Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1905-05-27

OF Jesus Christ merely because you are
harboring bitterness against some
church members who did not do as
they ought to do? DO YOU mean to tell
me that you today have divorced all
your interests from the church Of the
Lord Jesus Christ, which has done so
much for your spiritual life and is do
ing so MUCH for the salvation of the
world. merely because you do not like
few members in it?
Turned Against Church.
When I speak to you thus I am not
talking at random. There are hundreds
and thousands OF just such people as
you who have turned their backs upon
the church. Gods mightiest agency for
doing good. merely because they have
had an unfortunate experience with
some of its members. The other day I
was tar.ing to noble man. He gives
away hundreds and thousands of dol
lars each year. Within his large mer-
camille establishment he runs a school,
that his girl clerks and his boy clerks
who have to earn q living at the time
they should be In the schoolroom
should not be entirely deprived Of an
education. He gives hundreds Of dol
lars annually for the temperance cause.
No man who is trying to do right and
Is flung on his back ever appealed to
him for help In vain. Yet that man.
with all his vast influence. has not for
years darkened church doors. Years
ago there was church difficulty which
revolved about him and his family.
Sad. sad. infinitely sad. that he should
refuse to be one with the church be-
cause OF a bitter grudge he holds
against some church members who did
not treat him right. For in spite Of all
he has done. l confidently assert that
the seed he had sown would have null
tiplied thousandfold instead of, as
now. producing only sixtyfold had he
been working inside of the church Of
God instead of outside. That man for
years has held aloof from the church
because he cherished resentment
against some of its members. He dis
obeyed the injunction of my text. LET
not the sun go down upon your wrath"
''Never ask me to be a member of the
Humane society again." said the wife
OF one of my elders short time ago.
"Why not?" about ten years ago I
Went to one Of their meetings. or all
the backbitings and censorious criti-
cism ever heard theirs were the
worst" Oh. friend. is such a state
ment right? Because Judas betrayed
Christ, Is that any reason you should
refuse to be a disciple Of Christ? Be
cause last year one Of our missionary
leaders or one of the trustees Of an
orphans home proved Il rascal and was
found to be n defaulter, is that any
reason we should refuse our aid to-
ward those beneficent institutions? In
your hatred for man you are binding
your eyes to the good you can do to
movements. You are acting as foolish
ly Us the astronomer who would refuse
to climb the stellar ladder of the night
and walk with God amid the infinities
OF space merely because fly speck
gets upon the lens of his telescope.
o man. grow bigger. Widen your
horizon. DO not peevishly stop your
tramp up the heights of Mount Wash
ington, where you can see all New Eng
land under your feet. merely because
u snarling puppy comes out Of barn
yard and barks at you as you walk
along the country highway. Do not
sap your life's usefulness by your
90 f1v
principles. Live for movements. Live
for Institutions. II some people who
are working by your side for those
causes are not what they ought to be.
then do not as coward desert your
post ON the picket lines Of the worlds
great armies In the time Of mortal
combat.
Drop Your Hatreds.
But there Is yet another reason why
you should drop all your hatreds and
animosities as kindlings into the great
confiagrations of the setting sun. You
may be purified by the divine fires OF
trouble. But no man was ever able to
make a brother better and truer and
purer by hatred and malice and wrath
and contempt. You have tried it In
the past. You have piled up your ex-
coriating remarks in great heaps. You
have rolled down great avalanches Of
denuncation You have exhausted your
whole vocabulary and roamed through
hundreds of dictionary pages to find ver-
biage sulphurous enough to depict your
whitening contempt. But did it do any
good? Have you made your brother love
you any better? Have you made him a
truer or better man? Have you help
ed your relationship with him In the
least? For fifteen years you have
walked down the street and met him
on an average at least once a week.
You stare at him. What good are you
accomplishing by such bitter actions?
Absolutely none. Absolutely no good
results for yourself. Absolutely no
good results for him.
Motive For Crime.
What Is the purpose hidden In your
heart Of harboring up that grudge or
malice or hatred against your neigh
hopS x-n,,r fnSf frinnd9 Onn nf tho