Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-09-20

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thlnge tight. knew literary man who,
In other years In Washington, made his
fortune by writing speeches for congress.
men, or fixing them up for the Congress
ional Record after they were delivered.
Is beyond measurement.
Now, suppose q man finds himself In
mid-life without an education, what Is he
TO do? Do the best he can. The most
effective layman in former pastoral
charge that ever heard speak on re-
ligious themes could, within fve minutes
Of exhortation,
BREAK ALL THE LAWS
of English grammar, and II he left any
law unfractured he would complete the
work Of lingual devastation in the prayer
with which he followed IL. But would
rather have him pray for me, II | were
sick or In trouble, than any Christian
man know OF, and In that church all the
people preferred him In exhortation and
prayer TO all Others. Why2 Because he
was 80 thoroughly pious and had such
power with God he was Irresistible, and
as he went on in his prayer sinners re-
pented and saints shouted for Joy, and
the beresved seemed to get back their
dead in celestial compromising. And
when be had stopped praying, and as
soon as / could wipe out OF my eyes
enough tears to see the closing hymn,
ended the meeting, fearful that some
long-wlnded prayer-meetlng bore would
pull us down from the seventh heaven.
Not a word have / to say against ac-
curacy Of speech, or fine elocution, or
high mental culture. Get all these you
can. But do say to those who were
brought up in the day of poor school
houses and Ignorant schoolmasters, and
no opportunity, you may have so much OF
good in your soul, and so much of
heaven ia your everyday life that you will
be mightier for good than any who went
through the curriculum OF Harvard or
Yale, or Oxford, yet never graduated in
the school OF Christ. When you get to
the gate Of heaven no one will ask you
whether you can parse the first chapter of
Genesis, but whether you have learned
the fear Of the Lord which is the begin
ming Of wisdom; nor whether you know
how TO square circle, but whether you
have lived a square life in round world
Mount Zion is higher than Mount Par
nassus.
4. But what other multitudes there are
under other disadvantages Here is
Christian women whose husband thinks
RELIGION A SHAM,
and while the wife prays the children one
way the husband swears them another.
Or here is Christian man who Is trying
TO do his best for God and the church,
and his wife holds him back, and says on
from prayer-meeting, where he
gave testimony for Christ: "What d fool
you made of yourself l hope hereafter
you will keep still.n And when he would
be benevolent and give $50, shecriticizes
him for not giving 90 cents. must do
justice, and publicly thank God that never
proposed at home to give anything for any
cause Of humanity or religion but the
other partner in the domestic firm APP
proved It.. And when it seemed beyond
my ability, and faith in God was neces-
sary, she had three-fourths the
faith. But know men who, when
they contribute to chrritable objects are
afraid that the wife will find it out.
What a whitening curse such woman
must be TO good man!
Then there are others under the great
OF poverty. Who ought to
get things cheapest! You say those who
have little means. But they pay more
You buy coal by the ton, they buy 1t by
the bucket. You buy -four by the barrel,
they buy 1t by the pound. You get ap-
parel cheap because you pay cash. They
pay dear because they have to get
trusted. And the bible was right when it
said; "The destruction of the poor is
their poverty"
Then there are those who made a mis-
take In early life, and that overshadows
all their days "Do you not know that
that man WAS once in prlsonpn is whis-
pered. Or, "Do you know that that man
once attempted suicide?" Or, "Do YOU
know that that man once absconded?u
Or, "Do you know that that man was
once discharged for dishonesty" Per-
haps there was
ONLY ONE wRoNGHDEED
In the mans life, and that one act hauuts
the subsequent half century OF his exist
ence.
Others have unfortunate predominance
OF some mental faculty, and their rash
ness throws them into Wild enterprises.
or their trepidation makes them decline
great opportunity, or there Is vein Of
melancholy In their disposition that de-
ieats them, or they have an endowment of
over-mirth that causes the impression OF
insincerity.
Others have mighty obstacle in their
personal appearance, for which they are
not responsible. They forget that God
fashioned their features, and their com.
plextion, and their stature, the size of
their nose, aud mouth, and hands, and
feet, and gave them the gait and the gen.
eral appearance; and they forget that
much of the worlds best work, and the
church's best work, has been done by
homely peoples and that Paul the
Apostle is said TO have been
hump-backed, aud his eyesight weakened
by opthalmia, while many Of the finest In
appearance have passed their time before
iiattering looklug.glssses, or in studying
killing attitudes, and in displaying the rich
ness of wardrobes-not one ribbon, or
vest, or sack, or glove, or button, or
shoestring Of which they have had brains
enough TO earn for themselves.
Others had wrong proclivities from the
start. They were born wrong, and that
sticks 10 one even after he is born again,
They have natural crankiness that is 275
years old. lt came over with their great
grandfathers from Scotland, or Wales, or
France. 1t was born on the banks OF the
Thames, or the Clyde, or the Tiber, or the
Rhinei and has survived all the plaques
and pDiOnmirg M manu- oanarats1,..