The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1873-10-16
Ghe 9emofrat.
RLAKE My
Religion.

made to stretch q long way Deyono ~
natural limit. 1t has the broadcast kind o
shoulders and overs q multitude of sine
By Heavens precept it is simply flowing
God with all your heart, and your neigh
Dor as yourself" By mans preeept it is
with slight variations, the same. But b,
his practice tits quite another matter. l
is full Of complication, 1t Is lnextrlcabE!
mixed. It is a "vilhanous compound" Q
imposing ediices. cushioned pews, zeal
ousies, chickering's, elongated faces, ana
"forms of goodness" church debts, hyPoc
risy and q thousand other alloys entirell
foreign to the thing itself. The create
the satire on false, the greater the serVic
to true religion. But as these base alloy
are so thoroughly amalgamated witht
divine and true metal it isardelloate mat
ter to cast . shadow on the one withou
seeming to reflect on the other. Howev
er, / shall trust these Introductory remark
to set me right with intelligent readens-
Others ] am not so Particnlar about. d Sc
LGh.
The organ will now begin oPlay. AND
the pen will, at the anne time, begin Il
play. No man can haye religion unless
he Is religious. The process of getting
religion" depends muchly on the candi,
date to be initiated and the ''denomina.
ton" Of the initiating party. When the
candidate has been very depraved, his
conversion" is generally tempestuous and
full Of power. The reaction Is fearful and
o~verpowering. His cries for mercy and
: 5.afa a-aLan tha d~a5 He ere
ates 3 storm Of commotion, and . first
class sensation HIS voice & gestures are
decidedly demonstraIive. At"experience
meetings" he is constantly arising to test
ify". Sinners Of this kind, the moment
they get out of the criminal box" a W a
weakness for the witness stand" But
their testimony has such a sameness about
it that you can always tell exactly what's
coming. They are often ''trotted out" at
revivals to create = sensation. And they
are always, ready-and rough. I think,
for the most part, they are sincere on the
send of, but on the "home stretch" there
seems to be an un~accountable "falling from
grace" As a fierce fire soon consumes it
self, so a fierce conversion soon subsldes.-
These old sinners are often converted In
the twinkling of an eye, but the great
trouble Is they wont stay converted. They
want to be born again" about every two
or three months, or oftener. But the good
brothers are always ready and anxious to
labor" for, and with them.
There is another class of relIgionists
worthy of mention. 1 refer TO the veteran
He has told the story of his convictions"
and conversions at leass once q week for
thirty or fifty years. And to his mind it
has lost none Of that freshness and "bloom
of youth" what the Lord has lone for
his soul" is an eft told tale. But 1 never
yet heard him say a word about what he,
in turn, was doing for the Lord, or for his
fellowmen. Perhaps this comes Of mod
esty. have heard him pray most vehe-
mently for the souls OF men, but outside of
that specially he manlfests a plentiful lack
Of interest. The Savior, whom he follows,
performed q miracle that the hungry
might be fed, and did a thousand other
acts of mercy having no relation to the
souls Of men. Now, therefore, itlseems
logical to infer that He recognized men as
having bodies as we'll as souls, and that
He took some interest IN the here as we'll
as the hereafter. Some Christians hUe
stone blind and deaf to the appeals OF
charity and philanthropy. Their life mot
to IS. get all you can and keep all you
get" But tOhen they come 10 make u
their wills they lavish their money on pub
lie charities. This is what l call death
bed beneVoienee. It stands on q par with
death bed repentance" And l don't be-
lieve the Lord appreciates the ~unselfsh-
ness of the motive. He never saba word
about requests, and wills, and things
Gave aOhiLe you IiUe was the pith OF His pre-
cepts. But it is pleasant to contemplate
an tinstitute" that shall come up when
you 60 down, and p~eTpetuate your name.
And perhaps it Is better than doing good
while you live. Perhaps.
But the seriousness OF the subjects Civ
ing too much tone to my bubbles They
remind me ofthose that sluggishly struggle
to the surface through a pot ofShoiling
mush And If 1 don't stir the cauldron
more lively my religious soup will burn At
the bottom. 7
1 now dip my pen in gall, and look
fierce, and we'll l might, for the first thing
my mental eye rests on Is Il hypocrite.
He is stiff and erect in his bearing He is
'slick" and .sleek." His tones are elon-
gated to harmonize with his face. and his
is elongated to harmonize with his
tones. He has an immense compass OF
voice. And can vary it at viii. Inpray-
or 1t is pitched to q pious key IN exhorta-
ton to a sanctlmonious one; in business to
an humble one, and in his family to a =
- well, to a very discordant onel He
look on sin with the least degree of
And is full of cant himself
He always has the misfortune Of letting
''his right hand know what his left hand
He makes long prayers and uses
"vaiR rep~etitlons.', Is never absent from
church. And occupies ga front seat in the
synagogue" He only drinks medicinal
whiskies-but mot to be seen of men,
The only natural acts of his life are his
birth and death. And he has o -hand in
The only future reward that can
balance his life account would be to make
him play the role Of an immortal hypocrite-
IN the world TO GOMEZ SeLah.
AS a sunday school boy 1 was. puzzled
to know exactly what "ameR co.ner"meant
l thought it somehow concerned mel as
contradistin guished from women. And it
strange to me that they dIdn't have
a tOomen coypleyg But Ihave since learn
ed of wheat corners, gold corners, stock
corners" and an endless yaiietyTof other
corners" mot to mention the worst of
all-loafer corners) ~ And l now think
that any combination Of men to monopol-
ize and control the amen market OF g. con-
eregation is a corner But %Rmen cor
are going out of date. Fashionable
does not tolerate Them They
shock the nerves of the nervous And
startle the nnwary. 1t is doubtful wheth-
er they evince, OF conduce to real piety.
-Son0 men nget religion" as a business
After mentally arguing tine
question, will it pay 2 they take epreier-
ed" stock in q pew. Physicians are very
apt to get a seat from which they can
make an effective exit when called during
services. 1t is an economicaliWay Of adj
vertising their vocation-Rhichr is "heal-
the sick" And thAy are tpretty we'll
themselves. Artificial religion
oltentimes becomes epidemic 1T attacks
communities simultaneously. There
is a great outpouring.Y The careless are
And the pious ''go on to-
perfection" Old Probabilities would pre-
dict these attacks something after this
fashion when protracted meetings ap-
pear, look out for lrsgiVals when revivals
appear, expect heavy religious weather
and ship-wrecks of SIM" am not easily
moved, yet / confess to havlngeonee been
distracted at a protraeted meeting.
But l recovered from the difficulty and
am now, 1 think, Of sound mind. / often
wonder why the Lord only goes by fits
and starts while the Devil w~orksindnstri-
ously all the year round. lReader, DO not
foT0eE ma ingYOdaSctor0s reDtdTks ReVi-