20 cents year would not be
such an incongruity as you, o 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 rough path or it may be II
smooth path, a long path or short
path. 1t may be on the mount of con-
spicuity or in the valley unobseryed,
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
fcations. Philip, the conqueror, gained
his greatest victories seated on mule,
and if you wait for some caparisoned
Bucephalus 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 609
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
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 iuries, but after
awhile l felt call to the gospel minis
| try and entered it, and felt some salts
faction in the work; but one summer
when l 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 it out now," and with that de-
termination prayed as had never be
| fore prayed, and got the divine direc
ton, and wrote it down in my memoran
dunn book, and / saw my life work ther
as plainly as / see it 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 happy eternity, al
the disasters which have happened tc
your nature to be overcome by thu
blood of the Lamb If you will hearth,
accept that Christly arrangement w,
are all rejoiced at the increase in hu
man longevity People live, as near as
can observe, about ten years Longer
than they used to. The modern doc
tors do not bleed their patients on al
occasions as did the former doctors. II
those times if man had fever they bet
| him. 10 bo had conet1mptio, fbav b1o,