The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-08-24

Abos
best place to study man.
Going down to your place of bust
ness and coming home again L charge
you look about; see these signs of
poverty, of wretchedness, OF munger.
of sin, of bereavement, and as you 90
through the streets and come back
through the streets gather up IN the
arms of your prayer all the sorrow, sll
he losses, all the suferings, all the De
reavements of those whom you pass
and present them in prayer before an
all sympathetic God. In the great day
of eternity there will be thousands Of
persons with whom you in this world
never exchanged one word VIII rise
I'D and call you blessed; n there
will be a thousand fingers pointed at
you in heaven, saying: That IS the
man, that is the woman who heiped
me when / was hungry and sick and
wandering and lost and heartbroken.
That is the man, that is the woman
and the blessing will come down upon
YOU as Christ shall say: Il was hum
CRY and We fed me, l was naked and We
clothed me, I was sick and IN prison
| and we visited me; inasmuch as We DID
1T to these poor waits of the streets
we did il unto me-.
WICKED EXCLUSIVENESS.
Again, in all cities 1 am impressed
with the fact that all classes and cor
/ QlIlOHS VI SOSlCl ll0oI
We sometimes cultivate a wicked ex-
| ~clusiyeness. Intellect deSpises ignor-
ance. Refinement will have nothing 10
| do with barrashness. Gloves hate the
sunburned hand, and the high 1oreheao
despises the fiat head, and the trim
hedgerow will nave nothing to do with
the wild copsewOOd, n Athens mates
Nazareth. This ought not so TO De. l
like his democratic principle OF the
gospel of Jesus Christ which
the fact that we stand before God on
one and the same platform. DO MOI
take on any airs. Whatever position
YOU have gained in society,", you are
nothing but a man, born of the same
parent, regenerated by the same spirit,
cIeansed inthe same blood, to lie down
in the same dust, to get up in the same
resurrection. 1t is high time that we
all acknowledged not only the father
hood of God, but the brotherhood of
man.
Again, in all cities L am impressed
with the fact that it is a very hard
thing for a m a to keep his heart right
and to get to heaven. Infinite tempta-
tons spring upon us from places OF
public concourse. Amid so much afflu-
ence, how much temptation to coVet-
business and to be disconnected with
our humble lot, Amid so many ppo
tunities for ov~erreaching, what tempta-
ton to eXtortioni Amid so much dis
play, what temptation to vanity!
Amid so many saloons of strong drink
what allurement to dissipation! In
the maelstroms and hell gates of the
street, nov many make quick and
eternal shipwreck! If a man-of-war
comes back from a battle and is tow
ed into the navy yard, we go down to
|, look at the splintered spars and count
the bullet holes and look with patriotic
admiration on the flag that floated in
victory from the mas head Blt thai
man is more of a Observation-Disclosures
through 80 years of the Sharp-shooting
of business life and yet sails on, victor
!, over the temptations Of the street. Oh
how many have gone under the press
: ure, leaving not so much as a patcE
, of canvass to tell where they persisted!
. They never had any peace. Their dis
> honesties kept toiling in their ears. L
: 1 had an ak and could split open the
beams of that fine house perhaps
would find in the very heart of it {
skeleton. In his very best wine there
is a smack of poor mans sweat. Oh
is it strange that when a man has de
voured widows houses he is disturbed
3 with indigestion! All the forces Of ma.
ture are against him.. The floods arr
ready to drown him, and the earth
). quake to swallow him, and the fire:
to consume him, n he lightning tx
t smite him. Aye, the angels of God ar,
: on the street, and in the day when thu
crowns of heaven are disturbed some
of the brightest of them will be giver
: to those men who We're faithful to Goo
. and faithful to the souls of other:
. amid the marts of business, proving
. themselves the heroes of the street
= Mighty We're their temptations, mighty
was their de~liverance, and mighty shall
. be their triumph.
HOLLOWNESS OF SOCIETY.
: Again, in all these cities I am i'm.
> pressed with the fact hat life is full
: of pretention and sham. What sub
; terfuge, what double dealing, what tive
I 1acednesSi Do all people who wish you
good morning really hope for you q
!: happy day? Do all the people who
1 shake hand love each other? Are al
. those anxious about your health who
inquire concerning it? Do all want tC
see you who ask you to call? Does al
/. the world know half as much as 1t pre-
end to know? Is there not many q
wretched stock of goods with a brilliant
t store window? Passing UP and down
t the streets to your business and your
work, are you not impressed with the
fact that society is hollow and that
there are subterfuges n pretensions:
Oh, how many there are who swaggeI
and strut n how few people who are
, natural and walk! While tops simpeI
and fools smoker and simpletous gig
gle, how few people are natural and
laugh i q LII " " SACdlS
in you incredulity or misanthropy, MOI
do / forget there are thousands Of peo-
!, pie a great deal better than they seem
but / do not think any man is prepared
for the conflict Of this life until he
knows this particular peril. Ehud
comes pretending to pay his tax to
King Eglon and, while he stands in
front Of the king. slabs him through
: with a dagger until the haft went in
after the blade. Judas Iscariot kissed
Christ.
Again, in all cities / am impressed
! with the fact that there is a great field
for Christian charity. There are hun.
ger and suffering n want and wretch
edness in the country, but these evils
!, chiefly congregate IN our great cities
!. On every street crime prowls and
!. drunkenness staggers and shame winks
and pauperism thrusts out its hand
asking for aims. Here want Is most
. squalid and hunger is most lean. A
I Christian man going along a street In
l New York saw a poor lac and he