The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1902-02-27

surplice and gown and preach-preach ike
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 mattere, and
we will attend to ours" They do noc know
that God sees every cheat they have prae-
ticed in the last six years; that He ran look
| through the iron wall of their freproof
safe; that Re has counted every dollar
| they have in their pocket. and that a 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
I ard then when the benediction is pro
| nounced shut the pew door and say. as they
60 out. Goodbye, religion. I'll be back
next Sunday"
| I 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. [ 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 a sixpenny nail
| sometimes produces lockjaw, and the clip
| of a most infinitesimal annoyance may
| damage you forever. Do not let any an
| noyance or perplexity come across your
| soul without its making you better.
| Our National Government did not think
| it belittling to put tax on pins and a 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 [ would have you, 0 Chris
| tan man, put high tariff on every annoy
ance and vocation that comes through your
| soul. This niSht not amount to much in
single cases, buy in The aggregate i YOU'D
| satisfaction. A bee can suck honey even
out OF a nettle, 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. ar
And I have to tell you, o Christian men,
| if you cannot apply the principles Of
| Christ's religion on small scale you will
never be able to apply them on large
! scale. II 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 commonest blessings. When
the autumn comes and the harvests are in
ard the governors make proclamations, we
thankful. But every day ought to be a
Thanksgiving day. We do not recognise
the common mercies of life. We have Is
see blind man led by his dog before we
begin to bethink ourselves of what a 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
sleeve pinned up before we learn to think
what grand thing God did for us 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 our 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 sell
dom thanking, or, if thanking at all, with
only half heart.
l compared our indifference to the brute,
but perhaps 1 wronged the brute. | do not
know but that, among its other instincts,
it may have an instinct by which it recog-
nizes the divine hand that feeds it. l 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 cnd looks very thankful, and who
can tell how much bird means by its
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, TINS sort tread OF q
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 a matter of course.
But suppose God should withdraw these
common blessings Your body would be-
come an inquisition of torture, the cloud
| would refuse rain, every green thing would
erumple up, and the earth would crack
open under your feet. The air would cease
its healthful circulation, pestilence would
swoop, and every house would become. a
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. On, compare such 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 aclunowl-
edge these everyday mercies? whether
We eat or drink or whatsoever We DO, do all
TO the glory of Cod" Do address man
or woman who has not rendered to God
one single Offering OF thanks?
was preaching one Thanksgiving Day
aad announced my text-"Oh, give thanks
unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mer-
cy endureth forever" I do not know
whether there was any blessing on the SER
mon or not, but the text went straight to
young mans heart. He said to himself
as read the text: "'Oh, give thanks unto
the Lord, for He is good Why, have
never rendered Him any thanks! Oh, what
an migrate I have been!" Can it be, my
brother, that you have been fed by the
good hand of God all these days, that you
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