The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1893-04-28

waters as COMMANDER wheels his host
The Judgment viii come, with its thun
: dershod solemnities, attended by burst
ing mountains and the deep laugh o
! earthquakes and suns will fly befor,
the feet of God like sparks from tn,
: anvil. and 10000 burning worlds shall
blaze up like banners in the track Of
God omnipotent. Oh. then we will not
stop and say: There was mean Chris
tian; there was a eowardly Chistian
there was lying Christian: there wa:
an impure Christian" In that day
as now, If thou be wise, thou shalt be
wise for myself; but if thou soonest,
thou alone shall bear it, Why, my
brother, the inconsistency of Chris
tians, so far from being an argument
to keep you away from God, ought "a
be an argument to drive you to him
Other persons apologize for not 30
coming 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 mechanic, or scattered the
briefs of the lawyer, or interrupted
the sales of the merchant. They bolt
their store doors against it, and fight il
back with trowels and with yardstieks.
and cry: Away with your religion
from our store, our Office. our factorvi''
| They do not understand that religion
| in this workaday world will help you
20 do anything you ought to do. Itca
lay keel. it can sail ship, it can buy
cargo. 1t can work a pulley, it can
pave street, it can lit wristband. it
can write z constitution. it can marshal
host. 1t Is as appropriate to the as
tronomer as his telescope; to the chem
ist 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
have 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,
on hat for your head. no coat for your
back. no shoes for your feet. Better
travel on toward eternity bareheaded
and barefooted and houseless and home
less and frieadless than to go through
life without religion.
Did religion make Raleigh any less
of a statesman. or Havelock any less of
soldier, or Grinnell any less of a mer-
chant. or West any less of a painter:
Religion Is the best security in every
bargain: II i the sweetest note in every
song, i Is the brightest gem in every
coronet. No time to be religious. Why,
you will have to take time TO De 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. One would
think we had time for nothing else.
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: Il viii come in perhaps at II
or II o'clock: l win not be there at the ,
opening of the banquet, but l Will be
there at the close" Not vet, Not vet |
Now. DO not give any doleful view I
of this life: there is nothing in my ma
ture. nothing in the grace of God. that |
tends toward a dolefui view of human 4
life. l have not much sympathy with |
Addison's description of the Vision Of |
Mira, where he represents human life /
as being q bridge Of hundred arches
and both ends OF the bridge COW
cred with clouds. and the race
coming or. the most of them |
falling down through the first span and
all of them falling down through the
last span 1t i very dismal picture.
have not much sympathy with the
Spanish proverb which says: The sky
IS good and the earth is gUOd--that
which is bad is between the earth and
the sky"
But while we rs Christian people are
bound 20 take a cheerful view of life,
We must also confess that life is a great
and that man who says:
L can't become a Christian because
there is time enough yet. Is running a
risk infinite. You do not perhaps
-ealize the fact that this des-
,ending grade of sin gets steep
r and sleeper. and that You are
up a rush and 4 velocity
which after awhile may not answer 70
he brakes. o. my friends. be not
among those who give their whole life
% the world and then give their corpse
% God. 1t does not seem fair while
)ur pulses are in full play of health
that We serve ourselves and serve the
world. and then make God at last the
present of coffin. Il is great thing
or man on his dying pillow to repent
ha- 1,nr no 81 ]
low much better. how much more gen.
.rous. II would have been il he had re-
,ented fifty years before! Ny friends,
-ou VIII never get over these procTasti-
latiOns-
Here IS delusiOn. People think. Il
an go on in sin and worldliness. but
.fter awhile l Will repent, and then It
viii be as though l had come at the
cry start" That is a delusiOn. No
ne ever gets fully over proc-astination.
I You give your soul to God some other
ime than this you will enter Heaven
With only half the capacity for enjoy
1ent and knowledge you might have
ad- There VIII be heights of blessedneSs
gu might have attained.y you viii never
each thrones of glory on which you
light have been seated. but which you
ill never climb. We will never
ct over procrastinatiOn. neither in
ime nor in eternity. We have started
n march from which there is no re-
-eat- The shadows OF eternity gather
n our pathway. How insignificant is
Ime compared with the vast eternity.
| was thinking of this while coming
OWE over the Allegheny mountains at
Don. by that wonderful place which
on have all heard described as the
crseshOe-a depression in the side of
le mountain where the train almost
lrns back again upon itself. and Won