The Russellville Democrat., 1890-09-11
Young man, start riaht and keep on.

do not invite them. They prophecy that he will give out They wonder fl he is getting wingz As he passes they grimaca. and wink and chuckles and say: There goes saint"
 0 young man. have decision of char aeser. You can afford In this matter of religion, to be laughed as What do you care for the scofs Of these men wh o arc affronted because yon will not go to ruin with them2 When the grave cracks open under their feet, and grim messengers put them into fs, and cter- nity comes down hard upon their spirit. and conscience stings, and hopeless rain lifts them up to kun them down, will they laugh then2
 learn also from my subject that men may take religion into their worldly business. Daniel had enough work 10 do 10 occupy six men. All tho affairs of state were in his hands-question of finance, questions of war, of peace, all international questions were for his set clement or adjustment. He must have had a correspondence vast beyond all computation There was not a man in all the earth who had more to do than Daniel, the Secretary of State, and yet we find him three times day lowing before God in prayer. There arc men in our day who have not hun dredth part of Daniels engagements, who say they arc too busy to be re- ligioas. They have an idea somehow that religion will spoil their worldly occupation, that it will trip the ac- countanss pen, or dull the carpenters saw. or confuse the lawyers brief, or disarrange the merchants store-shelE
 They think religion is impertinent They would like to have 1t very well seated beside them in church on the Sabbath. to find the place in the psalm book or to nudge them awake when they get sleepy under the didactic dis courses: or they would like to leave it in the pew on Sabbath evening as they go out closing the door saying: Good night, religion; I'll be back next Sum dayf7 But to have religion go right by them all through life, to have re- ligion looking over their shoulder when they are making a bargain, to have religion take up 8 bag Of dishonest gold and shake it, and say: '.Hal hal where did you get that7" They think that is an. impertinent religion. They would like to have a religion to help them when they are sick, and when the shadow of death comes over them they would like to have religion as sort of nightkey with which to open the door of Heaven; but religion underothe circumstances they take to be an impertinence. Now my frien ds, religion never robbed man of a dollar. Other things being equal, a mason will build better wall, cabinet-maker will make better chair, a plumber will make better pipe, lawyer will make better plea, merchant will sell better bill of goods.
 say other things being equal Of course when religion gives man now heart, 1t does not propose to give him head, or to intellectualize him, or to change mnn's condition when his or dinary state is an overthrow of the philanthropical theory that total vacuum is impossible; but the more let ters you have to write, tho more burdens you have to carry, the more miles you have to travel, the more burdens you have to lift. tho moro engagements you have to meet, the more disputes you have to settle, the moro opportunity you have of being Christian.
 If you have a thousand irons in the fire, you have thousand more oppor- tunities of serving God than if you had only one iron in the fire. Who so busy as Christ? And yet who a millionth part as holy? The busiest men the best ts.ar bu taI fr,i Scripture busy at the time of their be- ing converted. Matthew attending to his custom-house duties; the prodigal son feeding swine; Lydia selling pur- pie; simon Peter hauling in tho net from the sea; Saul spurring his horse toward Damascus, going down on his law business. Basyf ousyl Daniel with all the affairs of State weighing down upon his soul and yet three times day worshipping the God of Heaven.
 Again, l learn from this subject that . man may take religion into his poli- ties. Daniel had all the affairs of State on hand, yet Christian. He could not have kept his elevated position unless he had been thorough politician; and yet all the thrusts of officials and all the danger of disgrace did not make him yield one iota of his frightened religious principle. He stood before that ago, he stands before all ages, specimen of Christian politician.
 So there have been in our day and in the days Of our fathers men as eminent in the service of God as they have been eminent in the service of tho State. Such was Benjamin E. Butler, Attor- ney General of New York in tho time of your fathers. Such was John Me Lean, of Ohio Such was George Briggs of Massachusetts. Such was Theodore FrelinPhuysen, of New Jersey. Mon faithful to the State, at the same time faithful to God.
 It is absurd to expect that men who | have been immersed in political wick l edness for thirty or forty years shall 1 como to reformation; and onr hope is in | the young mon who are coming up, that | they have patriotic principle and Chris tian principle side by side when they l como to the ballot-box and cast their | first vote, and that they swear alle- l glance Co the Government Of Heaven as | well as to the Government of the United | States We would hayo Bunker Hill mean less to thom than Calvary, and | Lexington mean less Co them than Beth- | lehem.
 But because there are bad men around | the ballot-box is no reason why Chis- | tian men should retreat from tho arena The last time you ought to give up your child, or forsake your child, is when 1t IS surrounded by company of Choctaws; and the last time to sur render tho ballot-box Is when 1t is sur rounded by impurity and dishonesty and all sorts of wickedness.
 Daniel stood on a most unpopular platform. He stood firmly, though tho demagogues of the day hissed at him and tried to overthrow him. We must