Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1904-10-29

o friend. you must be very careful
how you live. In one sense you are
exactly in The place of Il locomotive
engineer who has II long train of
coaches attached to his engines ten
der. If your true arm fails. then other
lives besides your own must suffer on
account of your weakness" When
! Christian sympathy speaks thus an av-
erage man VIII suddenly stop and say
to himself: What. Does any one care
for me! Is my life IN important factor
In other lives! If this be true, l must
be careful where my feet 20. how l
laugh, how cry and what l do. My
life is not an independent entity. My
spilled blood will stain other garments
besides my own"
Tie dependence of other lives upon
our lives-is not this realization Il
mighty safeguard against II man run
ming into needless physical dangers as
well as spiritual: The other day
sailor rowed you out into the ofiing or
bay To take you fishing. There was
strong breeze blowing beyond the point
of jatiing rocks which protected the
bay. but tie fish We're jumping every
where. and the temptation TO go was
very great. But no sooner did you OBJ
serve the ''crankiness'' of the sailboat
toward which you We're rowing and in
which you We're to sail than you turned
TO your companion and said: Il am
not going out today. That boat is not
safe. 1t is leaking now" Why were
you not willing To go! Are you any
more of coward Row than you were
ten or fifteen years ago. when you
would have jumped into that boat
without fear: OH. no, not that. No
one could charge you with being a
coward. Personally you would just
as lief run tie risk now as you did
fifteen years ago. but now you have a
wife ana children. which was not SO
fifteen years ago. Now you have 9th
ers Dependent upon you. Now you
cannot afford for their sakes to need
lcssiy risk your life.
why They Were Reckless.
"What kind of soldiers are the most
reckicsS:' was one day asked Lord
Boer war; Without any hesitation he
answered: bachelor soldiers. Not that
they are AT heart Drawer. but when a
man has n wife and children depend
cnt upon him for daily bread he guards
his me more carefully OH their ac-
count and does not run into any useless
dangers" Now. my friends. when
- T.. F,tl IN m IN
physical dangers. fearing he may de-
priye lis wife and children of their
daily bread. is not man by the same
law of reasoning the more unwilling to
run into spiritual dangers and tempta-
lions if lie realizes that the joys of 9th
ers. in IL spiritual sense, are wrapped
UP in his own joys ANA that sorrows
in other lives will be caused by his
sins: Lord Bacon. in one of his match
less essays. once said, After Il man
marrics he surrenlers into the hands
of success his wife and children as
hostages" by that Lord Bacon meant.
Every man who is married is handi-
capped in the race of life" He meant
that Il man becomes timid when he has
wife and chill rem. In the crises or
life. when success is won by the man
who casts everything into the scale,
the married man hesitates because he
is afr;! i'll to risk the future of his wife
and children. But he overlooked the
fact that his love for his family will
keep him from running foolish risks.
So when man enlarges his circle and
makes the welfare of others his con-
Germ lie has an inspiration to a better,
truer. noblcr life. He shrinks from
wrongdoing because he knows that he
will injure others by his example. The
ascetic has only himself to consider.
but the man who has entered into 9th
his fall or his good life may affect the
lives of others.
What the Scripture Means.
But how is Christian sympathy to
enter truly into the existence Of an
others life: First. my text says. RE
joice with them that do rejoice" Do
you know what that means: Why, the
Interpretation is simple enough to I'M
derstand. 1t means when You see an
old school friend getting ahead in life,
when you see IL brother succeeding at
the law or in medicine or in the pulpit,
when you see sister living in finer
house than yours or driving in a car
rage while you walk. or when you
know that your brother-in-law is able
to take his family and children TO the
country to get back the flush of health
to their pale cheeks. while you cannot
afford To 20. that you must not be jeal-
Gus of their successes. If you are n
minister and you hear of another
church holding great revival and
gathering in new converts by the
scores. you are TO 20 TO the minister OF
that church with Il warm, loving Cos
pei handshake and say: Brother, l
congratulate you. We are praying for
you and the great good you are doing.
May God bless your new members and
make them mighty agents for Christ"
1t means that il you are Il candidate
for some Office and another is elected
to the presidency of that society in
your stead then you are to pitch i'll and