Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1902-03-06

buIpiCS anu gown anu pTedcn-pfedcn llke
| an angel-and we will stand out here and
| attend to business Don't mix things.
Don't get business and religion in the same
| bucket. You attend to your matters, and
we will attend to ours" They do not know
that God sees every cheat they have prac.
| ticed in the last six years; that He can look
| through the iron wall of their freproof
safe; that He has counted every dollar
| they have in their pocket. and that day
of judgment will come. These inconsistent
Christian men will sit on the Sabbath night
in the house of God singing at the close of
] the service, Rock of ages cleft for me-"
/ and then when the benedction is pro-
nounced shut the pew door and say as they
go out: Goodbye, religion. I'll be back
next Sunday"
| ] think that the church of God and the
Sabbath are only an armory where we are
to get weapons When war comes, if a
man wants to fight for his country, he
does not go to Troy or to Springfield to do
battling, but he goes there for swords and
muskets. l look upon the church of Christ
/ and the Sabbath day as only the place and
time where and when we are to get armed
for Christian conflict, but the battlefield is
on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thurs
day, Friday and Saturday
| Now, be careful to let none Of those an
noyances go through your soul unarraigned.
! Compel them to administer your spiritual
wealth. The scratch of sixpenny nail
sometimes produces lockjaw. and the clip
OF most infnitesimal annoyance may
damage you 1oreyer: Do rot let any an
noyance or perplexity come across your
eoul l,without its making you better.
Our National Government did not think
| 1t beiitting to put a tax on pins and tax
| on buckles and tax on shoes. The indi-
! vidual taxes do not amount to much but
in the aggregate to millions and millions of
| dollars. And l would have you. 0 Chris
tian man, put high tariff on every annoy
ance and vexation that comes through YOU.
| soul. This might not amount to much in
single cases, but in the aggregate it would
be great revenue of spiritual strength and
satisfaction. bee suck honey even
| out OF a ncttle. and If you have the grace
of God in your heart you can get sweetness
| out OF that which would otherwise irri-
tate and annoy. The only way to get pre-
pared for the great troubles of life is to
| conquer these small troubles
And / have to tell you, o Christian men,
il, you cannot apply the principles of
Chrst's religion on small scale you will
never be able to apply them on a large
scale. If you cannot contend successfully
| against these small sorrows that come
down single handed, what will you do
when the greater disasters of life come
down with laundering artillery, rolling
| over your soul?
Again, we must bring the religion of
Christ into our rcommonest blessings. When
the autumn comes and the harvests are in
and the governors make proclamations, we
assemble in churches and we are very
thankful. But every day ought to be
the common mcrcies Of life We have to
see blind man led by his dog before we
begin to bethink ourselves of what grand
thing it is to have undimmed eyesight.
We have TO see some wounded man hob
bling on his crutch or with his empty coat
l II Ine-
what grand thing God did for lis when He
gave US healthy use of our limbs. We are
so stupid that nothing but the misfortunes
| OF others can rouse Us up to or blessings.
As the OK grazes in the pasture up to its
eye in clover, yet never thinking who
makes the clover, and as the bird picks up
| the worm from the furrow, not knowing
that it is God who makes everything from
the animalcule in the sod to the seraph on
the throne, so we go on eating, drinking
and enjoying, but never thanking, or sel
dom thanking, or, if thanking at all, with
only half heart.
l compared our Indifference to the brute,
but pe:haps l wronged the brute. 1 do not
| know but that, among its other instincts,
it may have an instinct by which it recog-
nlzes the divine hand that feeds it. | do
not know but that God is, through it,
holding communication with what we call
Irrational creation" The COW that stands
under the willow by the watercourse chew
| ing its cud looks very thankful, and who
can tell how much bird means by it's
song? The aroma of the flowers smells like
| incense. and the mist arising from the river
| looks like the smoke of morning sacrifice.
Oh, that we were as responsive! Yet who
thanks God for the water that gushes up
in the well, and that foams in the cascade,
and that laughs over the rocks, and that
patters in the showers, and that claps its
hands in the sea? Who thanks God for
the air, the fountain of life. the bridge of
sunbeams, the path of sound, the great fan
on a hot summers day? Who thanks God
for this wonderful physical organism, this
sweep of the vision, this chime of harmony
struck into the ear, this soft tread of a
myriad delights over the nervous tissue,
| this rolling of the crimson tide through ar
| terry and vein, this drumming of the heart
on our march to Immortality! We take all
these things as matter of course.
But suppose God should withdraw these
common blessings! Your body would be-
come an inquistion of torture, the cloud
| would refuse rain, every green thing would
| crumple up, and the earth would crack
open under your feet The air would cease
it's healthful circulation, pestilence would
swoop, and every house would become
| place of skulls Streams would first swim
| with vermin and then dry up, and thirst
and hunger and anguish and despair would
| lift their sceptres. Oh, compare such a life
as that with the life you live with your
families! Is it not time that, with every
action of your life we began to acknowl-
edge these everyday mercies? Whether
We eat or drink or whatsoever We do, do all
to the glory of God" Do l address a man
or woman who has not rendered to God
one single Offering Of thanks?
! was preaching one Thanksgiving Day
| and announced my text-"Oh, give thanks
unto the Lord, for He is good for His mer
cy endureth forever" / do not know
whether there was any blessing on the SER
mon or not, but the text went straight to
a young mans heart. He said to himself
as l read the text: :" 'Oh. give thanks unto
the Lord, for He is good Why, [ have
never rendered Him any thanks! Oh, what
an migrate | have been!" Can it be, my
brother, that you have been fed by the
good hand of God all these days, that you