The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-09-17

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along by them all through life, to have re-
they are making bargain, to have religion
take up bag Of dishonest gold AMI shake
1t. ana say: -HaI hal where did you get
thatT' they think that is an impertinent
religion. They would like to have q re-
ligion 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
with which to open the door Of
heaven; but religion under other circum-
stances they take to be an impertinence.
Now, my friends, religion never robbed
man Of dollar: Other things being equal, a
mason will build better wall, q cabinet
maker will make q better chair, plumber
will make better pipe lawyer will make
q better plea, a merchant will sell better
bill of goods.
say other things being equal. or course
when religion gives a 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 O thousand irons in the fire
- 1--we Thousand more opportunities of
serving God than il you had only one iron
in the fire. Who so busy as Christi And
yet who q nlllionth 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 Prodisal Son
feeding swine; Lydia selling purple; Simon
Peter hauling in the net from the sea; Saul
down on his law business. Busy! busyl
Daniel with all the affairs of state weighing
down upon his soul, and yet three O day
worshiping the God Of Heaven.
Again, learn from this subject that man
may take religion into his politics. Daniel
had all the affairs OF state on hand, vet O
Christian. He could not have kept his ele-
vated position unless he had been q thorough
politician; and yet all the thrusts of officials
and all the danger Of disgrace did not make
him yield ono iota Of his high toned religious
principle. He stool before that aga ha
stands before all ages, specimen OF Chris
sian politician.
So there have been in our day and in the
lays Of our fathers men Us eminent in the
service of God as they have been eminent in
che service Of the State. Such was Benja-
min F. Butler, Attorney-Gener Of New
York, in the time Of your fathers. Such
was John Mclean, Of Ohio. Such was Geo.
Briggs Of Massachusetts. Such was Theo-
iore 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
ance to the government Of heaven as we'll as
10 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 bya
company or Choctaws; and the last time to
surrender the ballot box is when it is sur
rounded by impurity and dishonesty and all
sorts Of wickedness.
Daniel stood on most unpopular plat
form. He stood firmly, though the dema-
gogues Of the day hissed 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 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 right to
discuss mems politics and denounce their
political sentiments, or receive them as you
will; but you have no right to assail their
private character, as is done every autumn.
That is not carrying religion into politics.
Now you can always tell without asking, in
any contest, what candidate I will vote for.
It is always for the man who is most bad
gered, and most abused, and most at;t upon,
and most howled at. You have right to
contest mans political sentiments; you
have no right, for base political purposes TO
assail his private moral character.
My subject also impresses me with the
fact that lions cannot hurt good man. No
man ever got into worse company than
Daniel got into when he was thrown into
the den. What q rare morsel that fair
young man would have been for the hungry
monsters! If thoy had plunged at him he
could not have climbed into niche beyond
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tooth. They came pleased all around about
him as a hunters hounds at the well known
whistle come bounding to his feet.
You nee not 60 to Nunida to get among
the lions. You all have had them after you
the lion of financial distress, the lion of
sickness, the lion of persecution. You saw
that lion of financial panic putting his mouth
down to the earth, and he roared until all
the banks and all the insurance companies
quaIed. With his nostril he scattered the
ashes on the domestic hearth. You have
had trial after trial, misfortune after mis-
fortune, lion after lion; and yet they have
never hurt you if you put your trust in God,
and they never will hurt you. They did
not hurt Daniel, and they cannot hurt you.
The Persians used to think that spring rain
falling into sea shells would turn into pearls;
and have to tell you that the tears OF sor-
row turn into precious gems when they drop
into Gods bottle. You need be afraid OF
nothing putting your trust in God. Even
death, that monster lion whose den IS the
worlds sepulchre and who puts his paw
down amid thousands of millions Of the dead,
cannot alright you.
When in olden times man was to get tne
honors of knighthood he was compelled
to 90 fully armed the night before among
the tombs of the dead, carrying q sort or
spear, and then when the dey broke ne
would come forth. and amid the sound OF
cornet and great parade he would get the
honors of knighthood. And so it will be
with tho Christian IN the night betore
heaven, as fully armed with spear and hel-
met os salvation he will wait and watch
through the darkness until the morning
dawns, and then he will take the honors OF
heaven amid that great throng with snowy
robes streaming over seas Of sapphire. :.