Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1893-04-22
Other persons apologize for NOT, enter

Other persons apologize for not: enter
ing the Christian life because of the in
constituencies 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 so many poor farmers?
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 a bale of disaster. They fail after
awhile and go out of business. Butwho
declines to be merchant because there
are so MANI incompetent merchants?
There are thousands of poor lawyers.
They cannot draw II declaration thatwill
stand the test. They cannot recover
Just damages. They cannot help de-
| PENDANT ESCAPE fromsthe injustice of his
prosecutors. They arc tine worst evil
dence against any case i'll which they
are retained. But who declines to be
I LAWYER because there are so many IN
competent lawyers: Yet there are tens
of thousands of people who decline being
religious because there are so many I'M
worthy Christians. Now, I say it is il
logical. Poor lawyers are nothing
against jurisprudence, poor physicians
are nothing against medicine, poor farm
ers arc nothing against agriculture, and
mean. contemplate professors of religion
are nothing against our glorious Christi
anity.
THE w1L11o-THE-wIs OF UNBELIEF.
Sometimes you have been riding along
on a summer night by swamp, and
YOU have seen lights that hndled over
decayed vegetatior-lights which are
called iack-o' lantern OF will-o'- the-wisp.
These lights are merely poisonous MAS
mata. My friends, on your way to
heaven you will want a better light than
the will -the-wisps which dance on the
rotten character of dead Christians. En-
udations from poisonous trees in Our
neighbours garden will make very poor
balm for our wounds.
Sickness will come, and we will be
pushed out toward the Red sea which
4 divides this world from the next. and not
the inconsistency of Christians but the
rod of faith will wave back the waters as
a commander wheels his host. The Judg-
ment will come with its thundershod So
IDENTITIES, 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 onnipotent. Oh,
then we will stop and say, "There was a
mean Christian; there was cowardly
Christian; there was a lying Christian;
there was an impure Christian" In that
: day as now, "If thou be wise, thou shalt
be wise for thyself. but if thou soonest
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.
cument to drive you to him. The best
place for skillful doctor is neighbor-
hood where they are all poor doctors; the
best place for an enterprising merchant
: to open his store is in q place where the
bargain makers do pot understand the en-
;;lss,r-s n. !; :ss far:xony
n,,,,i,ee5, "
! want to become the illustriou and com.
plete Christians-tne best place for you is
to come right down among us who are SC
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 it back with trowels
and with yard sticks and cry, away
with your religion from our store, our
office, our factory
A 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
keel, it can sail ship, it can buy car
20, it can work pulley, it can pave a
street, it can fit wristband, it can write
constitution, it can marshal host. 1t
is as appropriate to the astronomer as his
telescope, to the chemist as his labora-
tory, to the mason as his plumbline, to
the carpenter as his plane, to the child
as his marbles, to the grandfather as his
staff.
No time to lie religious here! You have
no time not to be religious You might
as well have no clerks in your store, no
books in your library, no compass on
your ship, no rifle in the battle, no hat
for your head, no coat for your back, no
shoes for your feet. Better travel on to-
ward eternity bare headed and barefooted
and houseless and homeless and friend
less than to go through life without re-
ligion.
Did religion make Raleigh any less of
statesman, or Havelock any less of a
soldier, or Grinnell any less of mer-
chant, or West any less of painter?
Religion is the best security in every
bargain, it is the sweetest note In every
song, it is the brightest gem in every
coronet. No time to be religious! Why,
you will have to take time to be sick, to
be troubled, to die. Our world is only
the wharf from which we are to embark
for heaven. No time to secure the
friendship of Christ. No time to buy
lamp and trim it for that walk through
the darkness which otherwise will be
illumined only by the whiteness of the
tombstones. No time to educate the eye
for heavenly splendors, OF the hand for
choral harps. or the ear for everlasting
songs, or the soul for honor, glory and
Immortality. One would think we had
4 ti,,,o for ,,o4hipr m cleo