Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1904-08-01

| you teaching? What mission work are
| you doing for Christi Some there will
be who. in order to pay their way
| through college, are performing some
duties by which they earn a little mon
| ey But the others. in nine cases out of
ten, will answer: "Oh, am not attend
| ing any particular church here. l am
not teaching in any Sunday school
| am now studying to be minister, and
| therefore each Sunday l go TO hear a
| different minister in the town" The
result is that nine-tenths Of our young
| theological students, and | think | am
not overrating the proportion, do prac-
| tically nothing for Christ while they
| are living within seminary walls IN
| less they are paid for their services.
| What is the result? With a critical,
censorious spirit they go from church
| TO church. They pick flaws sin this
minister, they find fault with that min
lister, and all the time they belong
| TO the great army of religious tramps,
whom l call the "go-rounders" Dur
ing these years of study their own
| life is ebbing away. By the time the
young man who pursues this course
| graduates from theological seminary
he is on the verge of spiritual bank
ruptcy. Why? Mainly because in the
three long years of mental preparation
for the ministry he has neglected to
do personal work for Jesus Christ.
1t is a common subject for regret
| that the religious life in our. colleges
and universities is at low ebb. The
| spiritual energy of the students is de-
| pleted, and there is less real holiness
and growth in grace among them than
| in young men outside The reason for
this deplorable condition believe to be
that SO many of them are devoting
themselves to study or to athletics and
doing no personal service for the Mas
ter. They are making the same eX-
cuse for themselves that the young
disciple of my text made to Christ
when he said, Lord, suffer me first to
go and bury my father" That young
man who is now the leader of his class
in the law school was once the Sunday
school superintendent in the little vii
lage church where his father and
mother now live. The school occu-
pied the first place in his thoughts,
and he would take any trouble to give
| pleasure to the children and attach
| them to the cause of Christ. Now he
never enters a Sunday school. He is
preparing to be a lawyer. After he
once gets his diploma he intends to go
back to church work, but now he says,
Lord, suffer me first to get an educa-
ton and then 1 will follow thee
That young girl living in Chicago,
away from home, is now studying in
a famous musical college to cultivate
her voice. She was once the leader Of
her fathers choir. Her father is a minis
ter and is spending the savings Of life
time in giving his daughter q musical
education that she may be the better
able to serve Christ. But, though there
are hundreds of struggling little
| churches within a short distance of
where she lives which would be bless
ed by her singing, she now never en-
tiers a prayer meeting. She rarely en-
tiers a church. She says, wait, Lord,
until l have acquired proficiency in
the art, and then 1 will sing for thee"
Mental Versus Spiritual Development
But these words of my text not only
apply to the young people who are
sidetracking their gospel duties to make
way for their preparations for a pro-
fession. They also apply to the busy
men and women who, in the prime
of physical strength and mental power,
are like tired peasants staggering along
the highways under greater burdens
than it seems possible for them to bear
When l speak thus l mean that this
text is applicable to nearly all men and
women in midlife. Why? Because
believe that most people are overwork-
ed. They are physically tired. They
are tired in the same way that my
grandmother was tired, who, as a
farmers wife, had to rear thirteen
children. My father used to say: Il
never remepber my mother except
with tired look upon her face AS a
t little boy l remember her coming to
e the table and, after all the children had
o been served, turning to father and say
Y ing, David, l am too tired to eat "
s How many other women have said the
t same thing Most people are over
0 worked in the struggle of life. Yet
Y this text, man, o woman, in the
o prime of your physical and mental
o strength, applies to you. No right have
e you to sidetrack your duties to God
i No right have you to say to Christ
f Lord, suffer me to do this or that
t and then 1 will follow thee" Christ
t should be first, not last. Christ's com
I mand, no matter how or when it comes
n should be needed or obeyed; then all
e other duties will fall into line in their
: right places.
r Christ's command, Follow me-
e comes to the tired merchant, the worn
: out merchant 1t comes to you even in
l the whirl and the hustle of business
4 life. "Oh, no." you say, Il have no
D time for Christ My business absorbs
: avarv atom Of my energy I am So