The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1883-11-21

moment the sheep will bleat and the
oxen will below. One of the cruel
bishops Of Olden time was going to ex-
communicates one of the martyrs. and
he began in the usual form, "In the
name of God, amen" STOP" says the
martyr, don't say in the name of GodP'
Yet how many Outrages are practiced
under the garb of religion and sanctityl
When in synOds, and conferences minis
| ters of the Gospel are about to say some
thing unbrOtherly and unkind about a
member. they almost always begin by
being tremendously piOus, the venom
of their assault corresponding to the
heavenly flavor of the prelude. Standing
there, you would think they were ready
to 90 right up to glory, and that nothing
kept them down but the weight of their
boots and OvercOat, when suddenly the
/ sheep bleat and the oxen below. Oh,
my dear friends, let us cultivate sim
plicity of Christian character. Jesus
| said: "Unless you become as this little
child you cannot enter the kingdom of
God" We may play hypOcrlte success
fully now, but the Lord God will after
| while expose our true character. You
must know the incident mentioned in
the history of Ottacas, who was asked to
kneel in the presence of RandOlphus l.,
and when before him he refused to do
| ii, but after while he agreed to come in
| private, when there was nobody in the
kings tent, and then he would kneel
down and worship him, but the Kings
servants had arranged it that by draw
| ing cord the tent would suddenly drop.
Ottacas after while came in, and suppO-
sing he was in entire privacy, knelt be-
| fore RandOlphus. The servants pulled
the cord, the tent dropped, and two ar
| mics surrounding looked down on Otta-
cas- kneeling before RandOlphus. If we
are really kneeling to the world while
we profess to be lowly subjects of Jesus
Christ, the tent has already dropped and
| all the hosts Of heaven are gazing upon
our hypocrisy. Gods universe is very
public place. and you cannot hide ny
pOcrisy in 1t. Going out into world
of delusiOn and sham, pretend to be no
more than you really are. Ii you have
| the grace of God, profess it; profess no
| more than you have. But l want the
world to know that where there Is one
hypocrite in the church, there are 500
outside of it, for the reason the field is
larger. There are men in all circles
who will bow before you, who are Obse-
| quiOus in your presence, and talk fiat
| teringly, but who all the while in your
presence are digging for bait and ang-
ling for imperfectiOns. In your pres
ence they imply they are everything
friendly, but after awhile you find they
have the fiereenegs of catamOunt, the
slyness of a snake and the spite of a
devil. God will oppose such. The gun
they load will burst in their own hands;
the lies they tell will break their own
teeth, and the very moment they think
they have been successful in deceiVing
you and the world, the sheep will bleat
and the oxen below.
L learn further from this subject how
natural it is to try and put off our sins
upon other people. Saul was charged
with disObeying God. The man says 1t
was not he, he did not save the sheep;
the army did it-trying to throw it off
on the shoulders of other people. HUI
man nature is the same in all the ages.
Adam, confronted with his sin, said:
| "The woman tempted me and did it."
And the woman charged it upon the SER
pent, and if the serpent could have spO-
ken, il would have charged it upon the
devil, | suppose the real state of the
case was, Eve was eating the apple and
Adam saw it, and begged and cOaxed
until he got piece of 1t. L suppose
Adam was as much to blame as Eve. You
cannot throw off the responsibility of
any sin upon the shoulders of other peO-
pie. Here is young man who says: 81
know am doing wrong, but have had
no chance. had a father who despised
God, and mother who was a disciple
of Goddess fashion. L am not to blame
for my sins-it is my bringing up" Oh,
mol that young man has been out in the
world long enough to see what Is right
or wrong, and in the great day of eter-
nifty he cannot charge his sins to his fa-
ther or mother, but will have to answer
for himself to God. You have had a con-
science, and a Bible, and the influence
of the Holy Spirit. Stand for yourself
or fall for yourself. Here is a business
man. He says: 81 know l don't do eX-
actly right in trade, but all the dry
goods men do it, and L am not respOnsi.
ble." You cannot throw your sin upon
the shoulders of other merchants. God
will hold you responsible. l want to
quote one passage of Scripture for you,
think it is in Proverbs: eff thou bG
wise. thou shalt be wise for thyseIf; bui
if thou scOrnest, thou alone shalt beal
learn further from this subject what
God meant by determination. Saul was
told to slay all the Amalekites and the
beasts in their possession. He saved
Agog, the AmAlekite king, and some o.
the sheep and oxen. God chastens hin
for it. God likes nothing done by halves
he will not stay i'll the soul that is hal
and half the DEVILS. There may b,
more sins in our soul than there wer,
Amalekites. We must kill them
Woe unto us if we spare AgagI Here il
: a Christian: He says: 81 will drive Ou
all the Amalekites Of sin from my heart
3 Here is jealousy, down goes that Amale
J kite; here is backbiting, down goes tina
3 Amalekite," and what slaughter h
makes among his sins, striking righ
and left What is that out yonder LIFT
D ing up its headp 1t is Agag, 1t is world
7 illness. 1t is an old sin he cannot bea
to strike down. 1t is a darling trans
gressiOn he cannot afford to sacrifice.
!. my brethren, appeal today for entir
3 conservation; some Presbyterians call /
t "the higher life" The MethOdists,
? believe, call it perfection" 1 do no
Q care what you call it, without holmes
q no man shall see the Lord. know mel
o who are living with their soul in pei
: petual communion with Christ, and da
: by day are walking within sight of hea
I ven. How do L know2 They tell m
Z 80. / believe them. They would nc
4 lie about it. Why cannot we all hav
q this cOnsecratiOnP Why slay some @
/ the sins in our soul and leave others
9 bleat and below for our exposure an
}. condemnation. Christ will not stay i
1 81