Democratic messenger., 1892-04-02

WRITINGS are as luit of nulnOr uS tney are
of saving truth. and there is not an aged
man here who has ever read Pilgrims
Progress who does not remember that
while reading il he smiled rs often rs he
wept. Chrysostom. George Herbert,
Robert South, John Wesley. George
Whitetield. Jeremy Taylor. Rowland
Hill, Nettleton, George q. Finney ai.i
all the men of the past who greatly adj
vanced the kingdom of God consecratcd
their wit and their humor to the cause
of Christ.
SO it has been i'll all the ages. and
say TO these Young theological students
who cluster i'll these services Sabbath by
Sabbath. sharpen your wits AS keen rs
scimiters and then take them into this
holy war. 1t is very short bridge be-
tween smile and tear, Il suspension
bridge from eye to lip. ard it is soon
crossed over. and smile is sometimes
just rs sacred as tear. There is as
much religion. and think little more,
in a spring morning than i'll "A starless
midnight
.eligious work without any humor or
wit in il is banquet with "A side of beef,
and that raw, and no condiments and no
dessert succeeding. People will not sit
down at such banquet. BY all means
remove all frivolity and all bathos and
all lightness and all vulgarity-str
them out through the sieve of holy dis
examinations: but on the other hand, be-
ware of that monster which overshadows
the Christian church today. convention
ality. coming up from the Great Sahara
desert of Ecclesiasticism. having on its
back hump of sanctimonious gloom
and vehemently refuse TO swallow that
camel.
Oh, how particular great many peo-
pie are about the infinitesimals while
they are quite reckless about the magni-
tudes. What did Christ say: Did he
not excoriate the people in his time who
were SO careful to wash their hands be-
fore meal. but did not wash their
hearts. Ii is "A bad thing TO have un-
clean hands: il is worse thing TO have
an unclean heart. How many people
there are i'll our time who are very anx-
ious that after their death they shall he
buried with their feet toward the east.
and not at all anxious that during their
whole life they should face i'll the right
direction SO that they shall come up in
the resurrection OF the just whichever
way they are buried How many there
are chiefly anxious that minister of the
Gospel shall come i'll the line of apostolic
succession, not caring SO much whether
he comes from Apostle Paul or Apostle
Judas. They have way of measuring
gnat until il is larger than camel
THE UNRIGHTEoUs sPECULAToR.
Again: My subject photographs all
those who are abhorrent of small sins
while they are reckless in regard To mag
nificent thefts. Iou will find MANY a
merchant who, while he is so careful
that he would not take yard of cloth
or spool of cotton from the counter
without paving for it. and who if bank
cashier should make mistake and send
in roll of bills five dollars too much
would dispatch Il messenger i'll hot haste
to return the surplus, yet who will go
into stock company in which after
awhile he gets cont ol of the stock, and
then waters the stock and makes $lUO. 900
appear like $aOO.OO0 He only stole
500, 900 by the operation. Many of the
men of fortune made their wealth in
that way.
One of those men, engaged in such un-
righteous acts. that evening. the evening
of the very day when he watered the
stock. will find wharf rat stealing an
evening newspaper from the basement
doorway. and will 90 ont and catch the
urchin by the collar. and twist the collar
so tightly the poor fellow cannot say
that il was thirst for knowledge that led
him to the dishonest act. but grip the
collar tighter and tighter. saying. Il
have been looking for you a long while:
you stole my paper four or five times.
haven't you: you miserable wretch
And then the old stock gambler. with
voice they can hear three blocks. will
cry out, Police! Police!'
That same man. the evening of the day
in which he watered the stock. will
kneel with his family in prayer and
thank God for the prosperity of the day.
then kiss his children good night with
an air which seems TO say, Il hope You
Will sIOh UP W Dt stc SOOu IL our Ia
ther." Prisons for sins insectile in size.
but palaces for crimes dromedarian. No
mercy for sins animalcule i'll proportion.
but great leniency for mastodon iniguity
II is time that we learn i'll America
that sin is not excusablc i'll proportion
as il declares large dividends and has
outriders in equipage. Many "A man is
riding to perdition position ahead and
lackey behind. To steal dollar is
gnat: to steal many thousands of dollars
Is camel. There is many a fruit dealer
who would not consent to steal IL basket
Of peaches from neighbor's stall, but
who would not scruple to dcpress the
fruit market; and as long as can re-
member we have heard every summer
the peach crop of Maryland is a failure,
and by the time the crop comes in the
misrepresentation makes a difference of
millions of dollars. y man who would
not steal one peach basket steals fifty
thousand peach baskets.
ANY summer 20 down into the Mer-
camille library. in the reading rooms,
and see the newspaper reports of the
crops from all parts of the country. and
their phraSeology is very much the same.
and the same men wrote them. method
:cally and UNANIMOUSLY carrying out the
huge lying about the grain crop from
year 10 year and for score of years.
/ After awhile there is corner in the
wheat market. and men who had CON
tempt for "A petty theft will burglarize
the wheat bin of nation and commit
larceny upon the American corncrib.
And men will sit in churches and in re-
formatory institutions trying to strain
ont the small gnats of scoundrelism.
while in their grain elevators and in
their storehouses they are fattening huge
camels which they expect after awhile
10 swallow. Society has To be entirely
reconstructed on this subject. We are
to find that sin is inexcusable in pro-
I rortinr ~