The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1905-12-29
THE PULPIT.
AN ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON 81
eSHCP c. c. McSA5E.
Subject; Gods Little Ones.

vi. r. tnurch sunday morning. The
.~Sev. Charles T.. Locke, the pastor. con
Quoted the service. Bishop McCabe
chose for his subject Gods Little
Ones" and preached from the text
Isaiah lX:222: And little one shall
become a thousand and a small one a
strong nation. |. the Lord, hath said
il. In his time" He said:
There ARE two thoughts that claim
our attention as we study this text.
one is the kind Of workers God chooses
Ia do His greatest work in this world
the little ones; and. second. the possible
rapidity with which Gods work may
go forward in this world. God
chooses the lowly 20 do His great work
The history Of the world never yet
has been fairly written. We know
what the great have done we know
what kings and emperors and generals
and philosophers and poets and inyen-
tors have done, but the Macauley has
not yet arisen To trace out In history
what Gods little ones have done. yet
the history of the world cannot be fair
ly written without telling the story
OF their lives. because they have done
SO much for the world, and what 9TH
ers have done would have been in
vain had Ii not been for what Gods
little ones have accomplished. He
chose the lowly. God hath respect
unto the lowly. but the proud He
knoweth afar of" He loves the lowly
heart that trusts in Him. What an
impediment To Christian work is pride.
We cannot build up strong Chris
tian character without humility. HUI
mility comes from the Latin word "hu-
mus" which means she ground" -
the ground on which 10 build II strong
Christian character. Its corner stone
and foundation stone must be humility.
and Ii the chai ..cter lack that grace.
ii will not stand the test of time and
temptations; but. with humility, the
Christian character may be built up
with a symmetry and universalness
that will endure through life and eter-
nifty. What do you think of this pas
sage? II, the high and lofty one that
inhabiteth eternity, / will dwell in the
high and holy places with him also
that is of a contrite and humble spir-
it," God chooses as His associates the
humble and the contrite.
Our Lord carried OH His work after
the same plan. He chose the humble
and lowly workers and sent them out
TO preach His gospel. And one day
they came back to Him surprised and
delighted with their experience, and
they said Master. even the devils
are subject to us in Thy name," and
it is written that at that time Jesus
rejoiced in spirit and said: Father. l
thank Thee because Thou hast hidden
these things from the wise and pru.
dent and hast revealed them unto
babes. Even SO, Father for so ii
seemeth good in Thy sight" Iaul un-
derstood this well when he wrote TO
the Corinthians: Not may wise men
after the flesh. not many mighty, not
many noble are called; but God hath
chosen the foolish things OF the world
TO confOund the wise and God hath
chosen the weak things of the world
10 cOnfound the things which are
mighty. and the base things OF the
world and things which are despised
hath God chosen; yea, and things
which are not TO bring TO naught
things that are, that no flesh should
glory in His presence" How low He
gets it down! That has always been
Gods plan, even before the time when
the babe came TO the manger in Beth
lehem. Jesus born in Bethlehem in
.Iudea-that little lOwly one was Gods
answer to the worlds cry for help
and light. 1t was little added weak
ness 10 that we had already, poverty
added to the poverty we had already:
Ii was an infants wall added TO what
Paul calls the "groan of creation"
That was Gods way Of answering
man.
will just call your attention to the
possible rapidly with which the king
dom Of God can grow In this world, "a
little one becoming a thousand" That
Is tremendous rate OF gain; il seems
as If 1t could not be so. We say
Isaiah was poet: mystical man and
exaggerated sometimes. but this is no
eXageration. 1t has often been the
case. Yea, n small one has become u
nation in the history OF the onward
march Of the kingdom OF Jesus Christ,
our Lord. I believe that God wants
His kingdom 10 grow rapidly. and
think that was the spirit OF Jesus
when He told His disciples the para
bic Of the talents. On another occa-
sion He gave them another parable Of
the rich man who before going away
gave each Of his servant n pound and
on his return required his own with
usury. one man said: Lord. Thy
pound hath gained ten pounds" That
was a big percentage of interest. And
another said: Lord Thy pound hath
gained five pounds That was a good
percentage. ard Jesus said: '-rhe
kingdom Of heaven is like that" That
is the way invested lives may grow
that is the way life. no matter how
humble. maE grow; that IS cOnsecra-
ton. That is the teaching Of these two
parallels.
Now these are commercial figures.
Let rs take them into the light anl
try 90 understand them. I'm the para
bic the master speaks OF three rates
OF gain. When tho man who had five
talents brought FIVE more be was
worth 100 per cent 10 his master. and
he VINO had two and brought two
more was also worth 100 per cent. 10
his master. but when the man who had
only one pound brought five pounds
more he was worth 800 per cent. 10
his mn -tnr and tho man yrIuga pna