Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1905-11-06

longer they will make grand workers
for God. But they must have the right
kind of a teacher. VIII you comeT'
And inevitably | Lear an answer some
thing like this: "Oh. can't come That
means l viii have to Get up early Sun
day morning and always be there. You
had better ask some one else who can
he more faithful and better fitted for
mat work than l." And so l am put
Of from getting the right kind of teach
ers for my Sunday school, just as near
" all pastors and Sunday school super
intendents are put off. The average
church members are willing to go the
first mile for God in the church. They
are ready to attend Sunday morning
service-that is, if they can come in
late and leave as soon as the benedic-
ton is pronounced-but they are not
willing to go the twain mile They are
not willing to give whole hearted serv-
ice, consecrated service, entire service,
TO the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, my brother, what authority
should have a prior claim upon your
services to the authority of the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ?
The chief purpose for which the
church was started was the saving of
souls. Could any work be more i'm
portant? Some years ago 1 saw an
officer of the law pursuing a thief. A
carriage drove by Without one mo-
ment's hesitation the officer command
ed the driver to halt He leaped into
the carriage, took the reins and hit the
horse with the whip. He made that
horse run at full speed after the flee
ing thief. You say at once: "That is
right. The officer had a perfect right
to do that" Well, my friends, then l
would ask you this question, If that of
ficer had right to take man and his
carriage and pursue fleeing thief, has
not my Lord and my God a right to
summon you to come and work in his
church, where Christian people are
working and praying in order to de-
velop boys and girls and men and wo-
men so that they will not become
thieves and social outcasts? Is the
freman's work, who rushes to burn
ing building, any more important than
that of a Sir Humphry Davy, who
manufactures the little mining lamp,
that there may not be fatal explosion
in the mine?
The Country's Call.
But 1 cannot close without speaking
one or two words with direct reference
to Caesars couriers. Christ is here
enunciating the doctrine he preached
to the Pharisees when he said, Render
unto Caesar the things which are Gaze
sar's as we'll as to God the things
which are Gods" Shall we not, in the
best and in the, truest sense, be sub
timely submissive to our city and
state and national government? And
yet, when our country is calling us
and needs our aid, how many of us
turn deaf ears to those calls! For the
peace and happiness of our dear native
land are we ready to fight it's internal
enemies as well as it's foreign foes?
Are we ready to fight the saloon and all
its sinful dives and all the evil YAM
pires that are trying to suck out the
lifeblood of our social organism? Are
we willing to be true to the nation and
come to her help, as the Hebrews
should have been willing to spring to
the aid of Caesars couriers and go
with them not one mile, but twain?
Would that in these times of peace
we might be as true to the best inter-
ests of our nation as were our ances-
tors in times of war! Then it was with
them no question of money. Oh, how
heavily the burden of taxation rested
upon them! Every loaf of bread in
those war times was taxed; every cup
of coffee and tea was taxed. Then the
women seWed and the men poured
forth their money in rivers Of gold.
Not only did they give their money,
but they gave their blood and their
lives, to save the land Mothers brought
their sons to the recruiting officers and
said: Il am a woman. / cannot fight,
but here are my boys, my brave boys.
Take them and let them die as sacri-
fees that their country may be free"
Fathers left their wives and their chill
sisters, their sweethearts. Those brave
men left these brave women and went
forth to die by the tens of thousands in
order that their country might be free.
Oh. We men, in these times of peace
cannot you hear your country calling
you to come to her aid and imploring
YOU to make the same kind of sacrifices
as your ancestors made in time of war?
The heroes of peace must be lust as
brave and just as true as were the sol
der boys who waded through blood
soaked battlefelds and whose bodies
are now awaiting the call of the resur-
rection in the trenches of Bunker Hill,
of Yorktown and of the Wilderness.
Thus my text has not, as some peo-
pie might suppose, literal but a figur-
alive Interpretation. 1t does not sim
ply mean that you should be willing
to travel with a man 1000 PAGES, which
was double the distance of the Roman
mile, but it means that in the home,
the store. the church and as an Ameri-
can citizen you should render unto Cod
the very best service you can. YoI
should sacrifice for his name. no mat