Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1890-09-12

Oh, young man, have decision Of cher1-
ter. You can afford in this matter OF relig-
ion TO be laughed at. What do you care for
the SCOTS OF these men, who are ehronted
because you will not go to ruin with them?
When the grave cracks open under their
feet, and grim messengers push them into it,
and eternity comes down hard upon their
spirit, and conscience stings, aud hopeless
ruin lifts them up to hurl them down, will
they laugh then?
learn also from my subject that men
may take religion into their worldly bust
ness Daniel had enough work To dn IN
OCCUPY SIX men. Ali the affairs of state
were in his hand-questions of financa
questions of war; of peace, all international
questions were for his settlement or adj
iustment. He must have had a corre-
spondence vast beyond all computation.
There was not man IN all the earth who
had more to do than Daniel the Secretary
of State, and yet we find Kim three times a
day bowling before God in prayer. There
are men in our day who have not hum
dredth part of Daniels engagements who say
they are too busy to be religious. They
have an idea somehow that religion will sr4oil
their worldly occupation, that it will trip
the accountants pen, or dull the carpenters
saw, or confuse the lawyers brief or disar-
range the merchants store shelf.
They think religion is impertinent. They
would like to have it very we'll seated be.
side 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 discourse; or they would like
to leave it in the pew on Sabbath evening,
as they go out closing the door, saying:
Sundayw But to have religion go right
along by them all through life, to have re-
ligion looking over their shoulder when
they are making bargain to have religion
take up bag of dishonest gold and shake
it, and say: "Hal hal where did you get
l. 41-&
religion. They would like to have a re-
igion 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 circum-
stances they take to be an impertnence.
Now, my friends, religion never robbed a
man or dollar. other things being equal,
mason will build a better wall, cabinet
maker will make better chair, plumber
will make better pipe a lawyer will make
better plea, merchant Will sell Letter
bill of goods.
say other things being equal. OF course
when religion gives man new heart it
does not propose to give him new head, or
to intellectualize him, or to change mans
condition when his ordinary state is an over
throw of the philosophical theory that 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.
If you have a thousand irons in the fire
You nave thousand more opportunities of
serving God than If you had only one iron
In the fire. Who so busy as Christi And
yet who a m1llionth 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 Son
feedmg swine. Lydia selling purple; Simon
Feter hauling in the net from the sea; Saul
squirting his horse toward Damascus going
down on his law business Busy! busyl
Daniel with all the affairs of state weighing
down upon his soul, and yet three a day
worshiping 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, vet a
Christian. He could not have kept his eIe
waited position unless he had been a thorough
politician; and yet all the thrusts of officials
and all the danger of disgrace did not make
him yield one iota Of his high toned religious
principle. He stood before that age he
stands before all ages, a specimen of Chris
tian 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 F. Butler, Attorney General of New
York, in the time of your fathers. Such
was John Mclean, of Ohio Such was Geo.
Briggs, of Massachusetts,. Such was Theo-
dore Frelinghuysen, Of New jersey Men
faithful to the State, at the same time faith
full to God.
1t is absurd to expect that men who have
been immersed in political wickedness for
thirty or forty years shall come to reforma-
ton; 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 allegi-
ance 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 Bethlehem.
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 for
| sake your child is when it is surrounded by
company or Ghoctaws; and the last time to
| surrender the ballot box is when it is sur
rounded by inlpurity and dishonesty and all
sorts of wickedness
| Daniel stood on a 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 religion
| 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 i'm
portance OF taking it into city politics; as
| though a man were intelligent about the
welfare of his neighborhood and had no con-
Germ about his own home.
Religion would drive out all base person
| alities from politics. You have a right to
| discuss mems politics and denounce their
| political sentiments, or receive them as you
viii; but you have no right to assail their
L TNV~TNy 10 hoy & i