St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1861-04-18

with which he covered his weakness. The
Savior charges on tho Pharisces Us one of
their cri lines, that "thoy dis6gurc their
faces" & ! m, u
Our readers will pardon this attempt to
make serious argument against the as
sumption that christianity consists in talk.
ing and making ugly faces It is probable
that no one of them has ever before seen
or heard this old theology put into words
but they are all familiar with it in Practice;
"Homo" has the honesty to acknowledge
what others deny, and confess what pro-
fessors generally conceal even from them
selves. viz, that their religion is mere lip
service. "Homo" only reveals a sad truth
when he shows that the religious world
has so learned to recognize professions as
the all Of religion that he looks upon the
reverse Of this as "new theology" E.
It was Rev. Phillips, in his sermon,
who introduced Meroz into this controver.
sy. We repeat that Meros was cursed, not
for lack Of professions, but for failing to
furnish men and munitions of war to helm
Deborah fight the battles of their country.
This is the Bible account Of it; and
"Homo's' sneer about Sharp's rifles does
not trouble US in the least, while We con-.
tinue to insist that nothing in the Sacred
Record intimates that the Lord wants any
help to make ugly faces and loud profess
ions. We agree, with "Homo," that such
is the self appointed work of the church;
but it is not Gods work. The words at
which "Homo" cavils are not our words.
1t is the Savior who says it is not those
who say Lord, Lord, but those who do
the will Of "my father" who shall be &C
cepted. It is Paul who commands to have
faith to yourself before God. The whole
spirit Of tho Bible favors reticence about
the inner life of mans own soul. Mary
kept all these things in her heart. A man
who goes around making confdants and
pow-wowing about his love matters is al
ways an ass and incapable Of any true at
tachment. Love is matter between too
and no more Every nobler instinct of hu.
mainly prompts to the exclusion Of all third
parties from its joys. So the love of God
is solely between Him and the soul which
cherishes it. The love which is paraded to
lie seen Of men is self.glori6ca ion, or a
selfish lamentation, in which, regard for
the protested object has nothing to do.
The laws Of nature fix it firmly as fate,
that of our mental conflicts or joys there
can be no witness which can bring them
to the test Of human evidence. When
man says II was converted he asserts that
of which, from the nature of the case, he
can bring no proof, and matter about
which so many have been mistaken that
his assertion rather invalidates than con-
fers any evidence which his future life
may afferd.
AS for our account Of the little girl, we
were not preaching when we wrote it.
We do not profess to have ministerial COM
mission to preach Christ and him cruci6ed.
The fact is one which eau be brought
under the rule of human testimony. It is
a statement of external actions Of which
others were cognizant. That matter could
be proved if true, or disproved if false.
Then, it was religion we saved her from
and we were we'll aware that in so doing
We incurred severe censure. It was an act
which brought far more blame than praise,
one Of those which won us the reputation
of prosecutor of tho saints. We never
said anything about taking the "starch out
Of Mafit." 1t was securing the whitewash
off him: and we are still of the opinion
that if that gentleman had made US visit
of two weeks, he would, before it was half
ended, have dropped his lion skin, stretch
ed out his ears, and INDUCED in the luxu-
ry Of good bray. Whether this would have
been from his donkeyship recognizing
kindred spirit, or an act Of forgetf4llness
in moment of extreme provocation we do
not know; but we do know that man
with whom we come into serious conflict