Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1893-04-22

that will stand the test. They cannot re-
cover just damages. They cannot help a
defendant escape from the injustice of his
prosecutors. They are the worst evidence
against any case in which they are retained
But who declines to be a lawyer because
there are SO many incompetent lawyers
Yet there are tens Of thousands of people
who decline being religious because there
are so many unworthy Christians Now, |
say it is illogical. Poor lawyers are moth
Ing against Jurisprudence, poor physicians
sre nothing against medicine, poor farmers
are nothing against agriculture. and mean.
contemplate professors of religion are moth /,
ing against oar glorious Christianity.
THE WILD FANCIEs OF sKEPTICIsM.
Sometimes You have been riding along
on "a summer night by a 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 miasmata. My friends,
ON your way to heaven you will want a bet
ter light than the will-o.the-wisps which
dance ON the rotten character of dead Chris
tians. Exudations from poisonous trees in
our neighbor's garden will make n very
poor balm for our wounds.
Sickness will come, and we will be pushed
ont toward the Red sea which divides this
world from the next, and not the inconsist
ency of Christians, but the rod of faith
will wave back the waters as a commander
wheels his host The judgment will come,
with its thundershod soiemnities, attended
by bursting mountains and the deep laugh
of earthquakes. and suns will fly before the
feet of God like sparks from the anvil, and
ten thousand burning worlds shall blaze like
banners in the track of God omnipotent.
Oh. then we will not stop and say. There
was u mean Christian, there was n cowardly
Christian; there was lying Christian;
there was an impure Christian In that
day. as now, IF thou he wise. thou shal;
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
argument to drive you to him. The hes.
place for skillful doctor is in neighbor
hood where they are all poor doctors: the
best place for an enterprising merchant to
open his store is in place where the bar
gain makers do not understand their bust
ness, and the best place for you who want
to- become the illustrious and complete
Christian, the best place for you is to come
ElSlt uoNn tttiioiEs uS WI dtt ~ itleoiuIft-
tent and 80 inconsistent sometimes
Other persons apologize for not becom-
ing Christians because they lack time, rs
though religion muddled the brain of the
accountant, or trippcd the pen of the
author. or thickened the tongue Of the or
ator. or weakened the arm Of the mechanic.
or scattered the briefs of the lawyer, or in
terrupted the sales of the merchant. They
Inlt fhair stnr.. fnors arait,st IL nui fiOht IL
back with trowels and yar,isticks and cry.
Away with your religion from our store,
our Office our factory
They do not understand that religion in
this workaday world will help you to do
anything you ought to do. II can lay u
keel: it can sail ship; it can buy cargo;
it can work pulley; it can pave a street; !;
il can fit a wristband; il can write cons,i-
tuition. it can marshal host. II is as ap-
propriate To the astronomer as his telescope
to the chemist as his laboratory: To the ma
son rs his plumbline; to the carpenter as
his plane; to the child n his marbles: to the
grandfather as his staff.
RELIGION ADDS To ONES ENERGIES
No time to he religious here. You have
no time not To be religious You might a
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 toward eternity bare
headed and barefootel and houseless and
homeless and fricndless than to 20 through
life without religion.
Did religion make Raleigh any less of u
statesman, or lIavclock any less of sol
dier, or Grinnell any less of a merchant. or
West any less of u painter. Religion is the
best security in every bargain. IL is the
sweetest note in every SONG: il is the bright
est gem in every coronet. No time To be reli-
giols: Why. you will have To take time To
be sick To he troubled. 10 die. Our world
il only the wharf from which we are To EN-
bark for heaven. No time to secure the
friendship of Christ, No time 10 buy n
lamp and trim it for that walk through the
darkness which otherwise will be illumine'l
only by the whiteness of the tombstones.
No time to educate the eye for heavenly
splendors. or the hand for choral harps, or
the ear for everlasting songs. or the soul for
honor, glory and immortality: One would
think we had time for nothing else.
Other persons apologize for not entering
the Christian life because il is time enough
yet That is very like those persons who
send their regrets and say: II will come in
perhaps at II or IL o'clock. will not be
there mt the opening of the banquet. but
will he there ~ the close" Not yet. Not
yet,
Now, | do not give any doleful view OF
this life. There is nothing in my nature.
nothing in the grace Of God. that tends to-
ward Il doleful view of human life. have
not much sympathy with Addison's de-
,cription of the Vision of Mirza." where
he represents human life as being Il bridge
of hundred arches. and both ends of the
bridge covered with clouds. and the race
coming on, the most of them falling dow.i
through the first span and all of them fall
ing down through the last pan. II i a
very dismal picture have not much sym
pathy with the Spanish proverb which says,
''The sky is good. and the earth is good-
that which il bad is between the earth and
the sky"
But while we as Christian people are
bound to take cheerful view of life we
must also confess that life is a great uncer-
tainty, and that man who says. Il can't
become Christian because there is time
enough yet = is running risk infinite. You
do not perhaps realize the fact that this de
scen,iing grade Of sin gets sleeper and steep
er, and that you are gathering up rush
and velocity which after awhile may not
answer To the brakes. oh. my friends. he
not among those who give their whole life
to the world and then give their corpse to
God.
IL does not seem fair while our pulses are
in full play of health that we serve our
selves and serve the world and then make
God ut last the present Of II coffin. II does
not seem right that we run our ship from
coast Ia cc;I>t carrying cargoe> for our
selves and then when the ship i crushed
N thc rocks give To tod the shivercd tim
bsrS. II * u great thing for man On his
dying pillcw 10 repent better that than
never nj all but how much better, how
much more generous. il would have been il
he had repentcd ~ years before. My
| friends. you will never get over these pro-
| crastnations.
Now Is THE PROPER TIME
Here is drlusion. People think. Il can
go on in sin and worldlness. but after
awhile will repent, and then it will bc as
though had come nj the very start. : That