Orange County observer., 1901-06-20

| and the pew are SO dull they, cannot stand
| it. But when we ask why. people do not
! go to church we ask misleading ques-
ever in the worlds history. and the rea-
son is in all our denominations there is 4
| new race of ministers stepping into the
| pulpits which are not the apostles Of hum
drum. Sure enough, we want in the
Lords army the heavy artillery. but we
| farmer at Gettysburg, took a musket and
went out on his own account to do a. little
| shooting different from the other SOL
diers. The church Of God is dying Of the
proprieties.
Is your talent that OF persuasion? Make
good use of it. We all have it to some
extent, vet none of us think of it as a
talent. But it is the mightiest Of talents.
Do you know that this one talent will
fetch the world back to God Do you know
| it is the mightiest t.lent of the high
| heavens? Do you know that it is the one
| talent chiefly employed by all the angels
! of God when they descend to our world
the talent of persuaslon2
| Do you realize that the rough lumber
| lifted into a cross on the hill back Of
Jerusalem was IN persuasion as well as
sacrifice? That is the only, absolutely the
| only, persuasion that will ever induce the
human race to stop it's march toward the
/
start for the city of light. Now may the
Lord this moment show each one of us
| that to greater or less extent we have
| one talent of persuasion and impel us to
the right use of it.
You say you cannot preach a sermon,
but cannot you persuade some one to go
| and hear a sermon? You say you cannot
sing, but cannot You persuade some one
to go and hear the choir chant on Christ
mas or Easter morning? Send bunch of
flowers to that invalid in the hospital,
with a message about the land where the
inhabitants never say, II am sick
There is child of the street. Invite
! him into the mission school, There is a
man who has lost his fortune in specula-
ton. Instead of jeering at his fall go and
| tell him of riches that never take wings
and fly away. Buckle on that one talent
of persuasion, O man, O woman. and
| you will do work that heaven will cele-
brate 10000 years.
Among the 1000 words of Noah Web
sters vocabulary and the thousands of
words since then added to our English
! vocabulary there is one administering
word the power Of which cannot be es-
timated, and it reaches so far up and so
far down, and that is the word "come.'
1t has drawn more. people away from the
wrong and toward the right than any
word I now think Of 1t has at times
crowded all the twelve gates of heaven
with fresh arrivals It will yet rob the
path of death of the last pedestrians. It
will yet chime so loudly and gladly that
all the toiling bells of sorrow will be
| drowned with the music. It is piled up in
the Bibles climax and peroration, "And
the spirit and the bride say come, and
let him that heareth say come, and let
him that is athirst come'' Have it on the
point of your Den, have it on the tip of
your tongue. Monosyllable are mghtier
| 1fo1,1 hat
is the mightiest of monosyllables. Shakes
peare says OF one of his characters, "She
speaks poniards, and every word stabs. y
We may say of others, they speak words
which are of balm and music, are light and
life. Master one of those words, harness
words, prove the full plentitude and pow
er of one of those words.
{ David Garrick the dramatist, said he
would give 100 guineas if he could say
! ''oh'' as George Whitefeld said it. What
; might we not give if only we could say
''come" as Jesus said it? Some one has
< said that syllables govern the world, and
l think that one syllable might save the
< world. But | cannot particularize. What
ever be your one talent, cultivate it.
e Once fully realize that you have some
: thing with which to enhance heaven and
a take hold OF the eternities, and it will
5 add a new bank of keys to the music Of
a Of work by the laying on of the hands OF
a the Lord God Almighty.
a II you cannot do anything else, GO
around and feel sorry for somebody. When
y some one asked, "What is the secret Of
. William Wilberforce's power?' the an
j swer was, ''His power of sympathy" And
t there are 100000 people who have the
b same qualification if they only knew it,
t Sympathy! If you cannot restore the
e child to that bereft parent or the fortune
t to that bankrupt fnancier or health te
S that confirmed invalid or an honorable
n at least feel sorry for the misfortune o.
d the bereavement or the suffering.
e Sympathy! If you have not the means
d to do anything else, go and sit down ane
d cry with them. That is the way Chris
t did when He went out to the desolatet
Il home in Bethany and the sisters tolo
n their sad story: He cried With them. Oh
n cultivate that one talent of sympathy!
j. After the resurrection day and all heav
d en- is made up, resurrected bodies joined t.
y ransomed souls, and the gates which wer
y so long open are shut. there may be som
It day when all the redeemed may pass i,
j. review before the great white throne. I
% so. l think the hosts passing before tn
% King Will move in different divisions
h With the first division will pass the might
d ones of earth who were as good and use
:: full as they were great. In this division
D. Will pass before the throne all the Mart11
lg Luthers, the John Knoxes, the Wesleys
h the Richard Cecils. the Millions, tn
e Chrysostoms, the Herschells, the Lenoxes
N the George Peabodys, the Abbott Law
,e rences and all the consecrated Christian
ct men and women who were great in itera
" ture, in law, in medicine, in philosophy
in in commerce. Their genius never spoile
1t them. They were as humble as the
n were gifted or opulent. They were grea
on earth, and now they are great in heay
Dr. en-. Their surprising and magnificent ta
le ents We're all used for the worlds better
re ment. As they pass in review before th
is King on the great white throne to highe
gs and higher rewards it makes me think c
Of the parable of the talents, ''To anothe
Id ten" I stand and watch the other div
ut sions as they go by, division after div
le sion, until the largest of all the division
it comes in sight. It is hundred to one,
OF thousand to one, ten thousand to on.
of larger than the other divisions. It
w made up of men who never did anythin
n but support their families and give wha
r. ever Of their limited means they coul
i'll | c,,oro for ho ro1;of of ,,ox,or+x, ord .;,1