The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1894-09-12

y
shock of firearms. Do you, the peace
full and Industrious citizen, go through
that street? 30, mol" you will say, "I'll
go around the block" Now, men come
and look upon this narrow path to
Heaven and sometimes see the ecclesi-
astical brickbats flying every whittier,
and they say: ''Well, guess I'll take
the broad road; there is SO much sharp
shooting on the narrow road guess I'll
try the broad road!'
Francis /. so hated the Lutherans
that he said that If he thought there
was one drop of Lutheran blood in his
veins he would puncture them and let
that drop out. Just so long as there is
so much hostility between denomina-
tions, or between one professed Chris
tian and another, or between one
church and another, SO long men will
be disgusted with the Christian religion
and say; "If that is religion, want
none of it."
Again, bigotry and sectarianism do
| great damage in the fact that they
hinder the triumph of the gospel. o,
how much wasted ammunition How
many men of splendid intellect have
given their whole life to controversial
disputes when, if they had giver their
life to something practical, they might
have been vastly useful Suppose,
while l speak, there were common.
enemy coming up the bay, and all the
forts around the harbor began to fire
at each other-you would cry out:
National suicide! Why don't those
forts blaze away in one direction, and
that against the common enemy?" And
! yet l sometimes see in the church of
the Lord Jesus Christ strange thing
going on; church against church, min
lister against minister, denomination
against denomination, firing away into
their own fort, or the fort which ought
to be on the same side, instead of con-
centrating their energy and giving one
mighty and everlasting volley against
the navies of darkness riding up
through the bay.
go out sometimes in the summer,
and find two beehives, and these two
hives are in quarrel. / come near
enough not to be stung. but l come
just near enough to hear the contro-
versy, and one beehive says, THAT
field of clover is the sweetest" and
another beehive says, THAT field of
clover is the sweetest" come in be-
tween them, and say, stop this
quarrel; if you like that field Of clover
best, go there; if you like that field of
clover best, go there; but let me tell
you that that hive which gets the most
honey is the best hive!" So ] come out
between the churches of the Lord
Jesus Christ. One denomination Of
Christians says, THAT field of Chris
tian doctrine is best, and another says,
"This field of Christian doctrine is
best" Well, say, "go where you get
the most honey" That is the best
church which gets the most honey of
Christian grace for the heart, and the
most honey of Christian usefulness for
the life.
Besides that, if you want to build up
any denomination, you will never build
it up by trying to pull some other
down. Intolerance never put anything
down. How much has intolerance ac-
complished, for instance, against the
Methodist church? For long years her
ministry were forbidden the pulpits Of
Great Britain. Why was it that SO
many of them preached in the fields?
Simply because they could not get in
the churches. And the name of the
church was given in derision and as a
sarcasm. The critics of the church
said: "They have no order, they have
no method in their worship" and the
critics, therefore, in irony called them
"Methodists.
am told that in Astor library, New
York, kept as cnriosities, there are
seven hundred and seven books and
pamphlets against Methodism. Did in
tolerance stop that church? No; it is
either first or second amid the denomi-
nations of Christendom, her missionary
stations in all parts of the world, her
men not only important in religious
trust, but important also in secular
trusts. Church marching on, and the
more intolerance against it the faster
II marched.
What did intolerance accomplish
against the Baptist church, If laugh
ing scorn and TRADE could have de-
stroyed the church it would not have
to-day disciple left. The Baptists
were hurled out of Boston in olden
times. Those who sympathized with
them were imprisoned, and when pc
tition was offered asking leniency in
their behalf, all the men who signed it
were indicted. Has intolerance stopped
the Baptist church? The last statistics
in regard to it showed twenty-five
thousand churches and three million
communicates. Intolerance never puts
down anything.
In England law was made against
the Jew. England thrust back the Jew
and thrust down the Jew, and declared
that no jew should hold official posi-
ton. What came of it? Were the Jews
destroyed? Was their religion over
thrown? No. Who became prime min
lister of England? Who was next to
the thronep Who was higher than the
throne because he was councillor and
adviserPf Disraeli, Jew. What were
| a., Ill o,,.. =.