The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1895-02-01

centuries would have turned back to tn
dark ages A wrong impression is mad
that because two men falsify their banl
accounts those two wrongdoers are bla
zoned before the world, while moth
ing is said in praise of the hundreds O.
bank clerks who have stood at theiI
desks year in and year out until theil
health is we'll nigh gone. taking not
pin s worth of that which belongs tt
others for themselves though with skill
full stroke of pen they might have en-
riched themselves and built their coun
try seats Oh the banks of the Hudson OF
the Rhine
Blame Rather Than Praise.
1t is a mean thing in human nature
that men and women are not praised fol-
doing we'll, but only excoriated when
they do wrong. By divine arrangement
the most of the families of the earth are
at peace, and the most Of those united
In marriage have for each other affinity
and affection. They may have occasional
differences and here and there season
of pout, but the vast majority of those
in the conjugal relation chose the most
appropriate companionship and are
happy in that relation. You hear moth
ing of the quietude and happiness Of
such homes, though nothing but death
will them part. But one sound of mari
tai discord makes the ears Of CONT
pent, and perhaps of a hemisphere, alert.
The one letter that ought never to
have been written printed in newspa-
per makes more talk than the millions
of letters that crowd the postoffices and
weigh down the mail carriers with ex-
pressions of honest love- Tolstoi, the
great Russian author, is wrong when he
prints book for the depreciation of
marriage. If your observation has put
you in an attitude of deportation for the
marriage state, one of two things is true
in regard to you. You have either been
unfortunate in your mountaineering,
or you yourself are morally rotten. The
world, not as rapid as we would like,
but still with long strides, is on the way
to the scenes of beatitude and felicity
which the Bible depicts. The man who
cannot see this is wrong, either in his
heart or liver or spleen. Look at the
great Bible picture gallery, where Isaiah
has set up the pictures Of arborescence,
the world with cedar and fir and
pine and lockwood and the lion led by
child, and st. John pictures of waters
and trees, and white horse cavalry, and
tears wiped away, and trumpets blown,
and harps struck, and nations redeemed.
While there are 10, 900 things l do not
like, have not seen any encouragement
for the cause of God for 25 years. The
kingdom is coming. The earth is prepar-
ing to put ON bridal array. We need to
be getting our anthems and grand
marches ready. In our hymnology we
shall have more use for Antioch" than
'or "Windham," for "Ariel" than for
Naomi. =" Let clark, From the Tombs
\ Doleful Cry!' be submerged with
Joy to the World, the Lord Is Comet
Really, if thought the human race were
IS determined to be bad and getting
worse, as the pessimists represent, l |
would think it was hardly worth saving |
f after hundreds of years of gospeliza-
ion no improvement has been made,
ct us give it up and 60 at something
Use besides praying and preaching.
My opinion is that if we had enough !
aith in quick results and could go forth
lightly equipped with the gospel call
he battle for God and Righteousness
would end with this nineteenth century,
nd the twentieth century, only five or
tx years off, would begin the millenni-
m, and Christ would reign, either in
erson on some throne set up between
he Alleghanies and the Rockies or in
he institutions of mercy and grandeur
et up by his ransomed people. Discour-
ged work will meet with defeat. Ex-
ectant and buoyant work will gain the
ictory Start out with the idea that all
len are liars and scoundrels, and that
verybody is as bad as he can be, and
nat society, and the church, and the
'orld are ON the way to demolition, and
le only use you will ever be to the
'orld will be to increase the value of
ITS in a cemetery. We need more
heerful front in all our religious work.
eople have enough trouble already and
0 not want to ship another cargo of
ouble in the shape of religiosity. If
,ligion has been to you peace, de-
,nse, an inspiration and joy, say so.
ay it by word of mouth, by pen in your
ght hand, by face illumined with a
wine satisfaction. If this world is ever
, be taken for God, it will not be by
,oans, but by halleluiahs If we could [
resent the Christian religion as it real
is, in its true attractiveness, all the
,ople would accept it, and accept it {
ght away The cities, the nations ;
Guild cry out: "Give us thatl Give it
us in all its holy magnetism and gra-
Gus powerl Put that salve on our 6
oundsl Throw back the shutters for 6
at morning light Knock off these {
Iains with that silver hammer Give
Christ-his pardon, h.5 peace, his 6
mfort, his heavenl Give us Christ in 7
ng, Christ in sermon, Christ in book,
lrist in living example"
Religion Exemplified.
As a system of didactics religion has {
ver gained one inch of progress As Q
it befogs more than it ir t
dates. AS dogmatism it is an awful Y
lure. But as fact, as a REINFORCE n
emit, as a TRANSPORTATION, it is the q
tl,;a. that ax-ar | N