Virginia gazette. [volume] (Williamsburg, Va.) 1893-192?, 1900-12-01

thew attending TO his custom house
duties: the prodigal son feeding swine;
Lydia selling purple; Simon Peter
hauling i'm the net from the sea; Saul
squirting his horse toward Damascus.
going down on his law business: Busy.
busy. Daniel with all the affairs Of
state weighing down upon his soul. and
We; three times day worShiping the
God Of Heaven.
Again I learn from this subject
that a man may take religion into his
politics. Daniel had all the affairs OF
state on hand. yet servant of God. |
He could not have kept his elevated
position unless he had been thor
ough politician. and yet all the
thrusts Of officials and all the danger
Of disgrace did not make him yield
one iota of his high toned religious
principle He stood before that age.
he stands before all ages a specimen
of godly politician. so there have
been in our day and in the days of /
our fathers men a eminent i'm the |
service Of God as they have been EN-
inent in the service Of the state. Such |
was Benjamin +. Butler. attorney |
general of New York in the time OF |
your fathers. Such was John Nc |
Lean. Of the supreme court of the |
United States. Such was George
Briggs. OF Massachusetts, Such was
Theodore Frehnghuysen. Of New Jer-
sey-men faithful 60 the state. at the
>ame time faithful 10 God. II is alb
surd 20 expect that men who have
been immersed in political wickedness
| for 80 or 40 years shall come 20 refor-
a.
men who are coming up. that they
have patriotic principle and Christian
| principle side by side when they come
go the balio; box and cast their first
| vote and that they swear allegiance to
| he government: Of Heaven as well as
| go the government OF the United
States. We would have Bunker Hin
| mean less 10 them than Cavalry. and
| Lexington mean less than Bethlehem.
| but because there are bad men
| around the ballot box Is no reason
| why Christian men should retreat
from the arena. The last time YOU
ought go give up your child or forsake
your child is when il is surrounded
by a company OF Choctaws. and the
last time 10 surrender the ballot box
is when il j. surrounded by impurity
| and dishonesty and all sorts OF wick
| cdness
Daniel stood on a most unpopular
/ platform. lie stood firmly. though
the dcmagogues of the day Kissed at
him and tried 20 overthrow him. We
must carry our religion into our pol
itics. But there are a great many
men who are In favor of taking re-
ligion into national politics who do
not see the importance OF taking IL
into city politics. as though man
were intelligent about the welfare Of
his ueighborhood and had no concern
about his own home.
Nv subject also impresses me with
the fact that lions cannot hurt a
good man. No man ever got into
worse company than Daniel got whe n
he was thrown into the den. What
a rare morsel that fair young man
+ would have been FOR the hungry mon
sters, II they had plunged at him
he could not have climbed into a niche
beyond the reach OF their paw or the
% snatch Of their tooth. They came
pleased. an around him as hunters
hounds al the well-known whistle
come bounding 10 his feet. You neeo
rot 90 TO Numidia TO get many lions
You all have them after you-the lior
OF financial distress. the lion OF sick
ness. the lion of persecution. Yol
saw that lion OF financial panic put
ting his mouth down 10 the earth. anC
he roared until all the banks aad n
the insurance companies quaked
= With his nostril he scattered IN
=, ashes on the domestic hearth. Hol
have had trial after trial. misfortun
after misfortune. lion after lion. an'
vet they have never hurt You. II yol
puf your trust in God. and they neve
I. will hurt sou. They did not hur
!. Daniel and they cannot hurt you
The Persians used 20 think tina
- spring rain falling into seashell
i. would turn into pearls, and / have 1
~ | tell you that the tears of sorrow tur
u, into precious gems when they dro
- into Gods bottle. You need be afrai
= OF nothing. putting your trust in Coz
IN | Even death. that monster lion who's
b den is the worlds sepulcher, and VII
ir puts his paw down amid thousands
IT, millions OF the dead. cannot affrigf
40 You. When I'm olden times a man We
4: 20 get the honors OF knighthood. ,
* was compelled TO go fully armed n
ev night before among the tombs of n
IL ! dead. carrying a sort of spear, an
en- | then when the day broke he wOu
I'd | come forth. and. amid the sound
cornet and great parade he would e
en- the bonors OF lknighthood And so
Ter will be with the Christian in the nigl
BE- before Heaven. as. fully armed vii
r l..