themselves, or that the morning was damp and they were afraid of getting their feet wet, or that they were busy cooking rations.  My friends, this is the morning of the day of God Almighty’s battle!  Do you not see the troops?  Hear you not all the trumpets of heaven and all the drums of hell?  Which side are you on?  If you are on the right side, to what cavalry troop, to what artillery service, to what garrison duty do you belong?  In other words, in what Sabbath-school do you teach? in what prayer-meeting do you exhort? to what penitentiary do you declare eternal liberty? to what almshouse do you announce the riches of heaven?  What broken bone of sorrow have you ever set?  Are you doing nothing?  Is it possible that a man or woman sworn to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ is doing nothing?  Then hide the horrible secret from the angels.  Keep it away from the book of judgment.  If you are doing nothing do not let the world find it out, lest they charge your religion with being a false-face.  Do not let your cowardice and treason be heard among the martyrs about the throne, lest they forget the sanctity of the place and curse your betrayal of that cause for which they agonized and died.

May the eternal God rouse us all to action!  As for myself, I feel I would be ashamed to die now and enter heaven until I have accomplished something more decisive for the Lord that bought me.  I would like to join with you in an oath, with hand high uplifted to heaven, swearing new allegiance to Jesus Christ, and to work more for His kingdom.  Are you ready to join with me in some new work for Christ?  I feel that there is such a thing as claustral piety, that there is such a thing as insular work; but it seems to me that what we want now is concerted action.  The temple of Berith is very broad, and it is very high.  It has been going up by the hands of men and devils, and no human enginery can demolish it; but if the fifty thousand ministers of Christ in this country should each take a branch of the tree of life, and all their congregations should do the same, and we should march on and throw these branches around the great temples of sin, and worldliness and folly, it would need no match, or coal, or torch of ours to touch off the pile; for, as in the days of Elijah, fire would fall from heaven and kindle the bonfire of Christian victory over demolished sin.  It is kindling now!  Huzzah!  The day is ours!

Still further, I learn from this subject the danger of false refuges.  As soon as these Shechemites got into the temple they thought they were safe.  They said:  “Berith will take care of us.  Abimelech may batter down everything else; he can not batter down this temple where we are now hid.”  But very soon they heard the timbers crackling, and they were smothered with smoke, and they miserably died.  And you and I are just as much tempted to false refuges.  The mirror this morning may have persuaded you that you have a comely cheek; your