The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-07-28
the first page to the last corruscated
with humor as summer clouds with
heat lightning
uIrMnR IN

heat lightning.
HUMOR IN RELIGION.
John Bunyan's writings are as full Of
humor as they are of saving truth, and
there is no an aged mar here who has
ever read Pilgrims Progress who
does not remember that while reading
Il he smiled as often as he wept. Chry-
session., George Herbert, Robert South,
George Whitefield, Jeremy Taylor, Row
land Hill, Ashael Nettleton, Charles G..
FYnney n 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, and I say to all our young
theological students, Sharpen you wits
until they are as keen as scimiters and
then take them into this holy war. It
is a very short bridge between a smile
and a tear, a suspension bridge from
eye to lip, and it is soon crossed over,
and a smile is sometimes just as sacred
as a tear. There is as much religion,
and, I think, a little more in a spring
morning than in a starless midnight.
Religious work without any humor or
wit in il is a banquet with a side of
beef, and that raw, n no condiments
and no dessert succeeding. People will
not sit down to such a banquet. BY
all means remove all frivolity and all
pathos and all lightness and vulgarity.
Strain them out through the sieve Of
holy discrimination, but, on the other
hand, beware of that monster which
overshadows the Christian church to-
Observation-Disclosures up from
n great Sahara desert of ecclesiasti-
cism, having on its back a hump OF
sanctimoniOus gloom, and vehemently
refuse to swallow that camel
Oh, how particular a great many peo-
pie are about the infinitesimals while
they are quite reckless about the mag
nitudes! What did Christ say? Did
He not excoriate the people in His time
who were so careful to wash their
hands before a meal, but did not wash
their hearts? 1t is a bad thing to have
unclean hands. 1t is a worse thing to
have an unclean heart. How many
people there are in our time who are
very anxious hat after their death
they shall be buried with their faces to-
ward the east and not at all anxious
that during their whole life they should
face in the right direction, so that they
shall come up in the resurrection of the
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 so much whether he comes from
Apostle Paul or Apostle Judas! They
nave a way of measuring a gnat Until
II is larger than a camel.
~ "A
Again, my subject photographs all
those who are abhOrrant of small sins
While they are reckless in regard to
ma gnifcent thefts. You will find many
a merchant who, while he is so careful
that he would not take a yard Of cloth
or a spool of cotton from the counter
without paying for it, and VINO, if 4
bank cashier should make a mistak.
and send in a roll of bills IS too much,
WCu16 diGnaTnh a mpSSpnOpT- in h0t
haste to return the surplus, yet who
will go into a stock company, in Whica
after awhile he gets control of the
stock, n then waters the stock and
makes 800, 900 appear like 5000, 900 He
only stole $100, 900 by the operation.
Many of the men Of fortune made their
wealth in that way.
One of those men engaged in such IN
righteous acts that evening, the even
ing of the very day when he watered
the stock, Will find a wharf rat steal
ing a daily paper from the basement
doorway and will go out and catch the
urchin by the collar and twist
the collar 50 tightly the poor
fellow Las no power to say that it
vas thirst for knowledge that led him
to the dishonest act, but grip the col
lar 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 miserable wretch
And then the old stock gambler, with a
voice they can hear three blocks, will
cry out, Police, police!" That same
man the evening of the day in when
he Watered the stock will kneel with
his family in prayers and thank God
FOR the prosperity of the day, then kiss
HE children good night with an al,
which seems to say, Il hope you al
will grow up to be as good as your
! father" Prisons for sins insectile ir
size, but palaces for crimes drOmeda-
rian. No mercy for sins animalcule ir
proportion, but great tendency for mas
todOn iniquity. "A poor boy slyly takes
from the basket of a marke woman 6
choke pear-saving some one else from
cholera-and you smother him in thu
horrible atmosphere of Raymond stree
Jail or New York Tombs, while hi;
cousin, who has been skillful enough tC
steal $4,000 from the city, you make &
candidate for the state legislature.
GULPING DOWN CAMELS.
There is a good deal of uneaSines.
and nervousness now among some PEG.
pie in Il time who have got upright.
eous fortures-a great deal Of uneasi
ness about dynamite. / tell them tina
God will put under their unrightaou.
fortunes something more explosive thar
dynamite-the earthquake Of His ON
pipotent Indignation. 1t is time tina
1 we lcdIL II 'AIIlcIlCd lndC SIN IS not tx
cusable in proportion as it declare
large dividends and has outriders il
eQuipage- Many a man is riding to per
dition, position ahead and lackey be
hind. To steal one copy of a newspa
per is a gnat; to steal many thousand
of dollars is a camel. There is many
fruit dealer who would not consent t
steal a basket Of peaches from q neigh
/ bor's stall, but who would not sc-upl
to de press the fruit market, and as Ion,
as l can remember we have heard ev
cry summer the peach crop OF Mary
land is afaifure, n by the ti.ce tn
crop comes in the misrepresentation
makes a difference of millions Of do
lars. A man who would not steal on
basket of peaches steals $4,000 basket
Of peaches.
Go Gowr into the public library. il
the ledolng rooms. and see the news
reports of the crops from a.
parts Of the country, and their phrase
olosy is very much the same, and tn
same men wrote them, m~ethodiCall,
and UNANIMOUSLY carrying out the hug
lying about the grain crop from year t
wear and for a Soora of vaarS Afta