The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1897-12-03

} enough to eat or year. The ma
iority Of the human race are in trou.
BILE How to multiply loaves of bread
and increase the fuel and heal the
J wounds and shelter the homeless are
questions that Christ met equally as
/, soon as he did spiritual necessities The
/, first heart to respond to the cry Of suf
ferers from drought or food or earth
quake or cruelty should be the Christian
heart Therefore let the pages of reli-
gious journalism spread out the story of
all such woes and collect relief and dis
burse aims all around our suffering
world Religious journalism ought to
become tho aqGeduct through which the
Christian charities of the world should
pour until there is no more hunger to
be fed and no more ignorance to be edu-
Gated and no more nakedness to be
clothed and no more suffering to as
suage. In trying to do that practical
thing the religious paper whose ami
versary | celebrate has during the past
seven years raised and distributed over
$500, 900 for the relief of physical dis
tresses
Again, on this seventh anniversary of
a religious publication | notice that
there is an especial mission Tor Il I, IL
gious journal truthfully optimistic 7 le
most. optimistic book | know Of is the
Bible, and its most impressive aut hors
were all optimists-David an opii1aist
Paul an Optimist, st. John an optiI lst,
our blessed Lord an Optimist. | cannot
LOOK upon a desert but | am by the old
book reminded that it will blossom
like as the rose" | cannot in menag-
erie look upon lion and leopard but
am reminded that "a little child shall
lead them" | cannot see a collection Of
gems in jewelers. window without
thinking of heaven af1ash and ablaze and
incarnadined and empurpled with all
manner of precious stones. | cannot hear
a trumpet but l think of that one which
shall wake the dead. All the ages OF
time, bounded on one side by the para
disc in which Adam and Eye walked
and on the other side by the paradise
which st. John saw in apocalyptic
vision.
The Scriptures optimistic and their
authors optimistic, all religious news.
papers ought to be optimistic. Not on
ly should all ministers and all religious
editors have their heart right, but their
liver right. The world has enough trou-
BILE of it's own without our giving them
all extra dose in the shape of religion
This world is going to be saved, and if
you do not believe it you are an infidel.
None Of us wants to get on board
train which instead of reaching the de-
pot is surely going down the embank-
ment. All aboard for the millennium
For the most part in religious journal
let the editorials be cheerful and the
pictures cheerful. If in one column
there be a CHASTITY woodcut Of the fam
inc stricken in India, i'll the next col
umn have list of contributions for al
deviation of the suffering or a picture of
ship carrying breadstuffs. If in one
column there be the death of an old
minister of the gospel whom we cannot
spare, in the next put the name Of SOME
young Elisha who can wear the mantle
of Elijah
More and More Sunshine.
If some evil of society is depicted in
one column, in the next show the Cos
pei machinery that is to drive it back
into the rerdition from which it ascend
ed. More and more sunshine let there
be i'll religious journalism. Publish in
it more sermons ca texts like "Oh, give
thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, "
and fewer on texts like "Out If the
depths of he'll have | cried unto thee, O |
Lord" II any one has anything gloomy
to say, let him say it TO himself. If he
must write it, let him not sCrd it to ed .
itorial rooms, Lut PIT it i'll the pigeon .
hole Of his own desk for his hCiIs and .
assigns to read it further on, for prob .
ably they can stand it better than we.
l once gave 81 to hear Jenny Lind sing.
| never will give cent to hear a man
groan. Up with the blinds and throw
back the shutters and let the morning
light come in. There is not so much re-
ligion in the dampness Of a cellar as in
the breath Of an apple orchard in bios
som week, What a victory David got
over himself when he closed the Psalms
with six chapters of praise We Il q
Lord, saying it over and over again,
until, in any other book, it would have
become monotonous. If in our diaries
and our family records and our religious
newspapers we would write two honest
the one catalogue of bless
ings and the other a catalogue of trou-
bles, the former would be five times
larger than the latter.
Pray for the religious newspapers of
America, because of the fact that, if
they have the right spirit, each one does
as much good as 8 or 90 or 200 churches.
What are the 500 or 1000 people MAX
ing up a Sabbath audience compared
with the 10000 or $4,000 or 200, 900
hat the religious journal addresses?
Such journals are pulpits that preach
lay and night. They reach weekly those
who, through invalidism or through in
Inference, never enter churches They
each people in their quietude, when
heir attention is not distracted, as in
,hurch, by the fine millinery that APP
)eals to the eye or the rustic of attire
hat attracts the ear. 1t will ALWAYS be