The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1900-07-18
MIGHTY ANTISEPTIC
Or. TaIrage::o Christian Re-
ligion as Preventive OF
THE WORLDS ILLS.
It is an Active Pdnc;pie, When
Constantly, works for the
Welfare Of sody Mind
and Soul.

ed in the natural phenomena and the
quaint social life Of that wonGt rfui
land. In his discourse this week ne
argues, contrary to the opinion OF many
that religion is sn active p7incaP's
which works constantly for the welfare
ofbody and mind aud soul. HlSte1' Is
Luke xiv, 81, Salt is good.
The Bible is dictionary of the
finest SMILES. 1t employs, among llV,
ing creatures, storks and eagles and
doves and uuicorrs aud sheep and cat
tie; among trees, sycamores aud tere-
binths and pomegrsnates and almonds
and apples; among jewels, pearls and
anethysts and jseiDths and cbry
Christ uses no stale illustrations. The
lilies that he plucks for his sermons are
dewy fresh; the ravens in his discourses
are not stuffed specimens Of birds, bat
warm with life from wing Zip to wing
tip; the fish he points to are not dull!
about the gills, as though loag captured
but a-souirm in.the wet net just brought
I'D on the beach of Tlberias. in my
text, which is the peroration Of one Of
his sermons, he picks up CRY ystai acd
holds it before his congregation as an
illustration Of divine grace IN the heart
when he says, what We sll know by ex-
pertinent, Salt is good.
shall try to carry out the Saviour
i6es in this text and in the first place
say to you that grace is like salt IN Its
beauty. In Galicia there are mines OF
salt, with excavations and underground
passages reaching. | am told, 2SO miles:
Far under ground there are chapels and
halls of reception, the columns, the
affairs and the pu!pits Of salt. When
the king and the princes come to visit
these nices, the whole place IS llluml-
mated, ano the glory Of crystal walls
aRd crystal ceilings snG crystal floors
and crystal columns, under the glare OF
the torches and the lamps, needs words
Of crystal TO describe it. But you need
not 90 so far as that to fnd the beauty
Of salt. You live in land which pro-
duces millions Of bushels Of it IN a
year, and you can take the morning
rail train and in few hours get to the
salt mines and salt springs. And you
have this article morning, noon and
night on your table. Salt has al the
beauty of the snowflake and water foam
with durability added. Ii is beautiful
to the naked eye, but under the glass
you see the stars and the diamonds aud
the white tree branches and the splin-
ters and the bridges Of FIRE as the sun
g!ints them. There is more architect
ural skill in one of these crystals Of
salt than human ingenuity has ever
demonstrated IN an A!hanbra or St.
Peters.
1t would take all time, with an in
fringmens upon eternity, for an angel
Of God to tell one-half the glories in
salt crystal. So with the grace Of God.
1t is perfectly beautiful. 1 have seen
1t smooth out wrinkles of care from the
brow. l have seen it make al aged
man feel almost young again. / have
seen it lift the STOPPING shoulders and
put sparkle into the dull eye. Solo
mon discovered its therapeutic quail
ties when he said, 1t is marrow TO
the bones" It helps to digest the food
and to purify the blood aud to calm the
pulses and quiet the spleen, and in
stead of Tyndals prayer test Of 20 Years
ago, putting man in philosophlcal
hospital TO be experimental upon by
PRAYER. It keeps him so we'll that he
dees not need to be prayed for as an in
valid. I am speaking now of a healthy
religion-not of that morbid religion
that sits for three hours on gravestone
reading Harvey's "Meditations Among
the Tombs'-a religion that prospers
best in bad state of the liver! l
speak Of The religion that Christ
preached. l suppose when that religion
has conquered the world that disease
will be bsnished AID that man hun
dred years Of age will core iu from
business and say: i Ice. ured |
think it must be time for me TO ga,
and without one physical pang heaven
will have him.
But the chief beauty Of grace is in
the soul. 1t takes that which was hard
and cold and repulsive and makes it all
over again. It pours upon ones nature
what David calls ''the beauty Of holi-
ness" It extirpates everything that IS
hateful and unclean. If jealousy and
pride and lust and worldliness lurk
about, they are chained and have
very small sweep. Jesus throws upon
the soul the fragrance of a summer gar
den as he comes in, saying, j am rose
of Sharon, and he subnerges it with
the glory Of spring morning as he says,
81 am the light" On, how much that
grace did for the three Johns! II took
John Bunyan, the foul mouthed, and
made him John Bunyan. the iumorta!
dreamer. 1ttook John Newton, the in
ddel sailor, and in the midst Of the
hurricane made him cry out, My
mothers God, have mercy upon me.
It took John Sumnerfeld from life
of sin and, by the hand Of Christian
maker Of edge tools, led him into the
pulpit that burns still with the light Of
that Christian eloqusncc which charmed
thousands to the Jesus whom he once
despised. All, you may search all the
earth over for anything SO beautiful! or
besutifying as the grace Of God. Go
all through the deep mine passages Of
Wieliezka and amid the underground
kingdoms Of salt in Halls.adt, and
show me anything so exquisite, so
transcendently beautiful as this grace
of God fashioned and hung 10 eternal
crystals.
Again, grace is like salt in the fact
that it is necessity Of life. Man and
beast perish without salt. What are
those paths across the western prairies?
Why, they were made there by deer and
buffalo going to and coming away from
the salt ''licks." Chemists and physi-