Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-12-07

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, beat
ing into glory BY ten years the Christian
man who dies Christian death in 1898;
the suicide proving himself wiser than
the Ghristian. Oh, my friends, let
us try Ao believe i'll something. An in
fidel WAS called TO the bedside of his
daughter. The daughter said: Father,
which shall 1 believe, you or mother?
Mother took the religion of Christ and
died in it's embrace. You say that relig-
ion is hu,abug. New, I am going to
die, and l am very much perplexed:
shall believe you, or take the belief of
Choose for yourself. She said:
NO; am too weak to choose for my
self; l want you to choose for me-"
Well, said the father, after much hesi-
tation and embarrassment, MARY, 1
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 to each other. The one ia
infinitely right, and the other infinitely
wrong. In the judgment day We must
give IN account of what we believed as
we'll as for what we acted. The differ
ence between believing truth and be-
lieving error is the difference between
paradise and perdition. beg you, in
the light of the Bible, and on your knees
before God, to form your religious
opinion and then stick to it, though
business companions scoff, and wits
caricature, and the air crackles with the
fires of martyrdom. Surely truths in
behalf of which Christ died, and angels
OF God trooped forth, and the whole
universe is marshaled, are worth living
for and worth dying for. Amidst the
most unclean things is this ever chang
ing chameleon of religious theory.
Away with the reptile! God abhors it
with an all consuming adherence.
Once more: take the suggestion of the
text, and drive out the snail from your
soul. God has declared it unclean. It
is On animal to be found everywhere be-
tween the coldest North and the hottest
South. There are fifteen hundred
species of the snail. They have no
backbone, and they are SO slow that their
see snail in one place to-day; go to-
morrow and you will find it has advanced
only few inches. 1t becomes an en-
blem of that large class of Christian
people who go to work with slowness
and sluggishness that is wonderful.
They are stopped by every little obsta-
Gle, because, like the snail, they have no
backbone. Others mount up on eagles
wings, but they go at snails pace.
THE CoUsINsHIP OF PRUDENCE, LAzI-
NESS, sLoTH, AND STUPIDITY.
Oh, child of God, arouse! We have
apotheosized Prudence and Caution
long enough. Prudence is beautiful
grace, but of all the family of Christian
graces like her the least, for she has
been married so often to Laziness, Sloth,
and Stupidity. We have a million
idlers in the Lords vineyard who pride
themselves on their prudence. BE
prudent" said the deciples of Christ,
"and stay away from Jerusalem;" but h.
went. BE prudent, said Paul's friends.
and look out what you say to Felix"
but he Numbered away until the rulers
knees knocked together. In the eyes Of
the world, the most imprudent men
that ever lived were Martin Luther, and
John Oldcastle, and Wesley, and Knox.
My opinion is that the most impru-
1t is we'll to hear our commanders voice
when he says Haiti" but quite as inn
portant to hear it when he says For
ward!" This Gospel ship, made to pillow
the sea at fifteen knots an hour, is not
making three. Sometimes it 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 a
band of Shoshone Indians are after you
in full tilt, the most prudent thing for
You to do is to plunge in the rowels and
Go 'long!" until the Rocky Mountains
echo it. The foes of God are pursuing
us. The world, the flesh, and the devil
are after us; and our wisest course is to
go ahead at swiftest speed.
When the church of God gets to adj
vancing too fast, it will be time enough
to use caution. No need of putting on
the brakes while going up hill. Do not
let us sit down waiting for something
TO turn up but go ahead in the name
Of God. and turn it up. The great danger
stagnation. o that the Lord God would
send host of aroused and consecrated
men to set the church on fire, and to
turn the world upside down. Let us go
to work and catch the last snail in our
souls. With divine vehemence let us
stamp it's life out; for my text declares:
These also shall be unclean to you
among the creeping things that
creep upon the earth; the chame-
leon and the snail" Il have
thus tried to prejudice these Chris
tain men and women against gloominess,
and Islander, and half experiences, and
changeableness, and sloth. Our oppor-
tunities for getting better are being
rapidly swallowed up in the remerseless
past. This golden Sabbath is about to
drop out of the calendar. This moment
may we drive out all the unclean things
from our souls-the vulture, and the
bat. and the owl, and the chameleon.
and the snail; and in place thereof
bring in the Lamb of God, and the Dove
of the Spirit The case is urgent.
Arouse! before it be eternally too late!
Whatsoever thy hand tindeth to do, do
it,"
1t is Mistake
To labor when YOU are not in q fl