The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-04-15
Hzka

Luz H10 G&AA1t ~
be o lawyer because there are SO many
Incompetent lawyers? Yet there are
tcls OF thousands OF people who decline
being religions because there are 50
many unworthy Christians. Now. I
say it is illogical. Poor lawyers are
nothing against Jurisprudence; poor
physicians are nothing against nledi-
cine: poor arLners are nothing against
agriculture. and mean contemptil,,e
professors OF religion are nothiu.
against our glorious Christianity.
False Lights to Cc Avoided.
Sometimes you have been riding
along Oil a summer n.G.t By a swamp.
and you have seen lights that kind.sti
over Gecayed vegetatiou-lights whic,
are called jack-o'iantern or will-o'-
~the-wisp. These lights are merely poi
sonous miasmata- Ny friends. on your
way io heaven you will want a better
light than the wi.l-o'-the-U isps which
dance on the rotten character Of mort
bund Christians. Exudat!ops from POI
sonous trees in U neighbours garden
viii make q very DOOR balm for our
wounds.
Sickness viii come. and we will be
pushed out toward the Red sea which
divides this world from the next. AID
not the Inconsistency of Christians. but
the rcd Of faith. will wave back the wa
ters as a commander wheels his host.
The Judgment will come, with its thun-
der shod solemnities. Oh. hen we will
mot Sfnn and GOV .SThprn yr1S n tNnpu
Christian: there was Il cowardly Chris.
tan; there was an impure Christian"
In that day as now IF thou be wise,
thou shalt be wise for myself. but If
thou soonest thou alone shall bear It,"
Why. my brother. the inconsistency OF
Christians. so far from being an argu-
ment to keep you away from God.
ought TO be an argument to drive you
to him. The best place for Il skillful
doctor is In q nei%hborhood where there
are all POOR doctors. the best place for
an entprpriSing merchant TO open his
store is liz IL place where the bargain
makers do not understand their bus.
ness. and the best place for you WHO
want TO become tie illustr.ous and
N~AAs - NAAN cNSN p-AN 80
you is to come right down among u
who are so Incompetent and so iucon.
sistent sometimes. Slow US how. Give
us an example.
Other persons apologize for not be
coming Christians because they lac;
time. as though religion muddled the
brain of the accountant or tripped the
pen of the author or thickened the
tongue of the orator or weakened th~
arm of the mechanic or scattered the
briefs of the lawyer or interrupted tic
sales of the merchant. They bolt their
store doors against it and fight it back
with trowels and with yardsticks and
cry. away with your religion from
our store, our office, our factory.
They do not understand that religion
in this workday world will help you to
do anything you ought to do. 1t can
lay q keel; it can sail a ship; it can
buy a cargo; it ear work a pulley; ii
can pave a street; it can fit a wrist.
band; it can write a constitutions; it car
marshal a host. 1t is as appropriate to
the astronomer as his telescope, to the
chemist as his laboratory, to the ma
} son as his plumb line, to the carpenter
as his plane. to the child as his mar
, bleS, to grandfather as bis staff.
Time to Be Religious.
No time to be religious herei You
have no time not to be religious. You
might as we'll have no clerks in your
store, no books in your library, nc
! compass on your ship, no rifle in the
battle. no hat for your head, no coat
for FOUR back. no shoes for your feet
BETTER travel on toward eternity bare
headed and ~barefooted and houseless
and homeless and friendless than tt
/ go through life without religion. Die
religion make Raleigh I'M less of
! statesman or Havelock any less OF
soldier or Grinuell any less Of a mer
chant or West any less Of a painter
| Why. my friends, religion is the beSt
security in every bargain; it is the
sweetest note in every song; it is the
brightest gem in every coronet. M
time to be religious? Why. you vii
have to take time to be sick. to be
troubled. TO die. Our world is only the
wharf from which we are to embark
for heaven. No time to secure thu
. friendship Of Christ? No time to buy
a lamp aud trim it for that wall
through the darkness which otherwise
will be %illuInfned only by the white
ness OF the tombstones? No time Il
educate the eye for heavenly splend0r:
or the hand for choral harps or the eaI
for everlasting songs or the soul fol
honor. glory and immortality? Ore
would think we had time for nothin,
else.
Other persons apologize for not enter
ing the Christian life because it is tinI'
enough yet. That is very Ike thcS'
persons who send regrets and say. :"
will come in perhaps at II or - o'clock
l will not lie there at the opening of til,
banquet. but ! will be there at Tia
close" Not yet. Not yet. Now. | d.
not give any doleful view OF this life
. There is nothing in my nature. n~oiliins
in the grace of God, that tends tOwarG