Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1897-06-03

Now, suppose a man finds himself In
midlife without education, what is he to
do? Do the best he can. The most effect
i've layman in a former pastoral charge
that ever heard speak on religious themes
could within five minutes of exhortation
break all the laws of English grammar,
and if he left any law unfractured he
would complete the work of lingual dew
astation in the prayer with which no fol-
lowed it. But l would rather have him
pray for me II were sick or in trouble
than any Christian man know of, and in
that church all the people preferred him
in exhortation and prayer to all others.
Why2 Because he was so thoroughly pious
and had such power with God he was ir-
resistible, and as he went on in his prayer
sinners repented and saints shouted for
joy, and the bereaved seemed to get back
their dead in celestial companionship.
And when he had stopped praying and Us
toon as Icould wipe out OF my eyes enough
tears to see the closing hymn l ended the
meeting, fearful that some long winded
prayer meeting bore would pull US down
from the seventh heaven.
Opportunity.
Not word have to say against Gccu-
racy of speech or fine elocution or high
mental culture. Get ell these you can. But
do say to those who wcS=. brought up in
the day Of poor schoelhousas and ignorant
schoolmasters and no opportunity: You
may have SO much of good in your soul
and so much of heaven in your everyday
life that you will be mightier for good than
NfNf
Harvard or Yale or Oxford, yet never
graduated in the school of Christ. When
you get up to the gate of heaven, no one
will ask you whether you can parse the
| first chapter of Genesis, but whether you
have learned the fear of the Lord, which
| is the beginning of wisdom, nor whether
| you know how to square the circle, but
whether you have lived a square life in Il
| round world. Mount Zion is higher than
| Mount Parnassus.
But what other multitudes there are un-
| der other disadvantages! Here is Chris
| tian woman whose husband thinks re-
| ligion sham, and whilo the wife praya
the children one way the husband swears
| them another. Or here is a Christian
man who is trying to do his best for God
| and the church, and his wife holds him
| back and says on the way homo from
| prayer meeting, where he gavo testimony
| for Christ: "What fool you made OF
yourself! hope hereafter you will keep
STILL" And when he would be benevolent
and give SEQ she criticises him for not Civ
ing 50 cents. / must do justice and pub.
home to give anything for any cause oi
humanity or religion but the other part
ner in the domestic firm approved it. And
when it seemed beyond my ability, and
faith in God was necessary, she had three
fourths the faith. But / know men who
when they contribute to charitable objects
are afraid that the wife shall find it out
What whitening curse such a woman
must be to a good mani
Then there are others under the grea
disadvantage of poverty. Who ought tt
get things cheapest9 You say those whit
have little means. But they pay more
You buy coal by the ton; they buy it By
the bucket You buy flour by the barrel
they buy it by the pound. You get appare
cheap, because you pay 'eashi they paJ
dear, because they nave to get trusted. Ant
tie Bible We right when it said, "The de
struGtion Of the poor is their poverty"
Then there ore those who made q mis-
! take in early life, and that occrshadow
all their days. "pc ECU not know tina
that man was once In prisons" Is whis
pered. Or, "Do you know that that maj
once attempted suicide?" Or, "Do yol
know that that man once absconded?'
Or, "Do you know that that man wa
once discharged for dishonesty" Perhap
there was only one wrong deed in th
mans life, and that one act haunts tn
subsequent half century Of his existence.
Others have unfortunate predominant
| of some mental faculty, and their rashnes
throws them into wild enterprises, or thei
trepidation makes them decline great op
portunity, or there Is vein Of melanchol,
in their disposition that defeats them, O
they have an endowment of oyermirth tha
causes tie impression of insincerity.
Other HinGrances.
Others have mighty obstacle in thei
personal appearance, for which they ar
not responsible. They forget that Coz
fashioned their features and their com
plexion and their stature, the size O
their nose, and mouth, and hands, ant
feet, and gave them their gait and thei
general appearance, and they forget tina
much Of the worlds best work and tn
ehurch's best work has been done b,
homely people, and that Paul the apostl
is said to have been humpbaoked and hi
eyesight weakened by opthalmia, Will
many of the finest in appearance hay,
passed their time before fiattering looking
glasses, or in studying killing attitudes, ,ant
| in rin of Irr hoe
not one ribbon, or vest, or sack, or glove
or button, or shoestring of which they hav,
had brains to earn for themselves.
| Others had wrong proclivities from th
start. They were born wrong, and tina
sticks to one even after he is born again
They have q natural crankiness that is 27I
years old. 1t came over with their grea
grandfathers from Scotland, or Wales, O.
France. 1t was born on the banks of tn,
Thames, or the Clyde, or the Tiber, or TIN
Rhine, and has survived all the plague
and epidemics of many generations, anC
is living today on the banks of the Poto
mac, or the Hudson, or the Androscoggin
or the Savannah, or the La Plata. Ant
when man tries to stop this evil ancestra
proclivity he is like man on rock il
the rapids of Niagara, holding on with ,
grip from which tho swift currents ar
trying to sweep him into the abyss be
yond.
Oh, this world Is an overburdened world
. an .overworked world 1t is an awful,
tired world. 1t is dreadfully unfortunat,
world. Scientists are trying to find ou
the cause of these earthquakesin in all lands
cisatlantie and transatlantic. Some sa,
this and some say that. have taken tn,
diagnosis of what is the matter with tn,