The Union and eastern journal. [volume] (Biddeford [Me.]) 1854-1858, 1856-07-11
MistrlIantons.
Sermon by Rev. ]. t. G. Nichols,
PxrAcnrp, JpSE Is, 1856, TO THE SECOND
PARIsu, IL SAco.

we sleep over moral NOlcanoes' No" u.s.
then, there is an eruption-as lately-ah
we are startled. Our strong towers tottcr
Our citadel of liberty quakes. We run TO
gcther, and cry in amazemsnt and lear
" What will be next?" Where are woT
/" Men and brethren, what shall we do?
But the tornado passes. Tho commotior
ceases. We pu. out our lights, shut ou'
eyes, and 60 to sleep again.
Something like this has been taking ploct
from the bcginning;--irom the days of Cain
to the days of Noah from the Flood, tC
the Bondage in Egypt;-from Pharaoh, tc
Belshazzar from Daniel in the lions den
to the Slaughter of the little children in
Bethlehem from the beheading of John
the Baptist, to the piercing Of our Lord =
from PLATE, to Nero from the burning Of
the Christians in Rome, to the last tragedy
in Washington.
Sin crops out here and there. We see ii
hate it;-fear il ;-hold indignation meet
ings at it;-and then forget it. Except
once in while, "PAUL's spirit is stirred in
him, while he waits at Athens, and sees thC
city wholly given to idOlatry;'-Or. u Lu'
TuER gets walked up by it or, n few PHI
GRIN FATHERS take it in hand or, JonN
HANCOCK and JonN ADAMS and GEoRGI
WASHINGTON become persuaded that some
thing ought to be done about it. Their
something comes to pass. Felix trembles
Tyrnnies, ecclesiastical and civil, tOttcr anG
fall, and they rule, whose righ. and duty il
is TO rule.
Let us pray for more Paul spirits. Lei
us pray that as long, as there are Popes
there may be Luthers,-and Melancthon'
too. And that as long as there is dospot
in the Old World, the stock of the Pilgrim
Fathers may be kept good in the New; that
while there is a George Third administration
there may bea George Washington admin.
istration.
But we have something else to do, my
friends, besides coming together to condemn
iniquity in high places. Let that be done
l say nothing in dispagagcment of that
Sin in the high places of this land is com.
plex, multiplcx, sin. 1t cannot be mere
isolated occurrence. Congressman are rep
rcscntativc men. They stand for States.
The States are responsible, respectively, for
the dolngs of these their Agents and Repro
scntatiws. Cabinet men arc National men.
The Nation accepts as its own, unless il
I promptly and decidedly rejects aud disown,
: their acts. The influence, not only of then
voice, but Of their example, is felt, for good
or for i'll, through the nati1n. Every grow
mind and forming character among us, take,
hue and shape somewhat from the mind and
character of the men We send to represent
US in the State and Nation.
Donot, therefore, understand me to affirm
tha; unrightcous and tyannous and mur.
derOus deeds in tho high places of our land
DO not call for our rebukc. They do cal
for it-from the Pulpit, to the htimblost cot
They call for more than our Indignation
They demand rectifcation at our hands, and
security, 50 far us It is in our power to give
it, against their repetition.
But what | wish particularly now to draw
attention to, as a matter Of no less concern
to us, and which has special Importance
from our constant liability to forget it, il
the fact, that, seen or unseen, abroad in en-
inent stations, or at home in our own hearts
SIN is, substantially and radically, the SAINT
thing AS hateful and periious, as brutal
and tyrOHaOas, here an as, as without us
and aiiir of.
1 have heard it said in praise OF late dis
tinguishcd philanthrOpist, that he was 81
much ensrosscd with his great work of res
cuing, Others from degradation and suffering
that he had wholly forgotten he himself ha(
a soul to save.
The self forgetting spirit, in the true sig
niGcance and application of it, is worthy in
deed of all reverence and love. But thcr,
was as much, to my mind, of peril, as o
praise, in the remark referred to. 1t wa
sad to me, not merely as regarded him, o
whom it was made, but as suggesting Yer!
common liability. Every mans creates
business, whether as respects himself or th'
good of Others, is ,riM his o,en soul. If w
see sin and condemn it in others, but ar
blind to it. or forget it, in ourselves, wha
do we? What are we? The teachings o
the Saviour must be too familiar to requir
an answer. " W1at shall a man gre in CT
change for has soui?" "work out, !" say
the Apostle, 'your ora saication."
Lot us direct attention, then, to tho fact
that if the terrible iniquitics that have late
" stirred every generous and rightly dis
posed mind among US to its very depths, ar
Justly deemed worthy of our unqualife'
conformation, as lasnnt violations o
Christian and civil law, and as blowsstrucl
sacccssiyely at the root Of our inalicnabl
rights and liberties, that such, also, IS me in
irilsie and uNirTsai character Of san, wheth
er wc have so regarded it or not, erea as
erisis no,r an our o,rn bOso1s. IA,
The eraciGxion of " the Son of Man,
was a deed IN reslrl to which, there ha'
: been, probably, bat one opinion and on
feeling among the disciples of all ages, a
to its a,r,cious turpltudc, and the awiu
wickydners OF its perpetrators, Yet, c'er
as carly Us tte ap1s,les' days, there was &c
ca ion to warn those "whO had b en- en-
ishiened by his ,e..ehins, and WHO hat
4 tasted the good word Of God, and tho pow
ers Of the world 70 com" against ''orl'lfy
} IA, ~ ,Bs,,s,,res 10 me Son Of God dfresh.