Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1905-04-01

have give I unto thee" This. however,
is not the gift of grace, but of Il false
letter of recommendation. We fire.
quently give such letters of recon-
mendation when we know that the
men to whom we give them are in
competent or at least unknown to us,
and the result is that there are thou
sands of frauds being perpetrated all
over the country not because bad men
are instigating them-there are bad
men everywhcre-bu because good
men have allowed their names to be
linked to those frauds carclessly And
there are thousands of good men out of
the positions in life which they are
qualified to fill merely because medic
ere ana Incompetent men for friend
ships sake have been pushed into those
positions by what is commonly termed
pull" My brother, never be secu-
rity for n friend unless you are first
sure that what you recommend by let
ter Is 1.-The truth, the whole truth and
nothing but the truth
Postmortem Laudation.
If men despise those for whom we I'M
wisely have become sureties they are
apt to despise us also. and if they learn
to despise us they are very apt to learn
to despise the religion we represent,
for, say what you will. every unfaith-
full Christian is representative. how
ever sadly delinquent. of the God in
h., l.,
or should be, the lights of the world
the cities set upon hill, which
cannot be hid. If we are unfaithful in
our dealings with others our faith
lessness reflects on religion and is an
offense against God himself This fact
when minister is untrue to his Divine
Master and his sacred calling. At the
public funeral of worldly man or u
worldly woman sometimes I'm order to
give comfort to the living minister
will try to smooth things over. though
the dead man may have been an ex-
tortioner, drunkard, libertine. a
gambler or despiser Of the church of
the Lord Jesus Christ. or course we
should speak no evil Of the dead, and
1t is not necessary that any one should
cause pain by reflections at a funeral.
but surely there Is limit to poStmor-
TEN laudation. Yet he will talk about
twelve gated gospel. He will say
there was pardon for Paul. who was
the chief of sinners. and therefore there
is pardon for us. He will not quote
the passage. Except We repent We shall
all likewise PERISH but he will talk
from the text, God is love-" and he
will try to make people believe that the
unrepentant soul has entered through
my brother. even with the men of the
world it won't go down. If we dishon-
or ourselves by trying to become n
surety for our friends we dishonor God
also
once heard minister dishonor Gcd
In this way: Many years ago out III
the country person of evil life was
buried. That life had been wholly a
worldly life. but in order to please the
relatives, who were members of his
church, the minister whitewashed the
record, and, though the dead had died,
as far as we knew, unrepentant. the
indulgent speaker opened the gates of
heaven and had the departed living in
the whitest mansion nearest to the
great white throne After the service
was ended a man of the world said ia
me: what does that minister mean by
talking like that? If heaven is for
such a one, then l am sure Of reaching
there, blasphemer as l am" No. my
friends. you cannot be untrue in your
without at the same time dishonoring
him of whom you as Christians stand
before the world as the representa-
tives.
would beseech of you, therefore, in
the smallest details of your life al
ways remember you are the representa-
tives Of Jesus Christ Spurgeon once
said, MANY horses fall at the bottom
of hill because the driver thinks the
danger past and the need to hold the
reins with firm grip less pressing
Many men lose their Christian disciple
ship at the foot Of the hill after they
have climbed Calvary and descended
on the other SIDE They lose it be
cause they do not serve God in the lit,
tie things. They lose it because they
needlessly throw themselves into temp
tations by becoming false sureties for
their friends. They lose it because. I'M
thinkingly. they throw moral dangers
in the way Of others. They lose it be
cause when they dishonor themselves
they dishonor Christ May God help
us. one and all, to be true to Christ;
then we shall be true to our fellow men
in every way.
Copyright. 1905. by Louis Klopsch.1
Lecture EfUuPeS.