The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1899-07-26

Pharisec. saying, The whole need not
a physician, and when, by one word,
he described the cunning Of Herod,
saying, "Go ye, and tell that fox. .
Matthew Hesry's commentaries from
the first page to the last corruscated
with humor as summer clouds with aeat
lightning.
John Bunyan writings are as full Of
humor as they are Of saying truth, and
there is not an aged man here who has
ever read Pilgrim Progress, who
does not remember that while reading
it he smiled as Otter as he wept. Chry-
sostcm, George Herbert, Robert So2th,
George .WhiteGeld, Jeremy Taylor,
Rowland Hill, Ash2el Nettleton, Charles
G. Finney and all the men Of the past
who greatly advanced the kingdom OF
God consecrated their Wit and their
humor to The cause Of Christ. So it has
been in all the ages, ard | say to all our
Young theological students, Sharpen
YOUR wits until they are as keen as
scimiters and then take them into this
holy war. 1t is q very short bridge be-
tween smile and tear, suspension
bridge from eye to lip, and 1t is soon
crossed over, and smile IS sometimes
lust as sacred as tear. There is as
much religion, and, l think, little
more in spring morning than IN 4 star
less midnight. Religious work without
any humor or wit in it is a banquet
with side Of beef, anc that raw, aud
no condiments and no dessert succeed
ing. People will not sit down to such
a banquet. BY all means remove all
frivolity and all pathos and all lig ghtness
and vulgarity. Strain them out through
the sieve Of holy discrimination, bat,
on the other hand, beware Of that mons
ter which overshadows the Christian
church today-conventionalIy-c
up from the great Sahara desert Of &c
clesissticism. haring on its back a
hump os sanctimonious gloom, and
vchcmently refuse to swoilow that
camel.
Oh, how particular great many peo-
pl. are about the lnhnlteSlmalS while
they arc quite reckless about the mag,
nitudcs What did Christ say? DID
he not excoriate the people in his time
who were so careful to wash their hands
before meal, but did not wash their
hearts? is bad thing to have un-
clean hands. 1t is a worse thing TO
have an unclcan heart. How many
people there are in our time who are
very anxious that after their death they
shall be buried with their faces toward
the east and rot at all anxious that dur
ing their whole life they should face in
the right direction, so that they shall
come ~ in the resurrection ofthe just,
whichever way they are buried! How
many there are chiefly anxious that a
minister Of the gospel shall come in the
line Of apostolic succession, not caring
50 much whether he comes from Apos-
ties Paul or Apostle Judas. They have
a Say of measuring gnat until 1t IS
larger than camel.
Again, my subject photographs all
those who are abhorrant Of small sins
while they are reckless in regard to
magnificent thefts. You will find many
a merchant who, while he is so csreful
that he would not take yard Of cloth
or a spool of cotton from the counter
without paying for it, and who, II a
bank cashier should make a mistake and
send in roll of bills IS too much,
would dispatch messenger IN hot haste
to return the surplus, yet who will go
into stock company, in which after
awhile he gets control Of the stock, and
then waters the stock and makes $780,
600 appear like 100000. He only
stole 500, 600 by the operation. Many
of the men Of fortune made their wealth
in that way.
One Of those men engaged in such
unriehteous acts that evening, the even
ing of the day when he watered the
stock, will find wharf rat stealing a
daily paper from the basement door
way and will so out and catch the
urchin by the collar and twist the col
lar so tightly the poor fellow has no
power to say that it was thirst for know
ledge that led him to the dishonest act,
but grip the collar tighter and tighter,
saying: II have been looking for you
a long while. You stole my paper four
or FIVE times, haven't you, you miser-
able wrctch?' And then the old stock
gambler, with a voice they can hear
three blocks, will cry out, Police, po-
lice,' That same man the evening Of
the day in which he watered the stock
will kneel with his family in prayers
and thank God for the prosperity Of
the day, then kiss his children good
night with an air which seems to say,
Il hope you all will grow up to be as
good as your father" Prisons for sins
insectile in size, but palaces for crimes
dromedarian. No mercy for sins ami
malcule in proportion but great lenieney
for mastodou iniquity. A poor boy sly
" takes from the bosket Of market
woman choke pear-saving some enc
else from the cholera-and you smother
him in the horrible atmosphere OF hay
mond Street jail or New York Tombs,
while his cousin, who has been sklllful
enough to steal $50, 600 from the city,
you make candidate for the state leg
lature.
There IS a good deal of uneasiness and
nervousness now among some people IN
our time who have not got unrlghteous
fortunes-a great deal of uneasiness
about dynamite. tell them that God
will put under their unrighteous for
tunes something more explosive than
dynamite-the earthquake Of his omni-
potent indignation 1t is time that we
learn in America that sin is not ezcusa-
bic in proportion as it declares large
dividends and has outriders in equip
age. Many man is riding TO perdi-
ton, position ahead and lackey be-
hind. 70 steal one copy OF a newspa-
dc