Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-04-25
Common.sense About Religion.

People THINK that JhaU ts inc chHAS1IHL'
who lies back in his chair and has
glorious visions and experiences. OH
such good time, such joyful time, as
I have had |" a man says. = Well, let me
see him day or two afterward, and L
can tell better whether it is genuine
Christian experience or not.
Here is a man that has had aquarrel.
He never has lost chance to say an
ugly thing, or to have an ugly thing
said against him and his wife aud chill
dren have taken it up; and here is a
set Of families that have warm times.
They are as spiteful as cats and dogs,
and throw sparks ike blacksmith s
forge all the time And yet this man is
roaring good Christian. He goes to
meeting. There is a revival and his
religious feelings are all aglow. And
alt is right. He does feel just as he
saws he does. There is no hypocrisy in
his profession. He takes his hymn book,
and the minister happens to be fortunate,
and the hymn comes right home, and
circumstances concur, and the electric
influences are favorable, and the meet
iuc is a ioyous one, and he won't go
home until twelve o'clock. He has sung
twenty hymns; and he does feel as
though he could keep himself on the
ground. " A little more, Lord" he says,
. aud shall fly away"
Now. [ want to see if tomorrow he
will 20 to that neighbor, and say, look
here nv dear fellow, we are wrong-at
anv rate am, whether you are or not.
I have been ugly. Forgive me. | had
such good time last night, that | must
clean my heart. My pride must come
down. and I must be reconciled to you.
He did have a good time, and that is
the sign that the feeling which he ex-
pressed was genuine. That he roared
his hymns joyfully was no sign of it;
that he had an ecstacy of prayer was no
sign of it but, having that elevation
he changed it to a moral purpose that
out of that feeling he wrought garments
of duty; that out of that experience he
came back to his feIlow-men more sym
pathetic. more gentle, more humble,
more ChristIike-ah that was sign
that the feeling was a genuine one.
Otherwise it would have been simply a
sign of self-indulgence.
A man that takes his excess of moral ,
social, and religious excitement, to raise
the tone of his moral and emotive feel
ings. is lust as dissipated as if he raised
the tone of his physical feelings by
physical stimulants. | am not lnstltut-
Ing a comparison as to which is the bet
ter and which is the worse. merely
saw that one is intemperance just as
much as the other, though one is grOsser
than the other, and is more disastrous IN
undcing the very structure OF the BODY
itself. And men ought to be made to
understand that there Is such a thing
as moral intoxication, and that man
takes religious feeling, and that he
ean-what shall I say ?-imbibe and
imbibe, and for no other reason than be-
cause it feels so good. It is self-in-
diligence. II is a luxury higher
luxury, to be sure. And he imbibes,
and imbibes, and is more joyful. He Is
not better mau, but he is a much
happier man. And he imbibes, and Inn
bibes, until by and by he swigs, and
swigs, and swigs and the man Is be-
sotted. l have seen men that were
literally debauched at the top OF their
brain, and Sho had gone into a systematic
self-indulssn They never were
happy except under circumstances where
they had had this peculiar form OF en-
Toying themselves.
If found that the whole form of this
enjoyment was a mighty spring that was
pressing them toward self-denlaI for the
sake of their fellOW-men; If L found
that it was securing their morals white
as snow if found that it was multiply
ing the avenues of their usefulness If
1 found that they we're gentle and meek
in following Christ, then | should say
that there was no debauch there, that
there was no moral intemperance there.
Feeling which, beginning as feeling, has
Transmitted itself into life and conduct
and become wholesome-that is genuine
piety that is true Christian character !;
but the mere feeling without the trans
mutation is nothing of the kind, and it
is not desirable. If it is not going to
be transmitted into anything but emo
ton, it is not only an undesirable thing !;
it is a dangerous thing.
Let US take instances that are familiar
to US in common life. A man sits in
his door, and sees bully abusing a
child that is weak, gentle, mild, and
meek; and the man is terrifcally indig-
nant he fairly swears with rage to see
such an abominable bully abuse such a
nice boy. A very staid anA quiet ap-
prentice in shop near by witnesses the
occurrence. He does not feel half so
much indignation, but he drops his tools
and claps on his paper cap and rushes
out into the street, and knocks that
bully, and sends him sprawling to the
ground and when three or four of the
bully's companions come out to help
him, the apprentice squares up to them,
and appalls the whole of them, and he
rescues that boy. should like to know
which of these two men felt indignation
I
best and most salutary One felt it in
his heart, and the other felt ii in his fist
In one it took on the form of helpless
protest-the form of lazy indignation in
a lazy man. And so he sat and reeked
with Indignation. The other man trans
muted his indignation into FIRE which
carried him out and made him the cham
pion and protector of the weak and the
punisher Of the oppressor. 1 say that
the last feeling was the hearty feeling
the feeling that took on the form of ac-
ton instantly.-Beecher,
A Veteran DueIist.
Granier de Casagnac has fought eighty
l,,o1s Sinoa 1914 u, 60 Do.l