The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-11-21

his hands-qucstions OF finance, questions
Of war, of peace; all international ques
tions were for his settlement or adjust
ment. He must have had correspond.
ence vast beyond all computation. There
was not man in all the Garth who had
more to do than Daniel, the secretary oi
state, and yet We find him three times
day bowling before God in prayer.
| Their are men in our day who have not
a nundredrh part of Daniels engagements
who say they are too busy to be religious
They have an idea somehow that religion
will spoil their worldly occupation; that
it will trip tire accountants pen, or dull
| the carpenters saw, or confuse the law
ycr's brief, or disarrange the merchant's
store shelf. They think religion is i'm
pertinent.
They would like to have it very well
seated beside them in church on the Sab.
bath, to find the place IN the pslambook or
to nudge them awake when they get
sleepy under the didactic discourse, or
they would like to leave it in the pew
ing the door, saying: Good night, re.
lieion! III be back next Sunday"
But to have religion go right along by
them all through. life, to have religion
looking over their shoulder when they are
making bargain, to have religion take
! up. a bag of dishonest gold and shake it
| and say. where did you get that!-
they think that is an impertinent re-
ligiop. :
They would like to have religion to
| help them when they are sick and when
| the shadow of death comes over them,
they would like to have religion as a sort
of night key with which to open the
| door of heaven. but religion under other
oir fat,o oil fN Has
nence. r. - ~
Now, my friends, religion never robbed
man of dollar. Other things being
equal, mason will build better wall, :
cabinet maker will make better chair, q,
plumber will make better pipe, q lawyer
will make better plea, a merchant will
sell better bill of goods. say, othe,
things being equal. OF course when re.
ligion gives man a new heart, itfIdoes
not propose to give him new head or to
intellectualize him or to change mans
condition when his ordinary, state is an
overthrow of the philosophical theory that
letters you have to write, the more bur
dens, you have to carry, the more miles
you have to travel, the more burdens you
have to lift, the more engagements you
have to meet, the more disputes; you have
to settle, the more opportunity,yo have
of being a Christian. IF yoa have
thousand irons in the fire, you have. a
thousand more. opportunities .bf serving
God than if you only had one iron in the
fire. Who so busy as Christ? And yet
who a inillionth part as hoE? The busi-
converted in Scripture busy at the time
of their being converted! Matthew at
tending to his custom hoHse duties, the
prodigal son feeding swihe, Lydia sell. I
ing purple, Simon Petef hauling in the
net from the sea- Saul gpurring his horse
toward Damascus, going down on his; law !
business Busy, busy Daniel with1 the
affairs OF state weighing down his
soul and yet three times a daI Aip-s
ing the God Of heaven. a
= Again, learn from this sub =
man may take religion into
Daniel had all tie affairs
hand, yet a seryant of GOD ~
not have kept hsf elevated
less he had beensa thoroug
and yet all the fhrusts yof off
the danger of disgrace did nd
yield 'one iota Of his high TO
principle bsstood before
stands Defore oil ages, a 81
godly ipolitieians So there
our $y and jR,,the daysi
| ! !. !. |
men is emi9 ~ r
Lean,
States
chuset
sen, o
been immersed in pol
thirty or forty years .,
nation, and our hope
who are coming up, tA
otic principle and Chr
by side when they q p.
box and cast their first
swear allegiance to
heaven az well asf to
the United States.
ker Hill mean less to-
and Lexington mean
Bethlehem. But becs
men around the aballd
why Christian men
the arena. The last
give up youf child oI !
is ,whsnsi rs gurrou
of sCh9eka#sS and I'll
render the Ibpllot I'D
ii sSAs aof Niokedna 3
Daniel stood on ia Hat
form e.stood firm ema.
gogpes. of the day hi tried
to overthrow him y, our
religion into olr; pol -
But there arc, a q len who
ureE Edn favor Of Ia national
politics who do no Importance
of taking it into 4 as though
a man were intelli The welfare
Sof his neighborhoo no concern
about his own hon r.
fact that lions cannos 1T good man.
No man ever got into lfse company than
Daniel got into when he was thrown into
the den. What rare morsel that fair
young m:- would have been for the hun.
cry monsterst If they had plunged at
him, he could not have climbed into
niche beyond the reach of their paw or
the snatch of their tooth. They came
pleased all around about him, as hunters
hounds at the well known whistle come
bounding to his feet. You need not 60 to
Numldia to get many lions: You all have
had them after you-thc lion OF financial
distress, the lion of sickness, the lion
of persecution. You saw. that lion OF
finuncial panic putting his mouth down
to the earth, and he roared until all the
Ill mai, AtNa n