Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1896-04-18
ACCOMAC c. H. VA. SATURDAY, APRIL l8 1896

many professors Of religion do not adj
mirc religion l said: "Now, suppose
we went to an artist i'll the city of Rome
and while in his gallery asked him,
What is tic art of painting?' Would ho
take US out in low alley and show us
a mere daub of pretender at paintings,
or would he take us down into the cor
ridors and show us the Rubens, and the
Raphaels, and the Michael Angeles?
When we asked him, What is the art
OF painting?' he would point to the
works of these great masters and say,
THAT is painting. Now, you propose
to find the mere caricature of religion,
to seek after that which is the mere
pretension of holy life, and you call
that religion. point you to the SPLEEN
did men and women whom this gospel
has blessed and lifted and crowned.
Look at the masterpieces of divine grace
if you want to know what religion is. y
Result of Persecution.
We learn also from this story Of
Joseph that the result Of persecution is
elevation Had it not been for his being
sold into Egyptian bondage by his ma
licious brothers and his false imprison-
ment Joseph never would have become
a governor. Everybody accepts the
promise, Blessed are they that arc per-
secuted for righteousness sake, for
theirs is the kingdom Of heaven" but
they do not realize the fact that this
principle applies to worldly as well as
spiritual success 1t is true in all de-
partments Men rise to high official po-
sitions through misrepresentation. Pub
lie abuse is all that some of our public
men have had to rely upon for their ele-
walton. 1t has brought to them what
talent and executive force could not
have achieved. Many Of those who are
making great effort for place and power
will never succeed just because they
are not of enough Importance to be
abused. 1t is the nature Of mcn-that is
of all generous and reasonable men-tO
gather about those who are prosecuted
and defend them, and they are apt to
forget the fault of those who are the
subjects of attack while attempting to
drive back the slandercrs. Persecution
is elevation Helen Stirl, the Scotch
martyr, standing with her husband ut
the place of execution, said: Husband
let us rejoice today. We have lived to-
gethcr many happy years. This is the
happiest time of all our life. You see
we are to be happy together forever. Be
brave now, be brave. I viii not say
Good night to you, for we shall soon
be III the kingdom of our FathcrtoSeth-
en-" Persecution shows the heroes aud
heroincs. I go into another department.
and l find that those great denomina-
lions of Christians which have been
most abused have spread the most
rapidly.
No good man was ever more violently
maltreated than John Wesley-belied
and caricaturcd and slandcred until one
day he stood III a pulpit i'll London, and
a man arose i'll the audience and said,
You were drunk last night " and John
Wesley said: "Thanll God, the whole
catalogue is now complete. have been
charged with everything but thatr' His
followers were hooted ut and maligned
and called by every detestable name that
internal ingenuity could invent, but the
hotter the persecution the more rapidly
they spread until you know what
great host they have become and what
tremendous force for God and the truth
they are welding all the world over. 1t
was persecution that gave Scotland to
Presbyterianism. 1t was persecution
that gave our land first to civil liberty
and afterwmd to religious freedom.
Yea, 1 might go farther back and say it
was persecution that gave the world the
great salvation of the gospel. The ribald
mockery, the hungering and thirstlng,
the unjust charge, the ignominious
death, when all the force Of hell's fury
was hurled against the cross, was the
introduction Of that religion which is
vet to be the earth s deliverance and our
eternal salvation The state sometimes
said to the church, Come, take my
hand, and I will help you. What was
the result? The church went back, and
it lost its estate of holiness, and it be-
came ineffective. At other times the
state said 10 the church, 81 will crush
you." What has been the result? After
the storms have spent their fury the
church, so fur from having lost any Of
its force, has increased and is worth in
finitely more after the assault than be-
fore. Read all history and you will find
that true. The church Is far more in
debted to the opposition Of civil govern
ment than to its approval. The fires Of the
stake have only been the torches which
Christ held in his hand, by the light Of
which the church has marched to her
present glorious position. In the sound
Of racks and implements Of torture L
hear the rrmbling Ct the gospel chariot
The scaffolds Of martyrdom have been
the stairs by which the church mounted.
A Thousand Tongues.
Learn also from our subject that sin
will come to exposure. Long, long ago
had those brothers sold Joseph into
Egypt They had made the old father
believe that his favoritc child was dead
They had suppressed the crime, and it
was profound secret we'll kept by the
brothers. But suddenly the secret IS out
The old father hears that his son is i'll
Egypt, having been sold there by the
malice of his own brothers. How their
checks must have burned and their hearts
sunk at the flaming out of this long sup
pressed crime. The smallest iniQuity
has thousand tongues, and they will
blab out exposure. Saul was sent to de-
stroy the Cenaanites, their sheep and
their oxen, but when he got down there
among the pastures he saw some fine
sheep and oxen too fat to kill. SO he
thought he would steal them. Nobody
would know it. He drove these stolen
checn and oxen toward home, but stop