The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1878-11-02
LAY SERMONS.
No. ;.

u will write my laws in thrir
hearts," "Br not deceived. God il
not m"cked, as man ROWS, so shall
I've rcan.'
The government of the Jews was
a pnrc theoclacy. God waS really
and truly King, leader and law giver.
Over the tabernacle of the conS,cga
ton, and the ark of the testimony,
the pillar of cloud by day, aud OF
fire Ivy night rested. and in its holy
of hnIi,> Was laid the law w,i,led 10y
the finger Of tn" Almighty, and ,hun-
drrcd from Mt. Snaj.
While many OF the virtues of In
manity, posted 10y the Ii GIT Of nature,
may have been r'"cticcd toy those
primitive people, it is probable, in
decd al m"st certain, mat the descend
cnts of Abraham, "'hr tricnd' of God,
were very far superior to them; the
world is gao" ing in light and know|
edge, We in our day aud generations
are >uprlio, t" those Of that period,
and it is rrobah|c, that in a couple
of thousand years from now the
"alth will l." pr"plcd Ivy a race just
lis far exceeding us. The Supreme
Being has instituted an order of SLOW
bnt infinite progression. Theirs was
the infancy Of human nature. and we
know not when it will arrive at the
stature Of perfect manhood, bnt the
iud &c Of ali the earth will do right !;
the loving father )" i'll look as hcnient-
~ upon the emissions, and short
r"rninGS of his children at one age, as
another, and We may safely leave the
myliad> WHO lose and we've swept
oft the earth, in those ancient times
to his loving care.
With this chosen people alone, was
retained TIC knowledge of ule true
God. and though often led away from
their pure faith, he was never left
without Il witness. In tho "fullncss
If ,;mr,' heraldcd by Prophet and
Seer, came the true MeSsiah-the
Christ Cut he came not I" "destroy
the law, but to fulfil it'--not to write
it on tables of stone, but on the tleshey
tabr,nacles of mems hcarts-to lead
men up to sublimer heights, and
nearer approach to the Divinity.
Eternal progression is the law of God.
Races OF animals, races Of men, old
empires, and forms of civilization, be-
come extinct, but always t" give
place to something higher, something
nobler. Truth only, is stable, IN
changed, and unchangeable-"for the
eternal years of God are his" Far
back in the dust and darkness of the
ages, it glitters like star, growing to
fuIler etiulgencc of glory when Christ
the true aw-giver came. Even in
the time of Moses, the world was not
prepared for its fullest light, for
Christ himself tells us thus and thus,
he said to yon, "because Of the hard
ness of your hearts," but l Say this
the human race, had progressed, they
were prepared to become the rccipi-
ents Of new truths, yet the Divine
Redeemer says when about to depart,
IL have many things to say to you,
but you can not bear them now, when
the comforter is come, the spirit of
truth, he will teach you all things"
Two thousand years more have pass
ed away brighter CLEANS of light.
parting the clouds of error and wrong
in golden rifts, have come streaming
in upon the darkened earth. The
tyranny which made one man the
slave of another, is fast passing away,
and the great brotherhood of love is
being established. When pestilence
or famine desolate a land, loving
hands from beyond the great oceans
are lifted to aid; the common pulse
Of humanity beats in sympathetic
unity. Men are growing up to the
grandeur and loveliness, and glory
of the living Christ. The church is
shaking from her garments the dust
and cobwebs of superstition and e.
ror, and purer and more spiritualized,
breaking down her partition walls,
and going>back from the traditions Of
men, to the oracles Of God.
With larger wisdom, and incrcas-
ing light, men feel the law of God
written upon their hearts, they know
that they violate them, they DO it
knowingly and consciously, and that
according to the natural sequence of
events, the broken law most have
it's penalty they may deceive their
fellow-men, bit they cen not hide
themselves from the all seeing eye of
God. A good man mnst be moral
man, but Il moral man, need not of
necessity be a good man.
GAS a man sows, so must he reap"
1t is the fiat of eternal justice. For
instance, man becomes a drunkard.
He could not help knowing from the
first step his danger, but he brings
ruin and disgrace upon his offspring,
he transmits the fatal tendency to his
descendants as certainly as he does
his temperament and bis features, he
fosters in his own bosom the undying
worm of remorse, and he violates
every law of his being-must not such
a man reap the harvest he has sown
1t may be, that in some moment of
renewed strength, stung to agony, he
resolves by the help of Heaven to
turn from his downward course. God
accepts and parlons, his fellow. men
receive him, but alas, still "as man
sows, 50 shall he reap" As we'll place
the hand in q blazing torch and cx-
pect it will not burn, as to think to
turn back the horrible thing which