The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1893-04-27

OF thousands OF people who, decline
being religious because there are so.
many unworthy Christians. Now |
say it is illogical. Poor lawyers are.
nothing against jurisprude poor
physicians are nothing against medi-
cine, poor farmers are nothing against
agriculture, and mean, contemplate
professors of religion are nothing
against our glorious Christianity
Other persons apologize for not be-
coming Christians because they lack
time. AS though religion muddled the
brain Of the accountant, or tIipped the
pen of the author, or thickened the
tongue of the orator, or weakened the
arm of the mechanic, 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 Y
]. They do not understand that religion
in this workaday world will help you
to do anything you ought to do. It can
lay keel, it can sail a ship, it can buy
cargo. it can work pulley, it can
write a constitution. it can marshal a
host. It is as appropriate to the astron-
omer as his telescope; to the chemist
as his laboratory; to- the mason AS his
plumb-line; to the carpenter as his
plane; to the child as his marbles; to
the grandfather as his staff.
No time to be religious here! You
nave no time not to be religious You
might as well have no clerks in your
store, no books in your library, no COM
pass on your ship, no rifle in the battle,
no hat on your head, no coat on your
back, no shoes for your feet. Better
travel on toward eternity bareheaded
and barefooted and houseless and
homeless and friendless than to 90
through life without religion.
Other persons apologize for not en-
tering the Christian life because it is
time enough yet That is very like
those persons who send their regrets
and say, II will come in perhaps at IL
or ~ o'clock: I will not be there at the
opening of the banquet, but I will be
there at the close" Not yet! Not vet!
Now, [ do not give any doleful view
Of this life: there is nothing in my ma
tule, nothing in the grace of God. that
tends toward a doleful view of human
life. have not much sympathy with
Addison's description Of the "Vision
OF MirZa,'' where he represents human:
life as being a bridge of a hundred
| arches and both ends of the bridge COW
cred with clouds, and the race coming
on, the most of them falling down
| through the first span and all Of them
falling down through the last span.
It is a very dismal picture. I have not
much sympathy with the Spanish PROV
erb which says, 1.-The sky is good and
the earth is good-that which is bad
| is between the earth and the sky.''
But while we as Christian people are
bound to take a cheerful view of life.
| we must also confess that life is a great
uncertainty. and that man who says:
Il can't become a Christian because
there is time enough yet - is running
a risk infinite. You do not perhaps
realize the fact that this descending
| grade OF sin gets sleeper and sleeper,
and that you are gathering up a rush
and a velocity which after awhile may
not answer to the brakes 0. my
friends, be not among those who give
their whole life to the world and then
give their corpse to God. 1t does not
seem fair while our pulses are in full
play Of health, that we serve ourselves
and serve the world, and then make
God at last the present of a coffin
| 1t does not seem right that we run
our ship from coast to coast carrying
cargoes for ourselves, and then when
the ship is crushed on the rocks, give
TO God the shivering tirnbers It is a
great thing for a man on his dying pill
low to repent-better that than never
at all; but how much better, how much
more generous, it would have been if
he had repented fifty years before!
My friends, you will never get over
/ these Demonstrations
This morning, voices roll down the
sky, and all the worlds of light are
ready to rejoice at your disenthral-
ment. Rush not into the presence of
the king ragged with sin, when you
may have this robe of righteousness.
Dash not your foot to pieces against
the throne of a crucified Christ Throw
not your crown of life off the battlej
ments. All the scribes of God are this
moment ready with volumes of living
light to record the news of your soul
| emancipated