The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1902-08-06

where you are Mourning and fretting he.
cause you are not where you want to be
does not make things better. The bonds
are only frightened by the !retfulness. Two
birds in two cages in / room give an illus
tration. One dashing itself against the bara
because it is imprisoned. injuring itself
and stopping its song: the other singing
AZ IL it would outsing the lark in the mead
ows, and moving thereby its mistress to
omen the cage and Get it free. He VINO does
the best he can where God has placed him
has nut his foot on the round Of the ladder
that leads up to higher things.
Second--Usefulness is not the primary
object for the Christian. We say. oh,
that we might be more useful" but first
rather let us desire tn be more holy. for
that is Gods will There is nothing bet.
ter for the most OF us than sorrow or dis.
appointment or trial because these things
shane character. There Is little merit in
being GOOD when everything about US
makes us good. and usefulness is the result
OF character, is to character what the fra
GRANGE ia to the rose. The gardener does
not aim first for the fragrance. but
TO make the rose perfect. and the fra
GRANGE takes care Of itself. II YOU study
the sermons Of Whitfield. Weslev. Spur
ceon and Moody you may wonder why
these sermons produced such mighty et'
fects. Il was because the power was in
the messenger rather than in the message.
To be right with God. to be holy. to be
like Christ. is our first duty. and through
the door Of holiness we pass to usefulness.
In the early painting days Of West,
Morse. the philosopher. entered his studio.
He was painting his masterpiece OF Christ
Rejected" when he said to his friend,
'Let me tie your hands and paint them in
the picture" and IL you have ever seen
this picture You have seen the hands OF
Morse painted in the stead of Christ. If
You are in bonds for Christ's sake this very
Thought will take from you the sting OF
living possibly out of sight and doing only
common things as you have done in other
davs. yet the time vii! come when you
will be free.
Perhaps there are those here who are in
bondaee because they have never yet be-
come Christians In the old Water street
mission there came one day man bowed
down with sin until he stood little more
than four feet high. like veritable dwarf:
but when he bowed at the altar and
yielded himself to Christ he stood uo as
straight as an athlete. Perhaps this Is
what you need Signing for peace, you
have not found it, searching for pleasure it
has eluded its grasp. Oh. come to Christ
to-day, for He may set you free.
TT.
II all these seem like hardships to Us and
we have been without comfort. then let US
wait until the day Of reward sha! come.
The mother who has had hard time with
her children. just wait and do your best.
When Charles Wesley comes TO Judgment,
and all the hosts that have been won ts
Christ by His power Of music come, it will
be q great day. and when John Wesley
comes to Judgment with all the souls OF
Methodism with him it will be a marvellous
Charles Wesley or John will be throne OF
Susana Wesley. their mother.
The old preacher who has been discour.
aged oft times because his church was 80
small and his work so apparently insigniE.
can't, needs only to wait until that great
day, and when that old minister who
preached in Falkirk stands in His presence
to say possibly to Him. Master. had but
a little field" he will hear Him say. But
you led Robert Moffat to me-" and as
Joseph Parker said the man who added
Robert Moffat to the church added a CONT.
nent to the kingdom. And when the old
English minister whose field was very CIR.
cumscribed, whose name is not generally
known, stands in His presence to say,
Master, I did the hest I could. but my
church was small" He will say to him,
"But you led Charles Spurreon to Christ,
and Spurgeon led a multitude"
When Henry VIII. and Anne Bo!eyn
came up the River Thames they had Q
great entrance into the city Of London.
Fifty baryes followed the Lord Mayor.
Officials were dressed in scarlet. Musicians
chanted upon the banks of the river, and
she who was to be the queen clad in gar
ments OF beauty. walking upon velvet, en-.
tered Westminster Abbey. and the service
pared to the end when the rewards are
given to those who have simply been
faithful.
was sick, He will say. "and ye visited
Me-. and the Young Christian EndeavoEer
will say. "But. Master. when?" and He
will answer, 1t was when you walked
q flower to this one and q cup of cold
water to that one" 81 was weak and ye
helped Me-" and this business man will
say, But. Master, ,when?" and He will an
swer. 1T was the coin you gave to the man
in tie crowded streets OF the city ycs:er.
day. and who but for that coin would have
starved" And to the mother who has
cared for her children, and the business
man who has faithfully performed the task
Of his business. and the father who has
beentrue in his home He will say, "Inas.
much as ye did it unto the least Of these
ye did it unto Me-"
That was wonderful story of how Ed
ward Spencer, the brother of DR.. Spencer,
of the Methodist Church Extension So.
ciety, saved seventeen lives in the awful
wreck Of the Lady Elgin on Lake Michigan
in 1850. Out Of 400 passengers only thirty
came through the breakers alive, and Of
these young Spencer saved seventeen. He
was never very strong young man, but he
had been brought up on the banks Of the
Mississippi River, and was 50 skilfuI q
swimmer that he was almost IS much at
home in the water as on the land. " i'm
a rope tied around his waist in order that
his body might be recovered in case he
should be killed by the floating wreckage,
for six hours he went backward and for.
ward saving human lives. 1t was a won.
derful days work. The last person saved
that day was man who was coming
ashore in difficult part OF the surf, where
the bank was high and precipitous. Any
one reaching the shore there would be
pounded to death on the steep bank.
Those who came to this part of the surf
were absolutely lost, as It seemed more
than mans life was worth to save them.
Young Spencer saw this man with one
arm clinging TO . piece OF wreck, and in
the other arm what was supposed to con-
tain silver Plate, or q bag OF gold, or some
other precious thing wrapped up in a bit
OF clothing. A sudden lift of the waves
brough, the man aud the bit OF wreckage
to which he clung into full view. and taere
streamed out from the bund,s the tresses
OF womans hair. Then Spencer knew
that the man was attempting to save his
wife. and although already greatly worn,
he said to those about him: Cost what it
,n,v will sare Ii e man or dia In tna u.