Milford chronicle., 1888-11-30

bribes and threats have failed TO get one
willing for the Internal crusade, be SAYS tC
one Of his sergeants; go up to Brooklyn
and in such a street, on such corner, gel
that gossiping woman, and she will be glad
to do it. Aud sure enough, like a hungry
fish, she takes the hook in her mouth. and
Satan slackens the line, and lets her run out
farther and farther, until after awhile he
says: sit is time TO haul in that line,n and
with few strong pulls he brings her TO the
beach Of fire. What do you say! That she
was a member Of the churchi cannot help
that When Satan goes a-fishing he does not
care what school the fish belong TO, whether
it is a Presbyterian mackerel or an Episeopa-
liam salmon. Amidst the thunder crash Of
Sinai God said: 'Thou shalt not bear false
witness against thy neighbor.H And in Le.
viticus he says: ''rhou shalt not go up and
down as a tale bearern Take not into your
ear that scum Of he'll that people call
little tattle Whosoever willingly listens to
a slander is equally guilty with the one who
tells it, and an old writer says they ought
both to be hung, the one by the tongue and
the other by the ear. Do not smile upon
such a spaniel, lest, like a pleased dog, he
put his dirty paw upon you. Throw back
the shutter Of your soul, oh Christian men
and women, and see if there be within you a
vulture with filthy talons and cruel beaz.
Let not this unclean thing roost in your
soul, for my text says; "Ye shall hold in
abomination among the fowls, the vulture.n
THE ERROR OF BEING LIKE BAT.
Again, taking the suggestion of the text,
drive ont the bat from your soul No won
der God set this bird among the unclean. It
is an oifense TO every one. Let it fly into the
window Of a summer night, and all the
hands, young and old, are against it. It is
half bird and half mouse. It seems made
partly to walk and partly to fy, and does
neither we'll; and becomes an emblem of
those Christians who try to cling to earth
and heaven at the same time They want
to walk on earth in worldliness, and
yet fly toward heaven in spirituality
and their soul, between feet and
wings, is constantly perplexed. Oh, my
brethren, be one thing or the other
Choose the world, if you prefer it; and see
how many dollars you can win, and how
much applause you can gain, and how large
a business you can establish, and how grand
a house you can build, and how fast a span
of horses you can drive. You may be pros
pered until you can fail for S5OO,OJO, instead
Of having the grace to fail for only SlO,O 600 as
some unenterprising people do. 1t is quite a
reward to be able for ten or twenty years to
be called one Of the solid men Of Brooklyn or
Boston; and then, to make your fortune
last as long as possible, we will give
you a SPLENDID funeral, and you shall
have twenty-five carriages following you
with somebody in the most Of them, and
your coffin shall have silver handles on the
sides, and we will mourn for you in splendid
pocket handkerchiefs bound with Grape, and
with bombazine twenty full yards long, trail
ing half across the parlor, so that all the
company may stand upon it, and we will
write our letters for the next six months on
paper edged with black. But my friends,
your worldly fortunes will not last. ! will buy
out now all that you win be worth in worldly
estate seventy-fve years from now. | have
the money in my pocket with which to do It,
Here it isl Two centsi 1t is a large sum to
offer for all you will possess at the close of
seventy-five years. Choose the world, if you
want to; but, if not, then cheese heaven
That estate lies patty on this side Of
the river, but mostly on the ether. It is ever
accumulating. The prospect Of IL makes one
independent Of earthly misfortunes; so that
Rogers, the martyr, slept so soundlY the
night before his burning, they violently
shook him in order to get him awake in time
for the execution; and Paul exults at the
thought of the ''joy unspeakable and full Of
glory" Oh, choose earth or heavenl Make
up your mind whether you will walk in
earthly joys, or fly with heavenly expecta-
tions. Be not a bat, fit neither to walk nor
fly, having just enough of heaven to spoil
the world, and so much Of the world as to
spoil heaven. Christ says that your present
condition nauseates him to positive sickness:
because thou art neither cold nor hot,
will spew thee out of my mouth" In
the ruins Of Pompeii there was found
a petrifed woman, who, instead Of
trying to fly from the destroyed city,
had spent her time in gathering up
her Jewels. She saved neither her life nor
her jewels. There are multitudes making
the same mistake, In trying to get earth
and heaven you lose both. ''Ye cannot serve
God and Mammon." Be one thing or the
other. Tread the earth like a lion, or mount
the air like the eagle; for my text says; ''Ye
shall have in abomination among the fowls,
the bat
TURNcoATs AND DOUBLE FACES AS PUBLIC
NUIsANCEs.
Again, taking the suggestion of the text,
drive out the chameleon from your soul. There
is some difference among good men as to the
name Of this creeping thing which God pro.
nounced unclean, but shall take the opinion
which seems best suited to my purpose. The
chameleon is a reptile, chiefly known by its
ehangeableness of color, taking the color Of
the thing next to it-sometimes brown, some
times red and sometimes gray, but always
the color Of its surroundings type of that
class Of Christians who are now one thing in
religious faith and now another. just to
suit circumstances, always taking their
color Of religious belief from the
man they are talking to. They go to one
place, and are first rate Unitarians "Jesus
was a good man, but nothing more.n They
20 to Princeton, and they are Trinitariansi al
most willing to die for the divinity Of Jesus.
Among the Universalists they refuse the idea
of future punishment and going among those
of opposite belief, announce that there is a
hell with gusto that makes you think they
are glad Of it. Drive out that unclean
chameleon from your soul Do not be ever
changing the color Of your faith. My friends,
Liberal Christianity, falsely so called,
believes in nothing. God is anything
YOU want to make him. The Bible
to be believed in so far as you
like it. Heaven grand mixing up Of Neros
and Pauls. The man who dies by suicide in
his right mind in 1883, beating into glory
by ten years the Christian man who
dies a Christian death in 1898; the sui
eide proving himself wiser than the Chris
tian. Oh, my friends, let us try TO believe
in something, An inhdel was called to tho
bedside Of his daughter. The daughter said;
Father, which shall believe, you or motheri
Mother took the religion Of Christ and died
in its embrace. You say that religion is a
humbug. Now am going to die, and / am
very much perplexed; shall believe you, or
take the belief Of my mothern The father
said:
"Choose for yourself" She said: "No;
am too weak to choose for myself; want
you to choose for me- "Well,n said the
father. after much hesitation and emharrass-
ment, MARY, think you had better take
the religion Of your mother" The time will
come when we shall have to believe some
thing. We cannot afford to be on the fence
in religion. Truth and error are set opposite