Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-02-18
UNWISE ROASTING.


and Suffering that Have NO Mean.
ing When it Comes to Acrual Trial
"A strong Sermon by Mr.. Meldrum.
There was good congregation at the
Central church last evening. All seemed
to enjoy the service. The musical selec
tions of the choir were finely rendered,
and the audience joined heartily in the
singing OF the hymns. The pastor, Rey.
A. B. Meldrum, preached from John
1887.
Il will lay down my life for thee"
This. said the preacher, is what Peter
said when Christ Old him be would not
follow him to the cross. Peter spoke out
of passion. and not out of reason. There
Is always a danger lest our lives be spent
in fury of mere words.
Each of US has only definite quantity
Of energy, and if it be spent in bolster
Gus speech. it will not be spent in we'll,
directed action. If Peter had said less,
he would have done more. II you see
two workmen repairing the street, one
talking necessarily, the other simply by
way of assent. you have 10 difficulty in
predicting by whom most OF the work will
be done. am not trying to impress you
with the notion that all speech is opposed
to action. There must certainly be speech
as we'll as action. They must 60 togeth-
er, one belongs to the other. There are
some persons who make humility fine
art. They are forever prating about their
lack of pretensions. l have strong sus-
picions Of the man who is always telling
how humble he Is. To talk about humil
ity is not to practice it. Christ calls upon
US to let our hight shine before men Be-
cause some men are given to Invoicing
themselves above their real value, it does
not follow that we should always under
rate our own worth The men in whom
the world has confidence are the men who
have confidence In themselves. Self
confidence is not incompatible with that
humility which recognizes God as the
bestower of the gifts which give US con-
f1dence in ourselves. In the rush and roar
OF this nineteenth century, the world has
not time to 60 hunting in the shade for
the men 1t wants to do something. The
wheat does not ripen in the shade, and
the man who Is forever seeking the shade
will never be of much account as a citi
zen or as christian. If you are chris
| tian your Master Is saying to you. "Arise,
shine;" go work" Occupy till /
come. An excess of modesty is worse
than an excess of pride. for 1t is really an
excess Of pride In another form, only ii
is more hurtful to the individual and less
advantageous to society than the most
unblushing vanity. For Gods sake let
US be honesti l believe that If we had
only courage enough to look into our
own hearts we would find that 1t is gen.
orally when we are asked to do some
thing we don't want to do that we become
so fearfully modest that the light isioo
| bright for US. Let US avoid Peters ex-
IRENE. but let US also avoid the worse ex
| IRENE of false humility, IS inactive and
| useless.
When Peter said: Il will lay down my
| life for thee" his enthusiasm was out of
proportion to his real courage. and be-
! fore the night had passed away he had
! given the lie to this strong asseveration,
mis- boldness took flight and with osths
| and curses he denied that he even knew
! the master he had declared himself ready
| to die for. But we must not be too hard
I on Peter. How bold we all are in the
absence of danger. We are all more or
less given to declaring what We would
do. How heroicslly we would suffer
+; under circumstances we are pretty sure
will never come about.
! We often hear young men bosstin g
very loudly of their tilisl piety: There
| 10 aha In a,
for my mother" my mother is the best
woman on earth; would go through fire
and water for my mother" etc. He
means 1t, or thinks he does. But his
| dear old mother does not want such a
tragical exhibition of love: she only pines
for sympathy and gentleness; she wants
his presence at night; she does not want
him to lay down his life for her, but if he
would lay down some bad habit-lf
he would quit drinking or swearing OF dc
something just as an installment she
would be happier and he would be bet.
ter. Suspect the man who is forever de-
Tending his honor when it is not attacked
and that other man who protests that he is
ready to lay down his life for his mother
or wife or somebody else, and forever
neglecting the little kindness that would
add SO much to their comfort and happi
| ness.
Il will lay down by life for thy sake
exclsims the young christian under tn,
| glow of his new found affection. BE
. ware. says Christ, don't talk too much
| Before you are done with this life vol
will propably find out that it requires
about as much heroism to live
a christian as to die martyr" Tn,
heroes dc not all die trsgicslly. In man!
a shsnty by the roadside, tending at mani
a counter. bending over many benct
and anvil, performing the druggery OF
many a kitchen, there are heroes and
heroines of the noblest type. Christ
wants you to lay down your life for hin
! hour by hour and moment by moment
and be wants you to do it without talkins
very mach about it. He wants you tc
confess him with your own lips, but the
proof Of your love and loyalty to him
must be found In your life-not in your
words. If man repeat the Apostle
Creed" from morning until night and yeI
will not forgive an enemy who comes to
him, saying II repent" that mans pro.
| fession will be a mlllstoue around his
neck that will sink him into the bottom.
less sea. AS for dying for Christ, if we
live for HIM we shall surely die for him
Our master says to US. ''if thine enemy
hunger. feed him; if he thirst. give hin
drink; judge not that ye be Judged. visi,
the fstherless and widow in affection an6
keep yourself unspotted from the world.
This is the way Christ wants us to lay
down our lives for him. Not much
poetry or sentiment IN all this. no throns
of applsuding witnesses. but in such q
life man rises to as lofty point of
m oral heroism and grandeur as 1t Is given
to men this side of heaven to attain.