Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1879-11-13
@eadiug fpr the $abbath,
CONDUCTED BY
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
[Orlgina1.l
BURDEN BEARERS.

BURUEN bEAhEhSs
In both Church and State, there is class
of individuals who, with propriety, may be
denominated burden bearers. Whoever is
curious enough to examine into the matter,
will find that few individuals have placed
upon their shoulders nearly all the burdens
of society. The taxes that support the gov
ernment are paid by only few persons, when
the whole number of the population of the
country is estimated. In every country,
very considerable number of individuals rem
der no direct pecuniary aid to the govern
ment, and still greater number contribute
very little The burden of sustaining all So
cial institutions falls upon the shoulders Of
few.
What is true in the State, is true in the
Church, and more manifest. The civil gov:
ernment has the power to force all to contrib
ute to its support; the Church does not possess
this power. The civil government can extort
involuntary contributions but the Church
claims no such power, and expects to be sup
ported only by voluntary gifts.
Since the highest order of civilization, and,
consequently, the best form of civil govern.
ment cannot exist where there is no Church,
the burden of sustaining both Church and
State falls upon few. Our Saviour calls his
people "the salt of the earth" Without
Christianity, no form of civil government is
stable. In fact, without Christianity, the best
form of civil government cannot be estab-
lisbed over any people in any country. Take
Christianity away from England, and the
pillar upon which rests all her administrations
is removed, and nothing remains but q mass
of ruins. The history of England proves
this. No one conversant with the history Of
that land for the last nine hundred years, will
call the statement in question. Previous to
the introduction of Christianity into England,
it was the home of savages. To-day, it is
what Christianity has made it. What is true
of England, is true of every other Christian
land. Their civil governments are not to be
compared with the government of Pagan ma:
tions. The burden of supporting these civil
governments falls upon the shoulders of few
devout and energetic Christians. The moral
character of these few give moral character
to the whole nation.
It is customary to speak of America as a
Christian nation yet far less than one-half of
the American people are professed Christians,
and a very considerable number of those who
profess Christianity, add nothing to the moral
weight of Christianity, and contribute very
little, if any. to its support. Such being the
case, few individuals give character to the
whole nation, and exercise, over the mass, a
controlling influence. There is scarcely a
city, town or village in the land, but contains
as many drinking saloons as it does churches,
and for the support of these dens Of iniquity,
the people contribute fully twice as much as
is contributed for the support of all Christian
enterprises, and for the education of the chill
dren of the country. The supporters of these
drinking saloons contribute little to the sup
port of the gospel, or for the education of the
children of the country; hence, the burden
Of educating the youth Of the land and sup
porting Christian institutions, falls upon few
faithful souls who are laboring for the welfare
Of the masses.
A snarling philosopher, before the Chris.
tian era, declared that the multitude, in his
day, were always wrong. Such seems to be
the case yet; but it seems strange that the
multitude should desire to be called by name
which they labor to blot out. Why should a
man, who makes his living by highway rob-
berry, be called an honest man, or an honest
man be called highway robber? Why
should man who labors, in every way that
he can, to prevent the spread of Christianity,
be called Christian7 1t amounts to moth
ing to say that he resides in land of church
es and academies. A man may reside next
door to a gambling saloon. Such a place
would be very undesirable locality but the
man who lives in nearest proximity to the
place, may abhor, in his soul, the deeds of
darkness which are there perpetrated. Not
only have few to bear the burden of sup
porting civil and religious institutions, but
they have to stem the torrent of opposition.
The multitude tear down and the few build
up. For the good of the whole, the few make
all the voluntary sacrifices
Notwithstanding the fact that the few Chris
tiaus bear all the burdens and make all the
sacrifices, the multitude seldom give them any
credit for their acts Good order, peace and
Christian morality are of little worth in the
eyes of the multitude; consequently, those
who promote these things are estimated as if
they had done nothing. The city guards are
treated with as little respect as the midnight
plunderers.
WALKING WITH GoD.-The difficulty which
most people have in religion, is to bring
the thoug ght of God into their daily lives.
His very greatness makes it hard to connect
him with homely, every day matters. We
get some sense Of him in church, or in the
prayer-meeting, or in rare hours of exalted
feeling. But when we get into the busy world,
where most of our life is spent, God fades
away into heaven that is farther off than the
blue sky above our heads. This is great
loss to US. 1t is neglect on our part of the
highest opportunity. God walks with us, in
closest nearness, at every moment. There is
in him, if we could learn to take it, provis-
ion of helpfulness, ofsympathy, ofsuficiency,
for every step in the whole round of our daily
life. The very things that seem insignificant
and without spiritual meaning, are set round