Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1888-04-25

al 4C4A AOs 4OOCs
of the denominations of Christians keep OF
hand a barbecue in which some minister
roasted, while the church courts dane
around with their sharp knives of attack
and one takes an ear, another hand, an
ther foot, and it is hard to tell whethe
the ecclesiastical plaintiffs of this world o.
the demons of the neither world most eDjo.
it. Albert Barnes, than whom no man ha!
accomplished more good in the last thou
sand years, was decreed to sit silent for
year In the pew of his own church while
some one else occupied his pulpit, the pre-
tended offence that he did not believe in 6
limited atonement, but the real offence the
fact that all the men who tried him put to
gether would not equal one. Albert Barnes.
Yes, amid all professions and businesses
and occupations and trades, and amid all
circles needs to be heard what God says in
regard to envy and jealousy, which, though
not exactly the same, are twins: ENVY is
the rottenness of the bone;' "Where envy
and strife is, there is confusion and every
| evil work." Jealousy is the rage of a man. u
My hearers, if this evil passion is in any of
your souls, cry nightly unto God for its
expulsion. That which has downed kings
and emperors and apostles and reformers
and ministers of religion and thousands of
good men and women, is too mighty for
you to contend against unaided. The evil
has SO many roots, of such infinite convolu-
tioH, that nothing but the engin cry of
omnipotence can pull it out. Tradition
Gays that when Moses lifted up his hand to
pray it was all encrusted with mama, and
no sooner do you pray than you are helped.
Away with the accursed. stenchfnl, black
ening, damning crime of jealousy. Allow
it to stay and it will eat up and carry off all
the religion you can pack into your soul for
the next half century. 1t will do you more
harm than it does anyone it leads you to
assail. 1t will delude you with the idea
that you can build yourself up by pulling
somebody else down. You will make more
out of the success of others than out of
their misfortunes. Speak well of every
body. Slab no man in the back. Be
honey bee rather than spider; be dove
rather than buzzard.
surely this world is large enough for you
and all your rivals. God has given you a
work to do. Go ahead and do it. Mind
your own business. In all circles, in all
businesses, in all professions there is room
for straightforward successes. Jealousy en-
tertained will not only bedwarf your soul
but it will fatten your skull, bemean your
eye, put pinchedness of look about your
nostril give bad curl to the lip, and ex.
pei from your face the divine image in
which yeu were created. When you hear
man or woman abused, drive in on The
defendants side. Watch for exccllences in
others rather than for defects, morning
glories instead Of nightshade. If some one
is more beautiful than you, thank God that
you have not 80 many perils of vanity to
contend with. If some one has more wealth
than you, thank God that you have not so
great stewardship to answer for. If some
one is higher up in social position, thank
God that those who are down need not fear
a fall. If some one gets higher office in
Church or State than you, thank God there
are not so many to wish for the Fastening
on ofyour obsequies.
The Duke of Dantzig, in luxurious apart
ments, was visited by plain friend, and 10
keep his friend from jealousy the Duke
said: "You can have all have if you will
stand twenty PAGES off and let me shoot at
you hundred times" ssNo, no." said his
friend. ''Well," said the Duke, 'to gain
all my honors I faced on the battlefield
more than thousand gunshots fired not
more than ten PAGES off,"
A minister of small congregation COM
planned to a minister of large congregation
about the sparseness of his attendants.
s'Ah," said the one of the large audience,
s'my son, you will find in the Day of Judg-
ment that you had quite enough people for
whom to be held accountable"
Substitute for jealousy an elevating emu
lation. Seeing others good. let us try to be
better. Seeing others industrious, let US
work more hours. Seeing others benevo-
lent, let US resolve on giving larger percent
age of our means for charity. May God
put congratulations for others into our
right hand aud cheers on our lips for those
who do brave and useful things. Life is
short at the longest; let it all be filled up
with helpfulness for others, work and sym
pathy for each others misfortunes, and our
arms be full of white mantles to cover up
the mistakes and failures of others. If an
evil report about some one come to us, let
us put on it most favorable construction, as
the Rhone enters Lake Leman foul aud
comes out crystalline. Do not build so
much on the transitory differences of this
world, for soon it will make no difference to
US whether we had ten million dollars or
ten cents, and the ashes into which the
like the ashes into which the tongue of the
veriest stammerer went
If you are assailed by jealousy make no
answer. Take it as a compliment, for peo-
Pile are never jealous of failure. Until
your work is done you are invuInerable.
Remember how our Lord behaved under
such exasperations. Did they not try to
catch Him in His word? Did they not call
Him the victim Of intoxicants? Did they
not misinterpret Him from the winter of
the year to the spring of the year 33;that
is, from His first infantIle cry to the last
grOau of His assassination? Yet He anwer-
ed not word! But SO far from demolish-
ing either His mission or His good name,
after near nineteen enturies He outranks
everything under the skies, and is second
to none above them, and the archangel
makes salaam at His footsool. Christ's
bloody antagonists thought that they had
finished Him when they wrote over the
cross His accusation in three languages,
Hebrew and Greek and Latin, not realizing
that they were by that act introducing Him
to all nations, since Hebrew is the holiest
language, and Greek the wisest of tongues,
and Latin the widest spoken.
You are not the first man who had his
faults looked at through microscope and
his virtues through the wrong end of tele-
scope. Pharaoh had the chief butler and
baker endungeoned, and tradition says that
all the butler had done was to allow fly
in the Kings cup, and all the baker had
done was to leave gravel in the Kings
bread. The world has the habit of making
great ado about what you do wrong
and forgetting to say anything about what
you do right, but the same God will take
care of you who provided for Merlin, the
Christian martyr, when hidden from his
pursuers in a hay-mow in Paris, and hen
came and laid an egg close by him every
morning, thus keeping him from starva-
ton. Blessed are they that are prosecuted,
although persecution is severe cataplasm.
Ointment may smart the wound before
healing it. What soft pillow to die on if
when weleave the world we can feel that,
though thousand people may have wrong
ed US, we have wronged no one; or, having
made envious and jealous attack on others,
we have repented of the sin and as far as
possible made reparation. The good reso-
luton of Timothy Poland in his quaint but
exquisite hymn, entitled "Most Any Day."
we might we'll unanimously adopt:
Well keep all right and good within,
Our work will then q free from si