The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1886-12-02

ceed to remark, f1rSt: Ii one Oh TIE IIltllIleu
couple be Christian ard the other not, tho
one Christian is bound to 60 anywhere to
church where the uIconverted companion IS
willing to 60, if he or she will so to no other.
You, of the connubial partnership, are
Christian. You are safe for the skies. Then
it is your first duty to secure the eternal
safety of your lifetime associate. Is not the
everlasting welfare Of your wife imPenitent,
or your husband inpenitent, OF more I'M
portance than your church relationship Is
not the residence of your companion Tor Vhe
next quadrillion of years mightier consldera-
ton to you than the qualification OF your
ecclesiastical taste for forty or fifty years!
A man or g woman that would stop
half q minute to weigh preferences as
to whether he or she hai better go with the
unconverted companion to this or that
church or denomination has no religion at
all, and never has had, and fear never WILL
have. You are loaded up with what you
suppose to be religion, but you are like Capt
Frobisher, who brought back from his voy-
age of discovery q shipload Of what he sup
posed valuable minerals, yet instead OF being
silver and gold, were nothing but commoa
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 so stolid, so untitled, SO far gone unto
death that there would be any hesitancy in
surrendering all preferences before such an
opportunity of salvation and heavenly re-
union? If you, Christian wife, are an attend
ant upon this Brooklyn Tabernacle, and your
unconverted husband docs not come here, be-
cause he docs not like its preacher, or Its
music, or its architecture, or its uncomfort-
able crowding, and goes not to any house OF
worship, but would go if you would accom-
pany him somewhere else, change your
church relations Take your hymn book
home with you to-day. Say Good-by 10
your friends in the neighboring pews, and so
with him to any one Of n hundred churches,
till his soul is sc-.cd and lie joins you i'll the
march to heaven More important than that
ring on the third finger of your left hand,
it is, that your Heavenly Father command
the angel OF mercy concerning your husband
at his conversion, as i'll the parable OF old:
"Put O ring on his hand"
No letter of more importance ever came to
the great city of Corinth, situated on what
was called the Bridge of the Sea" and
gistening with sculpture, and gated with
style of brass the magniiccncc of which the
following ages have not been able successfully
to initiate, and overshadowcd by the Aero
Corinthus, q fortress OF rock 2, 600 feet high
say no letter ever came to that great city
of more Importance than that letter i'll which
Paul puts the two startling. questions: what
knowest thou, oh wife, whether thou shalt
save thv husband! Or how knowcst thou,
oh nan, whether thou shalt save thy wife:'
The dearest sacrifice OF the part of the one Is
cheap if it rescue the other. Better go to the
smallest, weakest, most insignificant church
on earth, and be co-partners in eternal bliss,
than pass your earthly membership Ill most
gorgeously attractive church while your
companion stays outside of evangelical prlvl-
lege. Better have the drowning saved by
scow or sloop than let him or her 60 down
while you sail by in the gilded cabins OF
Britannia or Great Eastern.
Second remark: If both Of the married
couple be Christians, but one is so naturally
constructed that it is impossible to enjoy the
services Of q particular denomination, and
the other is not so sectarian OF punctlllous,
let the one less particular so with the other
who is very particular. As for myself, feel
rs much at homo in one denomination OF
evangelical Christians as another, and L
think must havcbcen born very near the
line. l like the solemn roll Of the Episcopal
liturgy, and l like the spontancity of the
MethodistS, and like the Importance given
to the ordinance of Baptism by the Baptists,
and like the freedom of the Congrcga-
tionalists, and l like the government
end the sublime doctrine of the
Prcsbyterians, and I like mary of the
others just us good as any have mentioned,
and l could happily live and die, and preach,
and I've buried from any of them. But Others
are born with so stout and unbendinS and
;r.xorablc liking for some denomination
that it is positive necessity they have the
advantage of that one. What they were III
tended to be in cccleSiasticism was written
in the sides of their cradle, if the father and
mother had eyes keen enough to sec
it. They would not stop crying until
they had put into their hands as
playthinCs Westminster Catcchism or
the Thirty-nine Articles. The whole cur
rent of :heir temperament and thought and
character runs into one sect of reliSionIsts rs
naturally as the james river into the
Chesapeake. 1t would be torture
to such persons to be anything outside of
that one church. Now, let the wife or hus-
band who is not so constructed sacrifice the
milder preference for tie one more inilcxiblc
and rigorous. Let the grapevine follow the
rugositics and sinuosities of the oak or
hickory. Abranl, the richer in flocks of
Christian grace, should say to Lot, who is
built on Il smaller scale: "Let there be no
strife, pray thee, between mo and thee, and
between my herdmen and thy hcrlmcn. Is
not the whole land before thee" As.you can
be edited and happy anywhere, go with your
companion to the church to which lie or she
must go or be miserable
Remark the third: If both the married
couple are very strong i'll their sectarianiSms,
let them attend the different churches pre-
fcrrcti 1t is not necessary that you attend
the same church. Religion is between your
conscience ana your God. Like Abram and
Lot, agree to differ When on Sabbath morn-
ing YOU come out Of the door Of your home
together, and one goes one way and the other
the other heartily wish each other Il good