Democratic messenger., 1894-08-04

for right life. men make so many mis-
takes, how much harder it is when, for
instance, some appetite thrusts its iron
grapple into the roots of the tongue and
pulls a man down with hands of de-
structioni If under such circumstances
ho break away, there will be no sport
in the undertaking, no holiday enjoy
ment, but a struggle i'll which the wres-
tiers move from side to side and bend
and twist and watch for an opportunity
to get i'll u heavier stroke until with
one final effort, i'll which the muscles
are distended. and the veins stand out,
and the blood starts. the swarthy habit
falls under the knee of the victor-es-
capped ut last as with the skin of his
teeth.
In the last day it will be found that
Hugh Latimer and John Knox and
Huss and Ridley were not the greatest
martyrs. but Christian men who went
up incorrupt from the contaminations
and pcrplcxities of Wall street, Water
street, Pearl street. Broad street, State
street, Third street, Lombard street and
the bourse. On earth they were called
brokers or stockholders or retailers or
importers, but in heaven Christian
heroes. No fagots We're heapcd about
their feet. no inquisition demanded
from them recantation. no soldier aim
ed spike at their heart, but they had
mental torturcs. compared with which
all physical consuming is rs the breath
of q spring morning.
Peace of the Gospel.
find in the community large class
of men who have been so cheated, so
lied about, SO outrageously wronged
that they have lost faith in everything.
In a world where everything seems so
top: ,ur.y they do not see how there
can be any God. They are confounded
and frenzied and misanthropic. Elabo-
rate argument to prove to them the
truth of Christianity or the truth of
anything else touches them nowhere.
Hear me, all such men. l preach TO you
no rounded periods, no ornamental dis
course, but | put my hand ON your
shoulder and invite you into the peace
of the gospel. Here is rock on which
you may stand firm, though the waves
dash against it harder than the Allan
tic, pitching its surf clear above Eddy
stone lighthouse. Do not charge upon
God all these troubles of the world. AS
long as the world stuck to God, God
stuck to the world, but the earth seeded
from his government, and hence all
these outrages and all these woes. God
is good. For many hundreds Of years he
has been coaxing the world h come
back TO him, but the more he has ,oixed
the more violent have men been in their
resistance, and they have stepped bacl;
and stepped back until they have drop
ped into ruin
Try this God, We who have had the
bloodhounds after you, and who have
thought that God had forgotten you.
Try him and see if he will not help.
Try him and see if he will not pardon.
Try him and see if he will not save
The flowers of spring have no bloom so
sweet rs the Towering of Christ's affec-
tions. The sun hath no warmth COM
pared with the glow of his heart The
waters have no refreshment like the
fountain that will slake the thirst of
thy soul. At the moment the reindeer
stands with his lip and nostril thrust
into the cool mountain torrent the hunt
er may be coming through the thicket.
Without cracking stick under his
foot he comes close by the stag, aims
his gun. draws the trigger, and the poor
thing rears in its death agony and falls
backward, its antlers crashing on the
rocks. but the painting heart that drinks
kom the water brooks of Gods promise
ehall never be fatally wounded and shall
never die.