The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1892-04-13

Spond; telling them 10 cali louder as
their god might be sound asleep or
gone ahunting. Job used it when he
said to his self-conceited comforters,
"Wisdom will die with you" Christ
not only used it in the text, but when
He ironically complimented the putri-
fled Pharisees, saying, THE whole
need not a physician" and when by
one word He described the cunning
of Herod, saying: go ye, and tell
that fox" Matthew Henry's
Commentaries" from the first
page to the last coruscated
with humor as summer clouds with heat
lightning. John Bunyans writings are
as full of humor as they are of saying
truth, and there is not an aged man
here who has ever read Pilgrims Prog
ress who does not remember that while
reading it he smiled as often as he wept.
Chrysostom, George Herbert, Robert
Smith, John Wesley, George Whitefeld;
Jeremy Taylor, Rowland Hill, Nettle-
ton, George G. Finney, and all the men
of the past who greatly advanced the
Kingdom of God consecratcd their wit
and their humor to the cause of Christ
So it has been in all the ages, and say
to these young theological students,
who cluster in these services Sabbath
by Sabbath, sharpen your wits as keen
as scimetars, and then take them into
this holy war. 1t is very short bridge
hot c,,nSln upl
pension bridge from eye to lip, and it is
soon crossed over and smile is some
times just as sacred as tear. There is
as much religion, and I think lite
more, in a spring morning than STAR
less midnight. Religious work without
any humor or wit in it is banquet
with side of beef, and that raw, and
no condiments and no dessert succeeding.
People will not sit down at such ban
quet. By all means remove all frivolity
and all pathos, and all lightness, and
all vulgarity them out through
the sieve of holy discrimination; but, on
the other hand, beware of that monster
which overshadows the Christian church
to-day, conventionality, coming up from
the Great Sahara Desert of ecclesiasti-
cism, having on it's back hump OF
sanctimonious gloom and vehemently
refuse to swallow the camel.
Oh, how particular great many peo-
pie are about the infinitesimals while
they are quite reckless about the mag
nitudes. What did Christ say? Did He
not excoriate the people in His time who
were So careful to wash their hands be-
fore a meal, but did not wash their
hearts?
1t is bad thing to have unclean
hands; it is a worse thing to have an
unclean heart How many people there
are in our time who are very anxious
that after their death they shall be bur-
led with their feet toward the east, and
not at all anxious that during their
whole life they should face in 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 in tl%4 ne Of
apostolic succession, not caring soTmuch
whether he comes from Apostle Paul OF
Apostle Judas? They have way OF
measuring gnat until it is larger than
a camel
Again: My subject photographs all
those who are abhorrent of small sins
while they are reckless in regard to
magnificent thefts. You will FIND
many merchant, who, while he is sc
careful that he would not take yard
of cloth or n spool of cotton from the
counter without paying for it, and who
if Ii bank cashier should make mistake
and send in roll of bills five dollars
too much, would dispatch a messenger
in hot haste to return the surplus, YET
who will go into a stock company, in
which, after while, he gets control Of
the stock, and then waters the stock
and make 100000 appear like 5000, 900
He only stole $4,000 by the operation
Many of the men of fortune made theil
wealth that way. One of those men
engaged in such unrighteousness, thai
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 &C
out and catch the urchin by the collar
and twist the collar so tightly the pool
fellow can not say it was thirst fol
knowledge that led him to the dishon
est act, but grip the collar tighter ant
tighter, saying: Il have been looking
for you long while; you stole my pa
per four or five times, haven't you,
You miserable wretch And then tho
old stock gambler, with a voice they
can hear three blocks, will cry out
"Pclice! Policem That same man, the
evening of the day in which he watercc
his stock, will kneel with his family il
prayer and thank God for the prosper
ity of the day, and then kiss his chill
dren good night with an air which
seems to say Il hope you will grow
up to be as good as your father" Pris
ons for sins insectilc in size, but pal
aces for crimes dromedarian. No mercy
for sins animalcule in proportion, but
great leniency for a mastodon iniquity
1t is time that we learn in America
that sin is not excusable in proportion
as it declares large dividends and ha.
outriders in equipage, Many man i.
riding to perdition position ahead ant
lackey behind. To steal dollar is {
gnat; to steal many Thousand,
of dollars is a camel. There is many 6
fruit dealer who would not consent t
steal basket of peaches from neigh
boris stall, but who would not scruplt
to depress the fruit market; and a.
| long as can remember we-have hearc