The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1906-08-24

| less servant The meeting was con-
Quoted by a Deacon Brown. Hardly
had the meeting got under way when
there was knocking at the sick
mans door. "Is Deacon Brown in?"
asked husky, growing youth. "Well,
father wanted me to tell him he did
not have time to attend the meeting
today. He had to work. But he has
sent his prayers and they are out in the
cart" The prayers that were sent were
piled in an old farm wagon. These
! prayers consisted of big bags of pota-
| toes and beef and -four. So when st.
John prayed he prayed with his hands
and feet as well as with his lips. He
did not worship God as did the devo-
tees in the temple of Ino, who always
worshped their deity by going to sleep;
but he was ready to toll and labor for
his daily bread, as every other man
ought to be.
st. John Was Practical.
."Well," you ask, chow do you make
st. John out to be such practical
man? How do you know he was care
full about his money matters and care
full to provide clothing and a home?
Does the Bible teach us that? l never
heard of st. John being a capitalist or
careful about his money matters"
Yes, my friends, think the Bible tells
us that st. John was very prudent and
careful about the probabilities of life.
Here is the picture: Christ is dying;
the great drops of agony are wrung
from his brow; groan after groan es-
capes his lips; he has only few hours
more of life. To whom is he going to
intrust the care of his mother? All the
poets and the painters and the theo-
logians love to describe the helpless
ness of Mary the Virgin when Jesus
was about to be born. Tell me, was
she as helpless then, with the big,
brawny Joseph by her side, as she was
on the day of the crucifiXion, when, as
a broken down, helpless widow, she
kneIt at the foot of the cross to see
her divine Son die? Tell me, where
can you find in all history a picture so
pathetic as ethat crucifixion scene Of
Mary in her desolation and helpless
ness? All, yes; the most pathetic scene
in all the Bible to me is that broken
hearted widow watching the dying
agony of her divine SOM Agony Of
Christ finds it's echo in agony of ma
ternal heart; dying gasp of Jesus is
answered by the moaning cry of this
mother, who swoons away. Now,
TA1 I@,,k ,s,1 n1.
man, and Christ did for his mother
just what you and l would do for ours
if we had been In his place. He want
ed to put her in the care of one who
would never neglect her and never let
her want. He did not give her to
Peter; he was not sure Of Peter; Peter
was not steady enough. But he gave
her to the faithful John. He practical
ly said: John, l know you will never
neglect her; l know you will clothe
her and feed her and give her home
to shelter her weary head. Look after
her for my sake"
Let us learn to be like the practical
John. A man cannot be a true Chris
tian and be simply d theoretical Chris
tian; he must be practical Christian.
He must know that it is his duty to
work for his daily bread. He must
make an honest struggle to pay his
butcher, his grocer and his clothier's
bill and to care for those of his own
household, or else he is no Christian at
all. What does James write? He says
your faith must go hand in hand with
your works. Your faith can no more
live without works than your hand can
live after it has been amputated from
the arteries of the arm. Faith, if it
hath not works, is dead" st. John
was a practical worker as we'll as a
Patmos seer
But there are still two more thoughts
to which l would call your attention.
The first is, John was ready to give up
all for Christ; for Christ's sake he was
ready to break the home ties and go
into a foreign land as missionary
and even to yield up his life. Are you
and l willing to do SO much for
Christ? Perhaps we are too old to
become foreign missionaries or minis
tiers of the gospel; then the next best
plea that l make is this: Are you will
ing to give your children up for the
service Of the Master, as John went to
minister to the seven churches Of
Asia?
In the Masters Service.
"Oh," says some one, II have nothing
to do in reference to my children en-
tering the missionary or the ministerial
feldsl That call must come from God.
/ do not believe in parent made minis
tiers or in parent made missionaries"
The parents have more to do with the
chlldren's conservation of themselves
than you mink. The reason we have
not our theological seminaries crowd
ed with students today is because the
parents are not sending their children
there. How are the parents to send
them there? By consecrating their
children's lives to the Masters service
at their very birth and by keeping on
consecrating their children to Gods
service every day of their school years.
Then these children cannot help enter
ing the Masters service any more than
the brothers and the sisters of Henry
Ward Beecher could help entering that
service. Would you like me to tell you
why Lyman Beechers children turned
out as they did? Well, 1 will, by quot
ing from the diary of this illustrious
man, written on the day his first child,
the famous Catherine Beecher, was
born. These are his words:
Saturday, Sept. 6, 1S00.-This mo-
ment, blessed be God, my DEAR dear
wife is delivered of a daughter and
my soul, my very soul, from agony.
Oh, may never forget the goodness of
God. who has heard our prayer. Jesus,