Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1893-04-17

ness is profitable Tor the life that now "a
az well rs fer The life which IL to comet"
Peter, with nature tempestuous ns the
sea that he once tried 10 walk, at one
look Of Christ went out and wept bitter
ly. Rich harvests Of grace may grow on
the tiptop Of the jagged steep, and 1ocks
Of Christian graces may find pasturagc
In fields Of bramble and rock. Though
your disposition may be all a-bristle with
fretfulness, though you have q temper
a-gleam with quick lightnings, though
your avarce lie like that Of the horse
ieech. crying, "Givcl' though damnable
impurities have wrapped you in all con-
suming fire, God can drive that devil
out of your soul, and over the chaos and
the darkness he can say, "Let there be
light"
Converting grace has lifted the drunk
ard from the ditch and snatched the knife
from the hand of the assassin and the false
keys from the burglar, and in the pestif-
erous lanes Of the city met the daughter
Of sin under the dim lamplght and scat
tered her sorrow and her guilt with the
words, "Thy sins are forgiven-go and
sin no more" For scarlet sin o scarlet
atonement.
Other persons apologize for not enter
ing the Christian life because of the in
consistencies of those who profess reli-
gion. There are thousands Of poor
farmers. They do not know the nature
Of soil nor the proper rotation Of crops.
Their corn is shorter in the stalk and
smaller In the ear. They have 10 less
bushels to the acre than their neighbors.
But who declines being farmer because
there are 30 many poor farmcrs2
There are thousands of incompetent
merchants. They buy at the wrong
time. They get cheated in the sale of
their goods. Every bale Of goods is to
them bale of disaster. They fail after
awhile and go out of business. But who
declines to be merchant because there
are so many incompetent merchants?
There are thousands of poor lawyers.
They cannot draw declaration that will
stand the test. They cannot recover
Just damages. They cannot help de-
fendant escape from the injustice of his
prosecutors. They are the worst evi-
dence against any case in which they
are retained. But who declines to be
lawyer because there are 80 many in
competent lawyers2 Yet there are tens
of thousands Of people who decline being
religious because there are 30 many un-
worthy Christians. Now, say it is il
logical. Poor lawyers are nothing
against jurisprudence, poor physicians
are nothing against medicine, poor farm
ers are nothing against agriculture, and
mean, contemplate professors Of religion
are nothing against our glorious Christi
anity.
THE wIIk-O-THE-wIsP OF UNBELIEF.
Sometimes you have been riding along
on summer night by swamp, and
you have seen lights that kindled over
decayed vegetation--lights which are
called jack-o'- lantern or will-o'-the-wisp.
These lights are merely poisonous mias-
mata. My friends, on your way to
heaven you will want q better light than
the -the-wisps which dance on the
rotten character Of dead Christians. Ex-
udations from poisonous trees in our
neighbor's garden will make very poor
balm for our wounds.
Sickness will come, and we will be
pushed out toward the Red sea which
divides this world from the next. and not
the inconsistency of Christians but the
rod of faith will wave back the waters as
q commander wheels his host. The judg-
ment will come with it's thundershod 30
lemnities, attended by bursting noun
tains and the deep laugh of earthquakes,
and suns will fly before the feet Of God
like sparks from the anvil, and 10000
burning worlds shall blaze like banners
In the track Of God oinnipotent. On,
then we will stop and say, "There was a
mean Christian; there was o cowardly
Christian; there was q lying Christian;
there was an impure Christian" In that
day as now, "R thou be wise, thou shalt
be wise for thyself. but If thou scornest
thou alone shall bear It," Why, my
brother, the inconsistency Of Christians
so far from being an argument to keep
you away from God ought to be an ar
gument to drive you to him. The best
place for skillful doctor is o neighbor-
hood where they are all poor doctors; the
best place for an enterprising merchant
to open his store is in place where the
bargain makers do not understand their
business, and the best place for you who
want to become the illustrious and COM
plete Christians-the best place for you is
to come right down among us who are SO
incompetent and so inconsistent some
times.
Other persons apologize for not becom-
ing Christians because they lack time,
as though religion muddled the brain of
the accountant, or tripped the pen of the
author, or thickened the tongue of the
orator, or weakened the arm Of the me-
chanic, or scattered the briefs Of the
lawyer, or interrupted the sales of the
merchant. They bolt their store doors
against it and fight ii back with trowels
and with yard sticks and cry, Away
with your religion from our store, our
Office, our factoryw
RELIGION FOR WORKERS.
They do not understand that religion
In this workaday world will help you to
do anything you ought to do. 1t can lay
"A -. ...I .l.tx. ans. A.. ~ . an