Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-02-05

the enemy be recaptured for God, and
the reporters. and the typesetters, and
the editors, and the publishers swear
allegiance to the Lord God of truth.
All, my friend, that day must come,
and if the great body of Christian men
have not the faith or the courage or
the conservation to do it, then let some
Jonathan on his busy hands and on his
praying knees climb up on the rock of
hindrance and. in the name of the Lord
God of Israel, slash to pieces those lit
erary Philistines. If these men will
not be converted to God, then they
must be oyerthrOWn.
hidden Resources.
Again, | learn from this subject what
large amount of the church'S re-
sources is actually hidden and buried
and undeveloped. The Bible int:mates
that that vas a very rich land, this
land of Israel. 1t says, THE stones are
iron. and out Of the hills thou shalt dig
Brass and yet hundreds and thou
sands of dollars worth of this metal
was kept under the hills. Well, that is
the difficulty with the church of God
at this day. Its talent is not develop
ed. If one-half Of its energy could be
brought out. it might take the public
iniQuities Of the day by the throat and
make them bite the dust. If human
eloquence were consecrated to the Lord
Jesus Christ, it would in a few years
persuade this whole earth to surrender
to God. There is enough undeveloped
energy in this city to bring all the
United States to Christ, enough Of I'M
developed Christian energy in the Unit
ed States to bring the whole world to
Christ, but it is buried under strata of
Indifference and under whole noun
tains of sloth. Now, is it not time for
the mining to begin and the pickaxes to
plunge and for this buried metal to be
brought out and put into the furnaces
and turned into howitzers and carbines
for the Lords host?
The vast majority of Christians in
this day are useless. The most of the
Lords battalion belong to the reserve
corps. The most of the crew are asleep
in the hammocks. The most of the
metal is under the hills. Oh, is it not
time for the church of God to rouse up
and understand that we want all the
energies, all the talent and all the
wealth enlisted for ChriSt's sake? I
like the nickname that the English SOL
diers gave to Butcher, the commander.
They called him 'Old Forwards" We
have had enough retreats in the church
of Christ; let us have a glorious ad-
vance. And l say to you as the gen.
eral said when his troops were alright
ed-rising up in his stirrups, his hair
flying in the wind, he lifted up his
voice until 10000 troops heard him cry
ing out, Forward, the whole line"
We want all the laymen enlisted. Min
listers are numerically too small. They
do the best they can. They are the
most overworked class on earth. Many
of them die of dyspepsia because they
cannot get the right kind of food to
eat or, getting the right kind, are sc
worried that they take it down in
chunks. They die from consumption
coming from early and late exposure.
If a novelist or historian publishes
one book a year, he is considered in
dustrious. But every faithful pastor
must originate enough thought for
three or four volumes a year. Minis
tiers receive enough calls in year
from m>n who have maps and medi-
cines and lightning rods and pictures
to sell to exhaust their vitality. They
are bored with agents of all sorts.
They are set in drafts at funerals and
poisoned by the unventilated rooms of
invalids and waited upon by commit
tees who want addresses made until
life becomes a burden to bear. 1t is
not hard study that makes ministers
look pale 1t is the infinity of inter-
ruptions and deliberations to which
they are subjected. Numerically too
small, 1t is no more the work of the
pulpit to convert and save the world
than it is the work of the pew. If men
go to ruin there will be as much blood
on your skirts as on mine.
Grand Farce.
Let us quit this grand farce of trying
to save the world by a few clergymen,
and let all hands lay hold of the work.
Give us in all our churches two or
three aroused and qualified men and
women to help. In most churches to-
day five or ten men are compelled to
do all the work. A vast majority of
churches are at their wits end how
to carry on a prayer meeting If the
minister is not there. when there ought
to be enough pent up energy and re-
ligiOus force to make a meeting go on
with such power that the minister
would never be missed. The church
stands working the pumps of a few
ministerial cisterns 12GtfI the buckets
are dry and choked, while there are
thousands of fountains from which
might be dipped up the waters of eter-
nal life. Before you and I have the
sod pressing our eyelids we will under
God decide whether our children shall
grow UP amid the accursed surround