The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1886-12-15

half o minute TO weigh preferences rs 70
whether he or she had better 60 with tho
unconverted companion 70 this or that
church or denomination has no religion at
all, and never has had. and fear nevor
will have You are loaded up with whnt
YOU suppose TO be religion, but you are
like Captain Frobisher, who brought back
from his voyage OF discovery ship-load Of
what he supposed valuable minerals, yet,
instead Of being silver and gold, were moth
ing but common stones OF the field, TO be
hurled out finally as useless. Mighty God
In all Thy realm Is there one man or
woman protesting religion, yet 10 stol:d,
so untitled, 30 far gone unto death, that
there would be any hesitancy in surrender.
ing all preferences before such an oppor-
tunity Of salvation and heavenly reuniOni
II you, a Christian wife, are an at
tendant upon this Brooklyn Tabor
nacle, and your unconverted husband
does not come here, because he does not
like its preacher, or its music, or its arch
itecture, or its uncomfortable crowding,
and goes not to any house OF worship, but
would go if you would accompany him
somewhere else, change your church rela-
tons. Take you hymn-bOOk home with
you to-day. Say goodbye to your friends
in the neighb ,ring pews, and 60 with him
to any one Of q hundred churches, till his
soul is saved and he joins you in the march
TO Heaven. More important han that
ring on the third finger of your left hand il
is, that your Heavenly Father command
the angel Of mercy concerning your hus-
band at his conversion, as in tho parable Of
old: "Put ring on hi hand"
No letter of more importance ever came
TO the great city OF Cornth, situated on
what was called the "Briige Of the Sea-"
and glistcning with sculpture, and gated
with style of brass the magnificence Of
which the following ages have not been
able successfully to initiate, and Overshad-
owed by the Aero Corinthus, fortress Of
rock two thousand feet h gh-I say, no let.
ter ever came to that great city of more i'm.
portance than that letter in which Paul
puts the two startling questions: What
knowest thou, oh wife, whether thou shalt
save thy husbands Or how knowest thou,
oh man, whether thou shalt save thy wifew
The dearest sacrifice on tho part of the one
is cheap If il rescue the ether Better go to
the smallest, weakest most insign ficant
church on earth, and be co-partners in eter-
nal bliss, than pass your earthly member
ship in most gorgeousty attractive church
while your companion stays outside OF
evangelical privilege. Better have the
drowning saved by scow or sloop than let
him or her 20 down while you sail by in the
gilded cabins of Britannia or a Great
Eastern.
Second: II both OF the married couple be
Christians, but one Is 80 naturally con.
structed that it Is impossible to Joy the
services Of particular denomination, and
the other is not so sectarian or punctiliou,,
let the one less particular 90 with the other
who Is very particular. As for myself,
feel as much at home In one den nomination
of evangelical Christians as another, and
think must have been born very near the
line. like the solemn roll Of the Episc0-
pal liturgy, and ! like the spontaneity Of
the Methodists, and I like the Importance
given to the ordinance Of baptism by the
Baptists, and like the freedom OF tho Con-
gregationalists, and like the government
and the sublime doctrine of the Presbyte-
rians, and like many Of the others just ~
good as any have mentioned, and l could
happily live, and die and preach, and DO
buried from any Of them.
Dub ObuGTS ulC uoEu WIN ~ SoOut Uuu 0h-
bending and memorable liking for some
denomination that it is a positive necessity
they have the advantage OF that one What
they were intended to be In ecclesiasticism
was written in the sides Of their cradle, il the
father and m 'ther hal eyes keen enough to
see II. They would not stop crying until
they had put into their hands as playthings
8 Westminster Catechism or the Thirty
nine Articles. The whole current of their
temperament and thought and character
runs into one sect Of religionist' as nat
urally as the James river into the Chesa-
! peake II would be a torture to such per.
| sons TO be any thing outside Of that one
church Now, let the wife or husband who is
not so constructed sacrifice the milder pref
crence for the one more infiexible md rigor-
| GUS. Let the grape vine follow the rugosities
| and sinuosites Of the oak or hickory. Abram.
| the richer in flocks of Christian grace,
should say to Lot, who is built on q smaller
scale. "Let there be no strife, 1 pray
thee, between me and thee, and between
my herlmen and thy herdmen. Is not the
whole land before thee" As you can be
edited and happy any where, go with your
companion to the church TO which he OF
she must go or be miserable,
| Third If both tho married couple are very
strong IN their sectarianisms, let them at
tend the different churches preferred. 1t
is not necessary that you attend tbs same
church. Religion is between your con-
science and your God. Like Abram and
Lot, agree to differ. When on Sabbath
morning you come out Of tbs door of your
home together, and one goes one way and
the other the other, heartily wish each
other good serm IN and time Of profita.
bic devotion, and when you meet again at
the MONDAY repast lot it be evident each to
each, and to your children and to the hired
help, that you have both been on the Noun,
Of TRANSPORTATION, although you went by
different p lths, and that you have both
been fed by the Bread Of Life, though
kneaded by different hands, in different
trays, and baked in different ovens.
But how about the children2" an
often asked BY hundreds of parents. LIE
them also make their choice. They vii
grow up with reverence for both of the de
nominations represented by father ant
mother, if you, by holy lives, common,
those denominations II the father live
the better life, they will have the more 70
orable opinion of his denomination. II tn
mother lives the better life, they will hav
the more favorable opinion Of her demon
nation. And some day both the parent
will, for at least one service, 60 to tn
same church. The neighbors will say: -"
wonder what is going on to-day, for 80,
our neghbor and his wife, who always 6
to different churches, going srm-in-arm I
the same sanctuary"
Well, will tell you what has brough
them together, armin-arm, to the sam
: altar. Something very important has hal
| named Their son il TODAY uniting Wit