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

All the better. Let the concealed dapper of ,
cold sncer, or back-handed insinuation thai
ugly faces 10 covering for rotten hypocrisy
let the weapon smitc us under the fifth rib
before We arc aware that such weapon il pos
sible. 1t will do rs no harm. BY the foolish
ness Of preaching, those who believe shall BE-
revived. God will erelong revive tho stone,
out of the heaps Of tho rubbish which are
burned He will revive US who say true
things and hate lying vanities. and 90 his PEG
pie shall rejoice in him. ''For thus saith the
high and lofty one who inhabiteth eternity,
whose name is Holy: Idwell in the high and
the holy place, with him also that is of con.
trite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit OF
the humble, and to revive the spirit Of the
contrite ones"
1t is sincerely to be hoped that the forthcom-
ing sermon on the prodigal son will contain
no violation Of the canon of that church which
forbids Its preachers to say anything about
"Jshn Smith and him converted;" the which
canon we may we'll suppose would frown
sternly on any ninth particular Of q sermon
which should tell how ,ce saved little girl
from destruction and threatened to take the
starch out Of Maffet. 1t should be borne in
mind that in . court of justice, to say nothing
Of that tribunal to which all friendly discus
sions should be referrek, the honest opinion
Of John Smith, weighs as heavily and should
count as largely in the judgment rendered, as
what we should feel obliged, ON oath to the
best Of our knowledge and belief to say.
Hono.
We have no controversy with "Homo"
about the importance Of ''words fifty spo-
KEN" but still maintain that the words so
rife in revivals are not titly spoken. It
there were no such thing as good bank
note, there could be no counterfeit; and if
there were no such things as honest pro-
fessions: or true christian humility, there
could be no shams. Just at present, Wis.
consin money is looked upon with suspi-
cion, because 50 much of it is bad that it
all becomes suspicious. So, professions Of
religion and word of mouth humility have
become such drugs in the market that we
prefer the specie of well-spent life. We
maintain that, in most cases, it is counter
felt humility which says, in words, 81 am
not ashamed of Jesus" That in most ca
ses it is a boast-a braggard assumption
Of virtue, to which the heart and life of
the boaster arc total strangers, and "Homo"
begs the question when he turns it over to
living in Christ. But after acknowledging
the difference between profession and the
humility Of well.spent life, he goes back
to the old ground, and asks elbow is that
humility to show itself if not in words ?
Exactly so! This lip service-this talking
christianity has taken such complete hold
Of the minds of Our religious teachers that
they can think of no way Of showing their
love to God except by talking about it.
Suppose Homo tries the superanuated con-
trivance of doing justly, loving mercy and
Walking humbly with God. The old proph-
ct Micah appeared to think this is all the
Lord requires of man. Jesus Of Nazareth
favors this view in the account he gives of
the future judgment. Will "Homo" just
read it in Mathew rs from the 30? Then
reflect on the singularity of the savior say
ing nothing aboutthe words which "Homo"
represents as the only way Of manifesting
the new life. According to that account
we shall be justified or condemned by our
actions. True the same author says in an
other place that we shall be condemned or
justified by our words, but this Immediate
ly follows condemnation of idle and wick
ed words; and to accept Homo's interpre-
tation OF this passage, and assume that
talking or writing is all Of christianity, or
the best of 1t, is a contradiction of the
whole spirit Of the Bible!
Words are means, not an end. He
who arranges, writes and publishes words
which incite himself and others to nobler
and truer actions is always true worker; ;
but the words are only valuable as they
bear fruit in deeds. Does Homo forget
Millions address to the arch-angel?
"A man of words, and not Of deeds,
Il like garden full of weeds.''
Which, however, we do not believe; for
a garden full of weeds will feed thou
sand birds all winter, while the wordy
man couldn't keep canary from starva-
ton.
We find it almost impossible to treat this
matter seriously. We have long felt that
'religion" had been brought down to set