Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1888-12-06

you, with somebody in the most Of them,
and your coffin shall nave silver handles oe
the sides, and we viii mourn for you in
splendid poeket-handkerchiefs bound wit
Grape, and with bombazine &c full yards
long, trailing half aerose the parlor, so that
all the company may stand upon II, and we
will write our letters for the next six months
on paper edged with black. But my friends,
your worldly fortunes viii not last, j viii buy
out now all that YOU will be worth in worldly
estate rs yeaTk from nov. / have the money
in my pocket With which 10 do it. Here It
isl Two centsi IL IL "a large sum TO offer
for all you will possess IL the close OF 70
years. Choose the world, if you want to; but
fnot, then choose heayen That estate lies
partly on this side of the river. but mostly
on the other. II is ever accommodating. The
prospect of il makes one independent OF
earthly misfortunes; so hat 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
soy 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 expeeta-
tions. Be not q bat. CT neither TO walk nor
fly, having inst enough of heaven 10 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 Pomperi there was found q petrified
woman, who instead of trying toby from the
destroyed city, had spent her time in gather
ing up her jewels. She saved neither her life
nor her jewels. There are multitudesm making
the same mistake. In trying TO get earth
and heaven they lose both. "Ye cannot
serve God and Be one thing or
the other. Tread the earth like the lion, or
mount the air like the eagle; for my text
, 80. fsN,.l,Il hAavz s,a bNn afun4fnn ngnnnH
the fowls, the bat"
Again: taking the suggestion of the text,
drive out the chameleon from your soul.
There is some difference among good men as
10 the name of this creeping thing which God
pronounced unclean, but / shall take the
opinion which seems best suited to my pur-
pose. The chameleon is q reptile, chiefly
known by its changeableness of colcr, taking
the color of the thing next to it. sometimes
brown, sometimes red, and sometimes gray,
but always the color OF its surroundings, a
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 ~hrstrate Unitarians. Jesus was al
good man, but nothing more They go TO;
Princeton and they are Trinitarians,t
almost willing to die for the
divinity Of Jesus. Among the Uniser-
salists they refuse the idea OF future
punishment; and going among those of op-l
posite belief, announce that there is "a he'll
with a gusto that makes VOC think you are
| glad of IL. Drive out that unclean chameleon
from your soul. Do not be ever changing
the color OF your faith. My friends. liberal
Christianity, falsely so.callel, believes in
| nothing. God is anything you waHt~to
make him. The Bible is to be believed in so
far as you like it. Heaven a grand mixing
| up of Nesos a1d Pauls. The man who dies
by suicide in his right mind in 1888, beating
into glory by 10 years the Christian man who
dies a Christian death In 1898; the suicide
proving himself wiser than the Christian. Oh,
my friends, let us try 20 believe in omething.
An inidel was called to the bedside of his
daughter. The daughter said. Father,
which shall | believe, you or mother? Moth
err took the religion of Christ, and died in its
embrace. You say that religion IL
n humbug: Now | am going TO
die, and | am very much per-
picked; shall | believe you, or take the belief
of my mother?" The father said, Choose
for yourself" She said, NO, | am too weak
to choose for myself; | want you to choose
for me-" We'll" said the father. after
much hesitation and embarrassment, Mary.
/ think you had better take the religion of
your MOTHER The time win come when We
shall have to believe in something. We cam
not afford to be on the fence in religiona
Truth and error are set opposite to each
other. The one is infinitely right, and the
other infinitely wrong. In the Judgment
day We must give an account e what we be-
hsved as well as for what We acted. TIL dif-,
ference between believing truth and believing
error is the difference between paradise and
perdition. | beg you, ia the light of the
Bible, and on your knees before God, to form
your religious opinion and then stick to IL
though business companions scOf, and wits.
caricature, and the air crackles with the.
ff4nS pF Tny ~ vrlpVu Eftrnlx frtItbG in hqhalf
of which Christ died, and angels of God,
trooped forth, and the whole universe is
m~orshaled, are worth living for and worth!
dying TOR. Amidst the most unclean things
is this eyer-ehanging chameleon ol religious.
theory. Away with the reptile! God abhors.
il with an all consuming adherence.
Once more: take the suggestion Of The text,
and drive out the snail from your soul, God
has declared il unclean, 1t is an animal to
be found everywhere between the coolest
North land the hottest South. There are
1,5O0 species of the snail. They haYel
no backbone, and they are so slow that
theis movement is almost imperceptible. You
see \ snail IN one place to-day; go tomorrow
and Won will find il has advanced only n few
inches. IL becomes an emblem of that large
class of Christian people Who go to work
with a slowness and sluggishness that is
wonderful. They are stopped by every little
obstacle, because, like the snail, they have
no backbone. Others mount up on eagles
wings, but they go at a~ssnail's pace.
o child Of God. arousel We have apothe-
osized Prudence and Caution long enough.
Prudence Is a beautiful grace, but of all the
family of Christian graces | like her the least,
for she has bean married so often to Laziness,
Sloth and Stupidity. We have a million
idlers in the LaIrd's vineyard who pride Them
selves on their prudence. "Be prudent, said
the disciples of Christ. "and stay away
from Jerusalem" but be went. 'Beprudent,'
said Paul's friends, "and look out for what
you say to Felix but he thundered away
until the rulers knees knocked together. In
the ewes of the world the most imprudent
men that ever lived were Martin Luther, and
John 0ldcastlt. and Wesley, and Knox. Ny
opinion is that the most imprudeut and reck-
less thing is to stand still. 1t is well to heari
our commanders yoiee-when he says "Haltl"N
but quite as important to hear il when he
says Forward" This gospel ship, made to
plough the seas Mt Is knots an hour, is not
making three. Sometimes il is most prudent
TO ride your horse slowly and pick out the
way for his feet, and not strike him with the
spurs; but when n band of Shoshonee Indians,
are after you in full tilt, the most prudent
thing for you TO do il to plunge in the rowels
and put your horse to a full run, shouting:l
go 'lone!" until the Rocky mountains echo
it. The foes of God are pursuing US. Thsi
world, the flesh and the devil are after US;
and our wisest course is to go ahead att
sNlllesU speeu. I
When the Church of God gets to advancing,
too fast, it viii be tim~eenough to use caution.
No need of putting on the brake, while going
up hill. Do not let us sit Town waiting iori
something ito turn up" but go ahead in the
name of God, and turn il up. The great
danger to the church now is not sensatioul
but stagnation. Oh, hat the Lord God
would send a host ofaroused aud ronsecrated,
men to set the church on fire, aad to turn thel
world upside down. Let us go to work and
catch the last snail in our soul. With divine
vehemence let US stamp it's life out; for myl
text declares: These also shall be uncleant
to you among the creeping things that creep
upon the earth; the chameleon aud the snail u
l haye thus tried to prejudice these CHRISTIAN
men and women against gloominess. and
Islander, and half-and-lmf experiences, and
changeableness, and sloth. Our opportunities
for getting better are being rapidly swallowed
up in the remorseless past. This golden
Sabbath is about to drop out oftbe calendar.
This momens may we drive out all the I'M
clean things from our souls-the ~vulture, and
the bat, and the owl. and thechameleon, and
the snail; and in place thereof bring in the
Lamb of God, and the Dove of the Spirit
The case is urgent. Arousel before il be eter-i
nally teo latel ''Whatsoeyer thy hand
findeth 10 do, do It'll"
Observation-Disclosures