Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-02-20


cows hoof, sounds as loud in Gods ear
rs the snap Of worlds conflagration.
When you have anything to do In life,
however humble 1t may seem to be,
God Is always there to help you to do
it If your work is that OF fisher
man, then God will help you, as he
helped Simon when he dragged Gen
nesarct. II your work Is drawing wa
ter then he will help you. as when he
talked at the well 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 q
days wages in his pocket as certainly
needs the guidance Of religion as he
who rattles the keys Of n 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 &C.
casions very devout who do not put
the principles of Christs religion into
practice. They are the most inexora-
BILE of creditors. They are the most
crashing Of dealers. They are known
as sharpers on the street. They fleece
every sheep they can catch. A 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 amazement 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 OH
now. He looks solemn and goes home,
talking about 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, l tell
you. Some of these men are great
sticklers for gospel preaching. They
say: "You stand there in bands and sur
picc and gown and preach-preach
like an angcl-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 tireproof
safe; that he has counted every dis
honest dollar they have in their pocket,
and that a 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
60 out: "Goodby, religion. III be back
next Sunday"
l think that the church Of God and
the Sabbath are only an armory where
we are to get weapons. When war
comes, II 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 Oh 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
II 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 1t in these spheres
about which we are talking, and it
seems 50 insipid and monotonous. If
we had some great occasion, II we had
lived in the time Of Luther, If we had
been Paurs travelling companion, If
we could serve God on a great scale,
we would do it, but we can't In this
everyday life" l admit that great
deal of the romance and knight Grant
ry of life have disappeared before the
advance of this practical age. The an
cient temples of Rouen have been
changed into storehouses and smithies
The residences Of poets and princes
have been turned into brokers' shops
The classic mansion of Ashland has
been cut up into walking sticks. The
groves where the poets said the gods
dwelt have been carted out for fire
wood. The muses. that we used TO read
about have disappeared before the i'm
migrants AK and the trappers gun,
and the man who Is waiting for life
bewitched with wonders will never
find it. There is, however field Of
endurance and great achievement, but
ii is in everyday life. There are Alps
to scale, there are Tablespoons to swim,
there are fires to brave, but they are
all around us now. This is the hardest
kind Of martyrdom to bear.
1t took grace to lead Latimer and
Ridley through the fire triumphantly
when their armed enemies and their
friends We're looking on, but it re-
quires more grace now to bring men
through persecution when nobody Is
looking on. l could show you in this
city woman who has had rheuma-