The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-03-27

CAdtCo SOiuleT dlMdSS lAetS hAA AANAN iooeii place reserved for him in the ranks where he is expected to be and expected tr fight.
 A Gospel Warriors Duty.
 The United States soldier must be able to answer roll call in a eertian company, of a certain regiment, of a certain brig ade, of a certain division, of a certain corps. So the gospel soldier must have a distinct place in which he has his name upon the muster roll of the church mil liant. There should be no free lances' In the gospel army no guerrilla bands. Guerrilla ranks are filled mp for the most part with iconoclasts and anarchists and eutthroats. But the gospel soldier must be regularly enlisted man, detailed to work for some one Bble class, to some one Sunday school, to some one prayer meeting, to some one church. A gospel soldier is a Christian who obeys orders. How can you obey Christs orders unless you have taken your individual place in the gospel ranks of Chrsts great army, called the church?
 The true gospel soldier always eonsia- CTS the post of danger the posts oi honor. He wants to hear the singing of the shells, even though that martial song may have to be accompanied by ms own death rattle. He wants to be as most of the soldiers were after they had enlisted for the Spanish American war. Oh. how anxious the officers and privates alike longed for the front! They wanted to have a glorious part in the liberation of downtrodden Cuba. Some men had to die for that liberation Then the brave fellows of the different regiments, by telegram upon telegram, sent to the gov ernors and to the officials at Washington, practically said, We are ready to go to the front-aye, to sacrifice our lives, If need be. in our country's service" So eager were those soldiers for dangerous service that when some of their colonels received the telegrams that switched them from the transports at Tampa to Jacksonville, Fla, there was sorrow and disappointment in many hearts.
 Posts of Difficulty.
 Posts of danger and difficulty are all ways post of honor in the United States army. And yet to hear some Christian soldiers talk you would suppose that the posts in Christ's army where there are difficulties are the posts to be avoided or deserted. Even some of the ordained ministers of Jesus Christ feel that way oh" says a visiting clergyman. q am so discouraged. Why, there has been nothing but friction and trouble in my church ever since I came to it. The peo- pie have fought and msrepresented every minister who ever occupied this pulpit, and they have been finding fault with and misrepresenting me. l am so dis couraged. I wish God would find me an other place." Well, my brother, 1 con- fess you are having a hard time of it. l confess that some churches have a bad record. I know one church that for for ty years has made It's chief fame in hro kfpO ifc minister's One pastor after another has been de- stroyed in regular order as he came to it's parsonage. One minister was so tan talized and attacked that under the per- secution of it's members he committed suicide. But. tell me, you who have been having a hard time in that church, do you not think you are getting along there as well as any one else could? "Oh, yes!' you answer. 'I know I am. In spite of three baking elders and two obstinate, fault-fiinding trustees. we are taking in new members all the time. Never in the church's history has it been doing so much good' Then, my brother, instead of complaining about your lot you should be congratulated Go ahead and do your work. God has honored you above all others. He has put you in a difficult position. Post of difficulty all ways post of honor
 Sunday school teacher, that Is a tough class of boys you have. You came to me the other day with tears In your eyes Some people may think I am talking about an imaginary case, but you know I am not. Those boys at times poster you so much that you have half made up your mind to give up the class. DC not do 1t. Those boys may stick pins into each other. They may come to class with dirty faces. They may seem to bt ungrateful. But remember, Christian soldier. If you desert your post now anc leave those boys they will not obey tho voice of another teacher They will not come to church at all You must bt to those boys what Dr. T. J. Bernardo is to the London newsboy. and Charles N. Crittenton is to the Florence Critten ton missions. and what Livingstone was to Africa. and Carey was to India. Int gospel heroes of the past have given uI their all to win their victories. They la bored, they slaved. they sacrificed them selves among the outeasts. "Go tho, and do likewise"
 A Fact to Realize.
 But there is another great fact whicf the good soldier of Jesus Christ should realize. The duties of the camp rightly performed are sometimes just IS essen
 
 formed at the front. The work whicf is done by the commissary and the sur geon has sometimes a greater part t' play in winning martial victories thar the spectacular color sergeant has II leading the charge before the enemy breastworks. What defeated Napoleon Bonaparte in his famous Russian invas ion? The bayonets of the naughty czar No The conquerer of Germany and Aus tria and Italy could have brushed those guns aside as he had done in former campaigns. It was the haversack empt, of bread which made the Little Corsi can'' run like a frightened hare toward home. It was Moscow in flames and his men with nothing to eat that made the French commander tremble before thf stony glance of death. And yet to read some military biographers you might suppose the personal worth of Grant a sherman Meade, Hancock. was the cause of all the victories achieved by the northern armies in the civil war, and the mental powers of Lee, Longstreet, a Jackson. a Gordon, Johnson, were the cause of all the victories of the southern armies
 The unrecognized heroes of the civil war have not had their due. The generals and the boys who fought at the front have been honored as they deserved, but