Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1902-02-17

Again, / remark, we must bring THE
religion Of Christ into our employ
ments. oh" you say, that is very
we'll ii a man handle large sums of
money or if he have an extensive traf
fic, but il the humble work in life that
/ am called to the sphere is too small
for the action Of such grand, heavenly
principles" Who told you so? Do you
not know that God watches the faded
leaf on the brooks surface as certainly
as he does the path of Il blazing SUM-
And the moss that creeps up the side
of the rock makes as much impression
upon Gods mind as the waving tops
of Oregon pine and Lebanon cedar,
and the alder, cracking under the
cows hOOf sounds as loud in Gods cal
as the snap of a worlds cOnf1agratiOn
When you have anything to do in life
however humble it may seem to be
God is always there to help you to dc
it. If your work is that of fisher
man, then God will help you, as he
helped Simon when he dragged Gen.
nesarCt. If your work is drawing wa
ter then he will help you as when he
talked at the we'll curb to the Samari
tan woman. If you are engaged in the
custom house. he will lead you, as he
led Matthew sitting at the receipt of
customs. A religion that is not good in
one place is not worth anything in an.
other place The man who has only
days wages in his pocket as certainly
needs the guidance of religion as he
who rattles the keys of a bank and
could abscOnd with a hundred thou
sand dollars.
Putting Religion Into Practice.
There are those prominent in the
| churches who seem to be on public Oc-
casiOns very devOut who do not put
| the principles of Christ's religion into
practice. They are the most ineXOra-
| BILE of creditors. They are the most
grasping of dealers. They are known
as sharpers on the street. They fleece
every sheep they can catch. \ country
merchant comes in to buy spring or fall
! goods, and he gets into the store of one
! of these prOfessed Christian men who
! have really no grace in their hearts,
and he is completely swindled. He is
so overcome that he cannot get out OF
town during the week. He stays in
town over Sunday, goes into some
church to get Christian consolation,
! when what is his Amusement to find
that the very man who hands him the
! poor box in the church is the one who
| relieved him of his money! But never
! mind; the deacon has his black coat on
now. He looks solemn and goes home,
talking about 1.-The blessed sermon" If
| the wheat in the churches should be
! put into a hopper, the first turn of the
crank would make the chaff fly. tell
! you. Some of these men are great
sticklers for gospel preaching. They
say: You stand there in bands and sur
plce and gown and preach-preach
like an angel-and we will stand out
here and attend to business. Don't
mix things. Don't get business and re-
ligiOn in the same bucket. You attend
to your matters, and we will attend to
ours" They do not know that God
sees every cheat they have practiced in
the last six years; that he can look
through the iron wall of their fireprOOf
safe: that he has counted every dis
honest dollar they have in their pocket,
and that day of judgment will come.
These inconsistent Christian men will
sit on the Sabbath night in the house
of God singing at the close of the
service Rock of ages cleft for me" and
then when the benedictiOn is prOnounc-
ed shut the pew door and say as they
go out: "GOodby, religion. III be back
next Sunday"
think that the church of God and
the Sabbath are only an armOry where
we are to get weapons. When war
comes, if man wants to fight for his
country, he does not go to Troy or
Springfield to do battling. but he goes
there for swords and muSketS. | look
upon the church of Christ and the Sab
bath day as only the place and time
where and when we are to get armed
for Christian conflict, but the battle
field is on Monday, Tuesday, Wednes-
day. Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
"St Martins" and "Lenox" and "Old
Hundredth" do not amount to anything
unless they sing all the week. A ser
mon is useless unless we can take it
with us behind the plow and the coun-
ter. The Sabbath day is worthless if
it last only twenty-four hours.
The Work Nearest at Hand.
There are many Christians who say;
1--WE are willing to serve God, but we
do not want to do it in these spheres
about which we are talking, and il
seems so insipid and monOtOnous. II
we had some great occasion, if we haG
lived in the time of Luther, if we haG
been Paurs travelling companion, il
we could serve God on a great scale
we would do it, but we can't in this
everyday life" l admit that a great
deal of the romance and knight Grant
ry of life have disappeared before the
advance of this practical age. The an