Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1892-03-28

p'.f we need 10 brighten up our feuSlOu
message with such Christlike vivacit
g rs we find in the text.
WIT AND PATHos IN TIE PULPIT.
take down from my library the biof
raphies Of ministers and writer's of pas
IL ages. inspired and uninspired, who hav
!. done the most to bring souls TO Jesu
Christ. and find that without a singl
exception they consecrated their wit an
heir humor TO Christ. Elijah used
Y when he advised the Baalites, as the,
> gould not make their god respond, tell
a z them to call louder, as their go'
@ Light be sound asleep or gone a-huH
!. iig. Job used it when he said to hi
{ self conceited comforters, "Wisdom vii
{ Tie with you" G. rist not only used (
. In the text, but when he ironically com
a plimented the putrefed Pharisees, ray
ing, "The whole need not a physician,
and when by one word he described thI
cunning Of Herod. saying. "Go, ye, an
! tell that fox
Matthew Henry's Commentaries
from the first page to the last coPus
Gated with humor as summer cloud
with heat lightning. John Bunyan's
writings are as full of humor as they arr
Of saving truth, and there is not an aged
man here who has ever read "Pilgl im'a
Progress who does not remember that
while reading it he smiled as often IS b.
wept Chrysostoin, George Herbert
Robert South, John Wesley, George
Whitefeld, Jeremy Taylor, Rowland
Hill, Nettleton, George G.. Finney I'll.
all the men Of the past who greatly ad-
yanced the kingdom of God consecr;,ted
their wit and their humor to the Cause
Of Christ.
30 it has been in all the ages, ard |
say to these young theological studc nts
who cluster in these services Sabbath by
Sabbath, sharpen your wits as keen az
sciiniters and then take them into this
holy war. Ii is very short bridge be-
tween smile and tear, suspension
bridge from eye to lip, and it is soon
crossed over, and q smile is sometimes
just as sacred as a tear There is as
much religion, and think little more,
in "a spring morning than in a starless
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 banquet. BY all means
remove all frivolity and all bathos and
all lightness and all vulgarity--strain
them out through the sieve of holy dis
elimination; but on the other hand be-
ware of that monster which overshadows
the Christian church today, convention
atty coming up from the Great Sahara
desert of Ecclesiasticism, having on its
back hump of sanctimonious gloom
and vohemently 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 say2 Did he
not excoriate the people in his time who
were 30 careful to wash their hands be-
fore meal, but did not wash their
hearts. 1t is bad thing to have un-
clean hands; 1t is worse thing to have
an unclean heart. How many people
there are in our time who are very anx-
ions that after their death they shall be
buried 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 the line of apostolic
succession, not caring 30 much whether
he comes from Apostle Paul or Apostle
Judas. They have way of measuring
a gnat until it is larger than camel.
THE UNRIdHTEoUs sPEcULAToR.
Again; My subject photographs all
those who are abhorrent of small sins
while they are reckless in regard to mag
nificent thefts. You 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 paying for it, and who If bank |
cashier should make mistake and send
in roll of bills five dollars too much |
would dispatch messenger in hot haste |
TO return the surplus, yet who will 20 |
into a stock company in which after |
awhile he gets control of the stock, and |
then waters the stock and makes $100, 900 |
appear like 100000 He only stole
sl00,O 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 viii 60 out and catch the
nrchin by the collar, and twist the collar
80 tightly the poor fellow cannot say
that il was thirst for knowledge that led
aim to the dishonest act, but grip the
'ollar tighter and tighter, saying, IL
laye been looking for you long while;
'ou stole my papor four or five times,
haven't your you miserable wretch"
And then the old stock gambler, with
'oice they can hear three blocks, will
'ry out, "Policel Policer
That same man, the evening OF the day
n which ho watered the stock, win
,neel with his family in prayer and
hank God for the prosperity of the day,
hen kiss his children good night with
IA air which seems 10 say, ~ hope You
gill all grow mp 10 be as good as your IA
her." Prisons for sins inseotile in size,
'ut palaces for crimes dromedarian. No
mercy for sins animaloule in proportion,
ut great lenienoy formastodon iniquity. .
II is time that We learn in America
hat sin Is not excnsable In proportion
. II declares large dividends aud has
utriders in eQuipage. Many a man is
ding 10 perdition petition ahead and