Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-09-01
passes they grimace, and wink, and chuckle.
and say, "There goes saint"
RELIGIoN IN BUSINESS.

/ learn also from my subject that men may
take religion into their worldly business.
Daniel had enough work to do to occupy six
men. All the affairs of state were in his
hands-questions of finance, questions of
war, of peace all international questions
were for his settlement or. adjustment. He
must have had a correspondence vast be-
yond all computation. There was not a
man in all the earth who had more to do
than Daniel, the Secretary of State, and vet
we find him three times a day bowling be-
fore God in prayer. There are men in our
day who have not hundredth part of Dan-
to be religious. They have an idea some-
how that religion will spoil their worldly
occupation, that it will trip the accountants s
pen, or dull the carpenters saw. or confuse
the lawyers brief, or disarrange the mer-
chants storeshelf.
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
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, "Good
night religion; Ill be back next Sunday"
Now, my friends, religion never robbed a
man of dollar. Other things being equal,
a mason will build better wall, a cabinet
maker will make better chair, plumber
will make better pipe, a lawyer will make
better plea, merchant will sell better
bill OF goods.
TIME TO SERVE GOD.
If you have a thousand irons in the fire,
you have a thousand more opportunities of
serving God than if you had only one iron
in the fire. Who so busy as Christ? And
yet who milliontn part as holy? The
busiest men the best men. ALI the persons
converted in Scripture busy at the time of
their being converted Matthew attending
to his custom house duties; the prodigal
son feeding swine; Lydia selling purple;
Simon Peter hauling in the net from the
sea; Saul spurring his horse toward Da-
mascus, going down on his law business.
Busy! busy! Daniel with all the affairs of
state weighing down upon his soul, and yet
three times a day worshiping the God of
heaven.
Again: I learn from this subject that
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 be 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 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 thev have been eminent in
the service of the state. Such was Benjamin
F. 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 Theo-
dore FrelInghuysen, of New Jersey. Men
faithful to the State, at the same time faith
ful to God.
PATRIOTISM AND CHRISTIANITY.
1t is absurd to expect that men who have
been immersed in political wickedness for
80 or &c years shall come TO reformation;
and our hope is in the young men who are
coming up, that they have patriotic princi-
pie and Christian principle side by side
when they come to the ballot-bo1 and cast
their first vote, and that they swear allie
glance to the government of heaven as well
as to the Government of the United States
We would have Bunker Hill mean less 20
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
a company of Choctaws; and the last time
to surrender the ballot-box is when it is sur
rounded by lmpurity 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 relig-
ion into our politics. But there are great
many men who are in favor of taking relig-
ion into national politics who do not see
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 personalities from
politics.
My subject also impresses me with the fact
that lions cannot hurt a good man. No
man ever got into worse company than
Daniel got into when he was thrown into
the den. What rare morsel that fair young
man would have been for the hungry mon
sters! If thev had plunged at him he could
not have climbed into niche beyond the
reach of their paw or the snatch of their
tooth. They came pleased all around about
him, as a hunters hounds at the well-known
whistle come bounding to his feet. You
need not 60 to Numidia to get among 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 put
ting his mouth down to the earth, and he
roared until all the banks and all the in
surance companies quaked. With his nos
tril be scattered the ashes on the domestic
hearth. You have had trial after trial, mis-
fortune after misfortune, 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 1 have to tell you that the tears
Of sorrow 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 a man was to get the
1onors of knighthood, he was compelled to
20 fully armed the night before, among the
5ombs of the dead, carrying sort of spear,
ind then when the day broke he would
,olne forth, and, amid the sound of cornet
ind great parade, he would get the honors
# knighthood And so it will be with the
Christian in the night before heaven,
Is fully armed with spear and helmet of
he will wait and watch through
he darkness until the morning dawns, and
hen he will take the honors of heaven amid |
hat great throng with snowy robes. stream
ng over seas of sapphire.