Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1901-06-08


purposes. If we all had more of it and
knew how to use 1t Alright, how much
it would improve our Christian cOnver.
sation and prayer meeting talk and ser.
mon! Robert South and Rowland Hill
and Jeremy Taylor and Dean Swift
and Lorenzo Dow and George White
field used their wit and their humor to
gather great audiences and then lead
them into the kingdom of God Fri
volity Is repulslve In religious discus
sion, but like the humor OF Job when
he said to his insolent critics, "No
doubt but ye are the people, and wis
dom shall die with you" and like the
humor of the prophet Elijah. who told
the Baalites to pray louder, as their
god was out hunting or on an excur-
sion or in such loud conversation that
he could not hear them. like the sar-
casm of Christ when he told the self
righteous Pharisees that they were so
good they needed no help, THE whole
need not a physician. but they that are
sick" or when in mirthful hyperbole
he arraigns the hypocrtlcal teachers of
his day who were so particular about
little things and careless about big
things, saying, "Ye blind guides that
strain at a gnat and swallow camel"
and the Bible Is all ablaze with cpl
gram. words surprisingly put and
phraseology that must have made the
audiences of Paul and Christ nudge
each other and exchange glances and
smile and then appropriate the tremen-
dous truths Of the gospel. There are
some evils you can laugh down easier
than you can preach down. The ques-
tion is always being asked, Why do not
more people go to church. prayer meet
ing and other religious meetings?
will tell you. We of the pulpit and the
pew are so dull they cannot stand it.
But when we ask why people do not go
ton. More people 90 now to church
than ever in the worlds history. and
the reason is In all our denominations
there is q new race of ministers step
ping into the pulpits which are not the
apostles of humdrum. Sure enough.
we want in the Lords army the heavy
artillery. but we want also more men
who. like Burns. farmer at Gettys-
burg, took q musket and went out on
his own account to do little shooting
different from the other soldiers. The
church of God is dying of the proprie-
ties.
Set Good Example.
Or Is your talent an opportunity to
set a good example? One person doing
right under adverse circumstances will
accomplish more than many treatises
about what is right. The census has
never been taken Of lovely old folks.
Most of us, if we have not such one
in our own house now, have in our
memory such a saint. We went to
those old people with all our troubles.
They were perpetual evangelists. by
their soothing words. by their hopeful
ness of spirit, an inexpressible help.
/ cannot see how heaven could make
them any lovelier than they are or
were. But there are exceptions. There
is a daughter In that family whose ia
ther is impatient and the mother
querulous. The passage of many years
does not always improve the disposl-
tion, and there are great many dis
agreeable old folks. Some of them for
get that they were ever young them
selves. and they become untidy in their
habits and wonder how. when their
asthma or rheumatism Is so bad. other
people can laugh or sing and go on as
they do. The daughter in that family
bears all the peeyishness and unrea-
sonable behavior Of senility without
answering back or making any kind
of complaint. If you should ask her
what her five talents are or her one
talent is. she would answer that she
has no talent Mt all. Greatly mistaken
is she. Her one talent is to forbear
and treat the childishness of the old
as we'll as she treats the childishness
of the young. She Is no musician. and
besides there may not be piano In
the house. she cannot skillfully swing
a croquet mallet or golf stick. Indeed.
she seems shut up to see what she can
do with a ladle and n broom and
brush and other household implements.
She is the personlfcation Of patience.
and her reward will be as long as
heaven. Indeed, much of her reward
may be given on earth. She is in
rough college, from which she may
after awhile graduate into brightest
domesticity. She Is heroine. though
at present she may receive nothing but
scolding and depreciation. Her one
talent of patience under trial will do
more good than many morocco covered
sermons on patience preached today
from the tasseled cushion of the pulpit.
There is o man in business life whose
one talent Is honesty He has not the
genius or the force to organize a COM
pany or plan what Is called a corner
in wheat" or "a corner in stocks" or
"a corner" in anything. He goes to
business at a reasonable hour and re.
turns when ii is time to lock up. He
never gave a check for $4,000 in all
his life, but he is known on the street
and in the church and in many honora-
BILE circles as an honest man. His
word Is as good as his bond. He has
for 80 years been referred to as
clean, upright. industrious. consistent
Christian man. Ask him how many
talents he has. and he will not claim
even one. He cannot make speech.
he cannot buy up a market. he cannot
afford an outshining equipage, but
what an example lie Is to the young.
what an honor to his household. what
pillar to the church of God, what
specimen of truth and integrity and all
roundness of character. Is there any
comparison In usefulness between that
man with the one talent of honesty and
the dashing operators of the money