The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-11-02

hardly know whether they really want |
you to come. We are all accustomed
to AXE a discount of n we hear.
Not at home" very often mean too
lazy to dress. I was reading Of a lady
who said she had told her last fashion
able lie. There was a knock at her door.
and she sent word down. Not At
home" That night her husband said
to her, Mrs. SO and so IS deao-" rs 1t
possible." she said. Yes and she died
in great anguish Of mind. She wanted
TO see you so very much: she had some
thing very important to disclose to yau
in her last hour, and she sent three
| tiIres today, but found you absent ev-
| cry time" Then this woman be
| thought herself that she had had q bar
| gin with her ~neighbor that when the
| long protracted sickness was about to
| come to an end she would appear al
her bedside and take the secret that
| was to be disclosed. And she had said
| she was mot at home"
Social life is struck through with in
| sincerity. They apologize for ...e fact
that the furnace IS out; they have not
had any fire in 1t all winter. They
apologize for the fare on the table;
they never live any better. They decry
their most luxuriant entertainment to
win a shower Of approval from you.
| They point at a picture on the wall as a
L NOIh u OiIc u lax oAA AANoNNA- -
say 1t is an heirloom in the family. 1t
hung on the wall OF a castle. a duke
gave it to their grandfather! People
that will lie about nothing else VIII lie
about a picture. On small income we
want the world to believe We are az
fluent, and society today is struck
through with cheat and counterfeit and
sham. How few people are aura
Frigidity sails around, iceberg grinding
against iceberg. You must not laugh
outright. That is vulgar. You must
smile. You must not dash quickly
across the room. That is vulgar! You
must glide. Much CT society is a round
Of bows and grins and grimacss and
obs and abs and he, he, he's anf sim
perings and mandy pambylsm' aI"nois
world of which is not worth onf gooo
honest round of laughter. From such
a hollow scece the tortured guest re-
tires at the close of the evening, assur-
ing the host that he has enjoyef him
self. Society is become so coftorted
and deformed in this respect shat a
mountain cabin where the rustics gath
err at a quilting or an apple parlng has
in it more good cheer than all the fres-
coed refrigerators of the metropolis.
ECCLESIASTICAL LIES
I pass on to speak of ecclesiastical
lies, those which are told for the ad-
vancement or retarding of a church or
t sect. 1t is hardly worth your While to
ask an extreme C%alvanist WHAT an
Armenian believes. He VIII tell
t you that an Arminian BELIEVES that
| man can save himself. An AFninian
f believes no such thing. It is hardly
worth your while to ask an ext1fTne Ar
minian what a Calvinist beliefS. lie
will tell you that a Calvanist believes
| | that God made some men just p damn
. them. A Calvanist believes such
thing. 1t is hardly worth your Nilile to
ask a Pedo-Baptist what q BAPTIST be-
D | lieves. He will tell you a bapfst be
, lieves that immersion is necessary for
( salvation. A Baptist does not believe
! any such thing. It is hardlY worth
+ your while to ask a man Wfo very
+ much hates Presbyterians What a
: Presbyterian believes. He will tell you
a that a Presbyterian believes thbt there
n are infants in hell q span lotg, and
that very phraseology has cone down
, from generation to generation in the
v Christian church. There nevf was a
. Presbyterian who believed that on
you say, ST heard some Presbyterian
O minister twenty years g say Fo." You
? did not. There never was a man who
a believed that. There never Will be &
e man who believes that. And yet from
boyhood 7 have that particular slam
@ der against a Christian church going
down through the community.
n Then, how often it is that there are
Misrepresentation on the part of n d
r. vidua churches in regard to Othe1
b churches, especially if a church come:
/ to great prosperity, and the singing j:
d poor, and all the surroundings are de.
crepit, and the congregation are 81
: hardly bestead in life that their pastor
20 goes with elbows out, then there vii
always be Christian people in churche'
" who say, What a pity; what a pity,
if But let the day of prosperity come tt
It a Christian church and let the music b.
!" triumphant, and let there be vast as
semblages, n then there will be ever
ministers of the gospel critical ant
l. denunciatory and full of misrepresen
10 tation and Justification, giving the i'm
II preston to the outside world that the.
e do not like the corn because it is no
ground in their mill. Oh, my friends
let us in all departments Of life stan'
J. back from deception.
d But some one says, The deception
~ | that I practice is so small that i
doesn't amount to anything" All, M.
- friends, it does amount to a great dea-
You say, when I deceive, it is onl,
about a case Of needles or a box of but
tons or a row of pins" But the articl
may be so small you can put it in you
vest jocket, but the sin is as big as tn
pyramids, and the echo of your dis
honor will reverberate through tn
mountains Of eternity. There is n
such thing as a small sin. They ar
all vast and stupendous, because the
will all have to come under inspectio
in the day of judgment. You ma
boast yourself Of having made a fin
bargain-a sharp bargain. You ma
carry out what the bible says in regar
to that man who went in to make
purchase and deprecated the value G
the goods and then after he had &c
away boosted of the splendid bargai
he had made cit is naught, it
naught, saith the buyer, but when h
is gone his way then he boasteth." ]
may seem to the world a sharp bargai
but the recording angel wrote down i