Daily public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1892-191?, 1896-04-18

loose the chain, as we'll as the lives OF
thousands of soll'wers of Jesus who
hive devoted themselves to the tenn
poral and spiritual welfare of the race,
are monuments of the Christian reli.
gion that shall not crumble while the
world lasts. A man said to me in the
cars: What is religion? Judging from
the character many professors of re-
legion do not admire religion" said:
Now, suppose we went to an artist in
the city of Rome and while in his gal
lery asked him: What is the art of
painting?' would he take us out in a
low alley and show us mere daub of a
pretendcr at painting? or would he take
us down into tho corridors and show us
the Reubens, and the Raphaels, and the
Michael Angeles? When we as.,td him:
What is the art of painting" he would
point to the works of these great mas
tiers, and say: That is painting Now,
! you propose to find the mere caricature
of religion, to seek after that which is
mere pretension of holy life, and you
call that religion. l point you to the
! splendid mon 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"
We also learn from this story of Jo-
seph that the result of persecution is
elevation. Had it not been for his be-
ing sold into Egyptian bondage by his
malicious brothers, and his false inn
prisonment, Joseph never would have
become a governor. Everybody ac-
cepts the promise, blessed are they
that are prosecuted for Righteousness
sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of
Heaven" but they do not realize the
fact that this principle applies to word
ly as well as spiritual success. 1t is
true in all departments. Men rise to
high positions through misrepresenta-
ton. Public abuse is all that some of
our public men have had to rely upon
for their elevation. 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 sue
coed, inst because they are not of
enough Importance to be abused. 1t
is the nature of men-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 attacks while attempting to
drive back the slanderers. Persecu-
ton is elevation. Helen S.irk, the
Scotch martyr, standing with her hus-
band at the place of execution, said:
Husband. let us rejoice to-day; we
have lived together many happy years;
this is the happicst time of all our life;
you see we are to be happy together
forever. BE brave, now, be brave. l
will not say 'Good-night' to you, for we
shall soon be in the kingdom of our
father together" Persecution shows
the hero and heroines. l go into an
other department and l find that those |
great denominations of Christians |
which have been most abused have
syread the most rapidly. No good man !
was ever more violently maltreated |
than John Wesloy-belied and carl |
catured and slandered until one day he |
stood in pulpit in London, and a man
arose in the audience and said: You |
were drunk last night and John Wes- |
ley said: Thank God, the whole cat
alogue is now complete. l have been
charged with everything but that!"
His followers were hooted at and ma
ligned and called by every detestable
name that Internal ingenuity could in
vent, but the hotter the prosecution the
more rapidly they spread, until you
know what a great host they have be-
come and what tremendous force for
God and the truth they are welding all
the world over! 1t was persecution
that gave Scotland to Presby-
terians. 1t was persecution that gave
our land first to civil liberty and aft
erward to religious freedom. Yea,
l might go further back and say
it was persecution that gave
the world the great salvation of the
Gospel. The ribald mockery, the hun
gering and thirsting, 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 yet to be the earth's
deliverancc and our eternal salvation.
The state sometimes said to the church:
Come, take my hand and l will help
YOU" What was the result? The
church went back and it lost it's estate
of holiness, and it became ineffective.
At other times the state said to the
church: Il will crush you" What has
been the result? After the storms have
spent their fury the church. so far
from having lost any of its force,
has increased, and is worth infinitely
more after the assault than before.
Read all history and you will find that
true. The church is far more in
debted to the opposition OF civil gov
crnment 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 posi-
ton. In the sound OF racks and imple-
ments of torture l hear the rumbling
of the Gospel chariot. The scaffolds of
martyrdom have been the stairs by
which the church mounted.
Learn also from our subject that sin
will come TO exposure. Long, long ago
had those brothers sold Joseph into