Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1890-09-18


Of war, Of peace, all international questions
were for his settlement or adjustment. He
must have had q correspondence vast be-
yond all computation. There was not q
man in all the earth that had more to do
than Daniel the secretary OF state, yet wo
find him three times day bowling before
God in prayer. There are men in our day
who have not hundredth part OF Daniels
engagements, but say they are too busy to
be religious. They have an idea somehow
that religion will spoil their worldly occu-
patton, that it will trip the accountants pen.
or dull the carpenters saw, or confuse the
lawyers brief, or disarrange the merchants
store shelf.
They think religion is impertinent. They
would like to have it very we'll seated beside
them in church on the sabbath, to find the
place in the psalm book, or to nudge them
when they get sleepy under the didactic dis
course; or they would like to have it in the
pew on sabbath evening, as they go out
closing the door, saying Good night re-
ligion; I'll be back next Sunday" But to
have religion 60 right along by them all
through life, to have religion looking over
their shoulder when they are making bar
gain, to have religion take up bag of dis
honest gold and shake it, and say: "IIa!
ha! where did you get that?" They think
that is an impertlnent. religion. They would
like to have religion to help them when
they are sick. and when the shadow of death
comes over them they would like to have
religion as a sort OF night-key with which to
open the door OF heaven: but religion under
other circumstances they take to be an i'm
pertinence. Now. my friends, religion never
robbed . man Of a dollar. Other things
being equal, q mason will build q better
WALL a cabinet-maker will make a better
chair, plumber will make a better pipe, q
lawyer can make a better plea, q merchant
will sell better bill of goods.
say other things being equal. OF course
when religion gives man new heart, it
does not propose to give him a new head, or
to intellectualize him, or to change mana
condition when his ordinary state is ar
overthrow of the philosophical theory that
a total vacuum is impossible; but the more
letters you have to write the more burdens
you have to carry, the more miles you have
to travel, the more burdens you have to lift,
the more engagements you have to meet.
the more disputes you have to settle, the
more opportunity you have OF being .
christian.
II you have thousands irons in the fire,
you have thousand more opportunities Of
serving God shan if you had only one iron
in the fire. Who so busy as Christ? And
yet who millionth part as holy? The
busiest men the best men. All the persons
converted in Scripture busy at the time OF
their being converted. Matthew attending
to his custom house duties; the prodigal
Simon Peter hauling 10 the net from the ca;
Saul squirting his horse toward Damascus.
gowing down on his law business, Busy!
busy. Daniel with all the affairs of state
weighing down upon his SOUL and yet three
times day worshipping the God OF
heaven
Again: learn from this subject that a
man may take religion into his politics.
Daniel had all the affairs of state on hand,
yet christian. He could not have kept
his elevated position unless he had been
n thorough politician; and yet all the
thrusts Of officials and all the danger cf
disgrace did not make him yield one iotx
OF his high toned religious principle. he
stood before that age, he stands before all
ages, a specimen OF a 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 the state. Such was Benja-
| min +. Butler. attorney general Of New
| York in the time of your fathers. Such
was John Mclean of Ohio. Such was
George Briggs Of Massachusetts,. Such was
| Theodore Frelinghuysen of New Jersey
| Men faithful to the state, at the same time
| faithful to God.
| 1t is absurd to expect that men who
have been immersed in political wickedness
| for thirty or forty years shall come to re
formation; and our hope is in the young
men who are coming up, that they have
patriotic principle and christian principle
side by side when they come to the ballot
box and cast their first vote. and that they
swear allegiance to the government of
| heaven as well as to the government OF the
| United States. We would have Bunker
| Hill mean less to them than Calvary, and
Lexington mean less to them than Bethle-
| hem.
But because there are bad men around
| the ballot box is no reason why christian
| men should retreat from the arena. The
| last time you ought to give up your child
or forsake your child is when it is sur
rounded by a company OF Choctaws; and
| the last time to surrender the ballot box is
when it is surrounded by impurity and dis
honesty and all sorts Of wickedness.
| Daniel stood on most unpopular plat.
form. He stood firmly. though the dema-
gogues OF the day Kissed at him and tried
to overthrow him. We must carry our re-
ligion into our politics. But there are a
great many men who are in favor of taking
religion into national politics who do not
see the Importance OF taking it into city
| politics; as though a man were intelligent
about the welfare Of his neighborhood, and
had no concern about his own home
Religion would drive out all base person
alities from politics. You have a right tt
discuss mems politics and denounce thei
political sentiments, or receive them, O.
you will; but You have no right to assai
their private character, as is done every
autumn. That is not carrying religion int
politics. Now you can always tell without
asking in any contest, what candidate
will vote for. 1t is always for the man wht
Is most badgered, and most abused. ant
most spit upon, and most hOwled at. 70,
have a right to contest mans politica
sentiments; you have no right for base po-
litical purposes to assail his private mora
character.
Ny subject also impresses me with the
fact that lions cannot hurt good man
No man ever got into worse company thai
Daniel got into when he was thrown int,
the den. What . rare morsel that fai
young man would have been for the hungr,
monsters. If they had plunged at him h
could not have climbed into a niche beyon'
the reach OF their paw or the snatch of thei
tooth. They came pleased all aroun
about him. as a hunters hounds at the wei
known whistle come bounding to his feet
You need not go to Numidia to get anon
lions. You all have had them after you
the lion OF financial distress, the lion G
sickness, the lion of persecution. You sa,
that lion Of financial panic putting hi
mouth down to the earth and he ron re