The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-01-18

time comes to our cities and the world
people will give their time up to psalm
singing and the relating Of their religious
experience, and as all social life viii be
purified th0re will be no hilarity, and as
all business will be purified there will be
no enterprise. There is no ground for
such an absurd anticipation. In the time
Of which / speak, where now one fortune
is made there will be a hundred fortunes
made. We all know business prosperity
depends upon confidence between man
and man. Now, when that time comes Of
which l speak, and all double dealing, all
dishonesty, and all fraud are gone out of
commercial circles, thorough confidence
will be established, and there will be bet
ter business done and larger fortunes
gathered and mightier successes achieved.
The great business disasters of this
country have come from the work of god
less spectators and Infamous stock gam
blers. The great foe to business is
crime. When the right shall nave hurled
back the wrong, and shall have purified
the commercial code, and shall have
Numbered down fraudulent establish
ments, and shall nave put into the hands
Of honest men the keys of business, bless
ed time for the bargain makers. / am
not making a guess. ! am telling you
Gods eternal truth.
Lessenfng the d
In that day of which I speak taxes
will be a mere nothing. Now our bust
ness men are taxed for everything. City
taxes, county taxes, state taxes, United
States taxes, stamp taxes, license taxes,
manufacturing taxes taxes, taxes,
taxes! Our business men have to make
a small fortune every year to pay their
4 faTQc What fasfanS on m uroaf ipI,,c-
tries this awful load? Crime, individual
and official. We have to pay the board
Of the villains who are incarcerated in
our prisons. We have to take care of the
orphans of those who plunged into their
raves through beastly indulgence. We
have to support the municipal govern
ments, which are expensive just in pro-
portion as the criminal proclivities are
vast and tremendous. Who supports the
almshouses and police stations and all the
machinery of municipal government? The
taxpayers.
But in the glorious time of which l
speak grieyous taxation will all have
ceased. There will be no need Of sup
porting criminals. There will be no Grim
inals. Virtue will have taken the place
of vice. There will be no orphan asy-
lums, for parents will be able to leave
4 IL COuIpeleiCy 10 luelT culluTeQ. l0eTe
will be no voting of large sums of moneys
for some municipal improvement, which
moneys, before they get to the improve
ment. drop into the pockets Of those
who voted them. No oyer and terminer
kept up at vast expense to the people.
No ~impaneling of juries to try theft and
arson and murder and SANDER and black
mail. Better factories, grander arcbi-
lecture, finer equipaSe, larger fortunes,
richer opulence-"a morning without
clouds"
In that better time also coming to
these cities the churches of Christ will
be more numerous, and they will be
larger. and they will be more devoted
to the service of Jesus Christ, and they
will accomplish greater influences for
good. Now it is often the case that
churches are envious of each other, and
denominations collide with each other.
and even ministers of Christ sometimes
forget the pond of brotherhood, but in
the time of which | speak. while there
will be just as many differences of opin-
ion as there are now. there will be no
acerbity, no hypercriticism. no exclusive
ness.
Churches Not Large Enough
In our great cities the churches are not
today large enough to hold more than a
fourth of the population. The churches
that are built-comparatively few of
them are fully occupied. The average at
tendance in the churches of the United
States today is not 400. Now, in the
glorious time of which l speak, there are
going to be vast churches, and they are
going to be all thronged with worship
ers. Oh, what rousing songs they will
singi Oh, what earnest sermons they
will preach! Oh, what fervent prayers
they will offer! Now, in our time, what
is called a fashionable church is a place
where a few people, having attended very
carefully to their toilet, come and sit
down-they do not want to be crowded,
they like a whole seat to themselves-and
then, if they have any time left from
thinking of their store, and from examin-
ing the style of the hat in front Of them,
they sit and listen TO a sermon warranted
to hit no mans sins. and listen to music
which is rendered by a choir warranted
to sing tunes that nobody knows! And
then after an hour and a half of indo-
lent yawning they go home refreshed.
Every man feels better after he has had
a sleepi
In many of the churches of Christ in
our day the music is simply q mockery !
lave not a cultivated ear nor q cultivat-
ed voice, yet no man can do my singing
for me. 1 have nothing to say against
artistic music. The 50 or So I pay 10
hear one of the great queens of
song is a good investment. But when the
people assemble in religious convocation.
and the hymn is read. and the angels of
God step from their throne to catch the
music on their wings, do not let US drive
them away by our Indifference. have
preached in churches where vast sums Of
money were employed to keep up the
music. and it was as exquisite as any
heard on earth. but | thought at the same
time, for all matters practical. l would
prefer the hearty. outbreaking song of a
backwoods Methodist camp meeting.
Praising God In Song.
Let one of these starveling fancy songs
sung in church get up before the throne
of God. how would it look standing amid
the great doxologies Of the redeemed
Il Ga 2 49,