Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1901-06-07

churches realize that if wit is bestowed it
is given them for useful, for improving,
for healthful purposes. IL we all had
more Of it and knew how to use it Alright,
how much it would improve our Christian
conversation and prayer meeting talk and
sermon! 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 We are the people, and
wisdom 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 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
| 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, "Ye
| blind guides that strain at a gnat and
! swallow a camel" and the Bible is all
| ablaze with epigram, words surprisingly
| put and phraseoOgy 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 question is always
being asked. Why do not more people go
to church. prayer meeting and other re-
| ligious meetingsY 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 90 to church we ask 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 a
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 musket and
went out on his own account to do little
shooting different from the other sol
diers. The church Of God is dying Of the
prophecies. People who in every other
kind of audience show their emotions in
their cOuntenances 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 a few people laugh
winter nights around the stove in the
corner grocery? Has it never occurred tC
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 hant
for the Staying of sin and the triumph
of righteousness.
, Or is your talent an opportunity to Sc
a good example? One person doing RICH
under adverse circumstances will accom-
! plsh more than many treatises ahOu
what is right. The census has neve
been taken OF lovely old folks. Most o
US. if we have not such a one in our owl
, house now, have in our memory such
saint. We went to those old people witt
all our troubles They were perpetua
evangelists, by their soothing words, b.
, their hOpefulness Of spirit. an ineXpressi
BILE help. ! cannot see how heaven cOul
make them any lovelier than they are o
Z | were. But there are exceptions. Their
:. is a daughter in that family whose "a
, Their is impatient and the mother query
4, !ous. The passage of many years doe
y not always improve the disposition. an
h there are a great many disagreeable oil
folks. Some of them forget that the
> were ever young themselves, and the
become untidy in their habits and woI
der how, when their asthma or rheum;
+ tism is so bad, other people can laug
" or sing and go on as they do. The daugl
( ter in that family bears all the peevisl
T. ness and unreasonable behavior of senil
ty without answering back or maxim
> any kind of complaint. If you shou
u ask her what her five talents are or h'
one talent is, she would answer that 81
has no talent at all. Greatly mistake
/" is she. Her one talent is to forbear al
y treat the chldishness of the old as We
y as she treats the childishness Of Il
Il young. She is no musician. and besid
u, there may not be a piano in the hons
y She cannot skilfully swing a croqu
Il mallet or golf stick Indeed, she seen
~ shut up to see what she can do with
II adle and a broom and q brush and 9th
y. household implements. She is the pc
IN lonlicati0n of patience. and her rewa
" will be us long as heaven. Indeed, mu
=, of her reward may be given on cart
IN She is in Il rough college, from which S
Il may after awhile graduate into brightC
~ domesticity. She is a heroine, thou
~ at present she may receive nothing b
II scolding and depreciation. Her one t
=. ent of patience under trial will do mo
IL,
;, mons on patience preached today fro
>. the tasseled cushion of the pulpit. 80
VI another one"
Il. The Talent of Honesty.
nm There is a man in business life VIII,