Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1905-09-30

gathered the children about the family
altar Then before you started Tor
Sunday school you all knelt. linen
Won uttered a prayer like this: "O
God. like Enoch, may we walk with
thee this day. Be with our sunday
school Give the teachers power TO
expound thy word. Give the scholars
hearts to listen to thy lessons.
And. O Father, thou great and omnip-
otent King, be with our pastor. de IL
one of us. May we lift up his arms
MAY he today be a man with mighy
mower for God. May just the right
word be spoken which will bring down
q shower of blessings TO our hearts,
Are not those prayers having any re-
suits? Why, friends, as l speak this
morning | feel strange influence nrt-
ing me I'D. That influence, oh, my
people, comes from the prayers OF the
family affairs Of my church. Ihar
mower comes from the prayers OF my
neonle here in this church home, pray
ing for me. That power comes from
the fact that when you started Tor
church you and your households were
in a praying atmosphere. IL Is haru'
awfully hard, to make the necessary
spiritual preparations for a SUNDAY
service when we are out in the country
in a worldly summer hotel. l con-
gratulate you that you have been aDle
to start this holy Sabbath IN the rlghI
way upon your knees before your fam-
lily affairs.
A vacation From Church.
Then | also congratulate the home
comers because you have come PACK
TO your opportunities of religious WORK
as we'll as to your temporal work ana
TO your church worship. A vacation
from the store invariably means a va
cation from church labors and church
work. Thomas Guthrie, the great
Scotch preacher, once wrote DOCK
entitled "Out of Harness" In 1t he de-
scribed himself as away from his put
nit amid the Alpine hills seeking healln
and relaxation from toll. In one chap
for he described himself worshipin9
with q couple Of prominent English dl-
vines in a little Swiss village churcn.
As the service went on, led by the VII
lage pastor, he looked across the aisle
at the noble brow Of great London
nreacher sitting there. Then he COM
nared this silent preacher to mighty
engine with its fires drawn. The
screws. the boiler, the mighty driving
wheel. the smokestack were all there'
Rut there was no water In the boiler
and no coal in the furnace and no
steam was being generated. The great
throbbing life Of the engine was stlii'
ed. So with you during your past va
cation. You may have attended the
church services, but you went TO
church simply as worshipers and not
as workers. And, my friends, true
Christianity is not developed Simply
by bending the knee in prayer, but IN
laboring in Gods vineyard.
The vineyards of Christ's great city
are now ripe for the plucking. Your
Sunday school class is ready to well
come YOU back. The boys and the girls
ought all to be brought into the Chris
tian life this winter. The missionary
society needs building up as never be-
fore. You must go to work there ulls
winter. You only gave half hearted
service last year. You must do better
this year. The young peoples meetings
need reinforcement as never Defore'
2 All these opportunities of gospel work
[ are opening to you. oh, welcome you
} hack not simply to worship, but to
l consecrated labor in Gods vineyards
j and in Gods great harvest fields.
D Thus, wherever l look, | find the re-
2 sults Of our vacations are blessed
n Home, store, church, all surround us
+ with their mercies. Now, my friends,
u with these mighty opportunities oil
a Christian usefulness and Christian
f growth surrounding us, we are stand
|, ing upon the threshold Of new churc1
: wear. What are we going to do witt
o II? Shall the church year of 1903 anc
e 1906 be mighty year for spiritual re
Il sults in our lives? The year Is now
o here; the year will soon be gone, lie
l. us consecrate ourselves and our churcl
II and our Sunday schools and our prayer
d meetings and our missionary societies
d m his dear service as never before
al Let us bow our heads as we say
"I,ord. take this pulpit and take thes
news and take lis all into thy keeping
le and for the work Of thy grace ma,
IS this church year be the best year o
20 our lives. When the vacations OF mex
le year come around, may we go fort
,e into the mountains or down by III
- seashore. feeling that we have nc
o worked in vain. And II during tn
ID year some Of us will leave, not for th
~ vacations Of earth, but for the triumph
- Of heaven may those Of us VINO
~ carry the news heavenward that III
dear old church to which we belong
doing q work which will gladden. I'll
- hearts Of angels and make the cele
a. tial welkin ring with never ending Jo'
~ And all these results we ask IN u
Ye mower Of the Holy Spirit, who alor
an can make our gospel conservation an
u triumphs possible. For Jesus sat
nc we again make the earnest reques
Amen and amen"
- copyright 1905. by Louis Klopsch;l