The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-06-04

around all who meet him q supernal In
fluence. II that cheerful look be your
only talent, use it for the worlds CON
ISOLATION. There win be a hundred people
whom you will meet this week to whom
you will have no right to speak. 1t
would be an impertinence. You have
never been introduced to them, they were
never introduced to you. You have no
right to stop them on their way, as they
have no right to stop you ON your way
But you have a right to look at them.
Then look with a faith In God and a
holy purpose and a manliness and a good
cheer that will keep them thinking all
that day and wondering who you are and
what is the cause Of the victory which
they saw depicted between b top OF
your forehead and the round Of your chin
II you are the right kind Of a man. the
right kind Of a woman, something has
happened to o that ought to al your
soul with courage and your face with
glorious sunrise. Your sins all forgiven,
that makes you all right with the past;
an eternal heaven promised to your soul,
that makes you all right with the future.
Again, is your one talent that Of wit or
humor? Use it for God. Much Of the
worlds wit is damaging. Much Of satire
has u blluB III IL "uSu VI AZ
malevolent. Much of smart retort is vitri-
olic. In order to say smart things how
many will sacrifice the feelings Of others!
The sword they carry is keen, and it is
employed to thrust and lacerate. But few
men in all the world and in all the
churches realize that if wit is bestowed it
is given them for useful, for improving,
for healthful purposes. II we all had
r,nro Of ~ ond Rnow hnw fn nSQ III Alright
how much it would improve our Christian
conversation and prayer meeting talk n
sermonl Robert South and Rowland Hill
and Jeremy Taylor and Dean Swift and
Lorenzo Dow and George Whitefeld used
their wit and their humor to gather great
audiences and then lead them into the
kingdom of God. Frivolity is repulsive in
religious discussion, but / like the humor
Of Job when he said to his insolent crit
les, mo doubt but ye are the people, and
wisdom shall die with you" And l like
the humor of the prophet Elijah, who
told the Baalites to pray louder, as their
god was out hunting or on an excursion
or in such loud conversation that he could
not hear them. | like the sarcasm of
Christ when he told the self righteous
Pharisees that they were so good they
needed no help. 1.-The whole need not a
physician, but they that are SICK" or
when in mirthful hyperbole he %arraigns
the hypocritical teachers of his day who
were so particular about little things and
careless about big things, saying, I'VE
blind guides that strain at a gnat and
swallow a camel" and the Bible is all
ablaze with epigram, 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 dow easier than you
can preach down. The question is always
being asked, Why do not more people go
to church, prayer meeting n other re-
ligious meetings? l 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 to church we ask a mis-
leading question.
New Race of Ministers.
More people go now to church than
ever in the worlds history, and the rea-
son is in all our denominations there is q
new race of ministers stepping 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, a
farmer at Gettysburg. took a musket and
went out on his own account to do a little
shooting different from the other SOL
diers- The church of God is dying of the
proprieties. People who in every other
kind of audience show their emotions in
their c~ountenances in religious assemblies
while we are discussing coming release
and the joys of heaven look as doleful as
though they were attending their own
funeral. My friends, if you have the
one talent of wit or humor are you using
it merely to make q few people laugh
winter nights around the stove in the
corner grocery? Has it never occurred to
you that you have a mission to execute
with that bright faculty? Do you en-
ploy it only in idle conundrum or low
farce or harlequinade or humiliating ban
ter? Quit that and swing that flashing
scimiter which God has put in your hand
for the Staying Of sin and the triumph
Of righteousness.
Or Is your talent an opportunity to set
a good example? One person doing right
under adverse circumstances will accom-
plish more than many rreatises about
what is right. The census has never
been taken OF lovely old folks Most of
us, IL we have not such q one in our W
house now, have in our memory such a
ain We went to those old people with
all our troubles. They were perpetual
~evangelists, by their soothing words. by
their hopefulness of spirit. an inexpressi-
BILE help. ! ann 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
Their is impatient and the mother queru-
lous. The passage Of many years does
not always improve the disposition. and
there are a great many ~disagreeable old
folks. Some of them forget that they
were ever young themselves, and they
become untidy in their habits and won
der how. when their asthma or rheuma
tism is so bad. other people a laugh
or sing and go on as they do. The daugh
ter in that family bears all the peevi>h-
ness and unreasonable behavior of senili
ty 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