188 THE LIGHT OF DAT 



endanger their chances of felicity in some other 

 world, hut because they contravene the laws through 

 which all growth and health and wholeness come, 

 and endanger their well-being here and now. 



The preacher cannot create force and integrity off- 

 hand in his hearer by praising force and integrity, but 

 a great deal is gained when a love for these things 

 is awakened. Men are made manly by an appeal 

 to their manliness ; noble sentiments are begotten 

 by noble sentiments ; when the true patriot speaks, 

 everybody is patriotic ; when the real Christian ap- 

 pears, everybody loves Christianity. I once heard 

 Fred Douglass say the way to keep a man out of the 

 mud was to black his boots, and the first step 

 towards making a man manly is to convince him he 

 has a capacity for manliness. Show him that reli- 

 gion is not some far-away thing that he must get, 

 but a vital truth which he lives whenever he does a 

 worthy thing. 



Keligion, as something special and extra, which a 

 man may or may not have, and which is attached 

 to certain beliefs and ceremonies, has had its day. 

 Whatever it may have been in the past, it is no 

 longer a power to mould men's characters and shape 

 their lives. That a man professes religion is no 

 longer a recommendation to him, in applying for any 

 place in the business or political world. It does 

 not inspire any more confidence in him as a man or 

 as a trusted servant, but creates a certain presump- 

 tion against him. He may be a wolf in sheep's 

 clothing ; watch him closely. A commonplace poet 



