Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1893-04-28
netzhbors sarleu will make a very poor

nelZhbO-s 2arIeu Will maze very po1'
Dalul Tor our woul i.
SIcsness viii come, an we will be pushed
out toward the Re: Sea wnlc1 divides tnLs
world from the mex. an1 not the lncoa-
sIstency OF Christians but the roi OF ialtu
will wave Oaca the waters as commanler
xneeis his lost. TIE judgment viii come
with rs thunders201 so,eunItseS. attel lei
By burst mountains and the deep laugh
O eart-lI 1sa-, au1 suns VIII ny before the
feet Of tIJI ike sparks fro n the anvil, AMI
1000 turning worlds snail biaz- Ike oan-
ners III toe rack o. God OmniCOJ4nt- On,
then We Will stop and say, There was
mean Christian; there was a cowarI lily
Christian There was N impure CHRISTIAN
In that day as now, III thou be wise, tnou
shalt be wise for tlgEelf, bu- II thou scOru-
est thou alone snail hear II. W ny, my
brother, the Inconsistency OF Christians so
far from being an argument 10 keep you
away from God ought to be an argument 10
drive you TO Him. The. best place for skill
ful doctor Is a neIghbOrhOOd where they are
all DOOR doctors: the best place for an enter
prising merchant to open MS store Is IN
place where the bargain makers do not I'M
dersIand their business, and the best place
for YOU who want to become the llluStr1Ous
and complete Christians-tha best place for
YOU is to come right down among US VINO
are so incompetent and SO inconsistent SONG
times.
Other persons apologize for not becoming
Christians because they lack time, as though
religion mu1dled the brain OF the account
ant, or tripped the pen OF the adthCr, u
thicksnei the tongue OF the orator, or wee|-
ene1 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 1t back with
trowels and with yard sticks and cry,
"Awav with your rei12ton from our store,
gu. office our factory"
They DO not understand that religion in
this wOrkaday world will help you TO 90
anything you ought to do. 1t can lay
keel, it can sail ship. it can buy cargo, 1t
can work a pulley, it can pave street 1t
can fit wrlstband. it can write cOnstitu-
ton, it can marshal a host. 1t IS as apDro-
pirate to the astronomer as his telescope, 10
the chemist as his laboratory. to the mason
as his plumbne to the carpenter as his
plane. to the cAild as his marbles. to the
grandfather as his staff.
No time to be religious here! You have
no time not to &c religious. You might as
we'll have no clerks in your store, no books
in your library. no compass on your ship.
no rife in the battle, no hat for your
head no coat for your back no shoes or
your feet. Better travel on toward eternity
bare headed and bare footed. AMI houseaess
AMI homeless AMI frendIess, than go
through life without religion.
Did religion make Raleigh any less OF a
statesman or Havelock anv less OF a So
der. or Grinnell any less OF merchant, o.
West any less of painter? Religion is the
best security in every bargain, it is the
sweetest note in every song. it is the bright
est gem in every cO"Onet. No time to be re-
igious! Why, you will have to take time
to be sick. to he troubled to die. Our
world is only the wharf from which Wa 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 rha
darkness which otherwise will be iluminel
only by the wilderness Of the ton bstonas.
No time to EDUCATE the eye for heavenly
splendors. or the hand for choral harps, or
the ear for everlasting songs. or the sou for
honor, glory AMI immortality. One would
think we had time for nothing else.
Other persons aoolOgiza for not entering
the Christian life because it is time enough
yet. That is very like those persons who
send their regrets and say: Il will come in
perhaps at II or 70 O'clock. [ will not be
there at the opening Of the banquet, but L
will be there at the close" Not yet! Not
yet!
Now, do not give any dolefu! view of
this life. There is nothing in my nature.
nothing in the grace OF God, that tends to-
ward a doleful view Of human life. | have
not much sympathy with A idison's descr'p-
ton of the "Vison OF Mira" where he rep
resents human life as being a bridge OF a
hundred arches, and both en- Is OF the bridge
covered with clouds, and the race coming
Oh, the most of them falling down through
the first span and all Of them falling down
picture. have not much sympathy with
the Spanish proverb which say, The sky
is good, and the earth is good-that which
is bad is between the earth and the sky
But while we 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
Caristan because there is time enough yet"
is running risk Infinite. You do not per-
haps realize the fact that this descending
do Oeci,, cfon an
that you gathering up rush and ve!oc-
ity which after While may not answer tC
the brakes. GA, my friends. be not among
those who give their whole life to the world
and then g,ve their corpse TO God. 1t
does not seem fair while our pulses are in
tull play OF health that we serve our,
selves and serve the world and then make
Croi at last the presen of coffin. 1t does
not seem RI ght 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 Go the shivered timbers. 1t
IS a great thing for man on his dying pill
low t. repent-better than never at all-but
how mGch better, how much more generous,
it would have been if he had reDented fifty
years before! My friends, you will never
get over these procrastinations
Here Is a deiuslOn. People think, 81 can
so on in sin and worIdinesS. but after awhile
will repent, AMI then it will he as thou yh
l had come at tn very start" That is
de!uSlOn. No one ever gets fully over pro
crastination. Ii you give your soul to God,
some other time than this, you will enter
heaven with only half the capacity for en-
joyment AMI snowlelge you might have
had. There will be heights of bIessedness
you might have attained, you will never
reach; thrones o. glory on which you might
have oeen seated, but which you will never
climb. We will never get over pro-
crastiaatiOu. neither III time nor in eter-
nifty. We have startel on a march from
had