Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-12-11

w q WICKED heart
"nat they ought TO ascribe
to . slow liver. The body and
the soul are such near neighbors that thew
ol5en catch each others diseases. Those
who never saw a sick day and who. like
Hercules, show the giant in the cradle.
nave more to answer for than those who
are the subjects Of lifetime infrmities. He
who can lift twice as much as YOU can
walk twice as far and work twice as long.
VIII nave a double account to give in tho
Judgment. How often is it that YOU do
not find physical energy indicative of
spiritual power. If a clear head is worth
more than one dizzy with perpetual yer.
tlgo; If muscles with the play of health in
them are worth more than those drawn up
IN chronic rheumatism; if an eye quick to
catch passing objects is better than one
with vision dim and uncertain, then God
VIII require of US efficiency just in proper.
zion TO what he has given us. PHYSICAL
energy ought to be a type of moral power,
we ought to have just as good digestion
OF truth'as we have capacity to assimilate
food. Our spiritual hearing ought to be as
good as our physical hearing; our spiritual
taste ought to be as clear as our tongue.
oamsons in body, we ought to be giants in
moran power. But where you find a great
many men who realize that they ought to
use their money Alright and use their in
teiilgence Alright, how few men
you find aware of the fact that
they ought to use their physical or
ganlsm Alright. With every thump of the
heart there is something saying: "Work!
work" and lest we should complain that
we have no tools to work with, God gives
us our hands and feet, with every Enuckle
n with every joint and with every muscle
saying to us: clay hold and do some
thing" But how often it is that men with
physical strength do not. serve Christ.
They are Xix a ship full-manned and full
rugged capable of vast tonnage, able to en-
oure all stress of weather, yet swinging
ldly at the docks when these men OUGHT to
be crossing and recrossing the great ocean
OF human suffering and sin with Gods
supplies of mercy. How often it is that
physical strength is used in doing positive
damage or in luxurious ease, when, with
sleeves rolled up n bronzed bosom fear.
less OF the shafts OF opposition, it ought to
Delaying hold with all its might to lift up
thls sunken wreck of a world. 1t is q, most
shameful fact that much of the business of
the Church and of the world must be done
by those comparatively in%valided. Richard
Baxter, by reason of his diseases, all his
days sitting in the door of the tomb. vet
writing more than a hundred volumes and
sending out an influence for good that will
endure as long as the "Saints' Everlasting
Rest" Edward Payson, never knowing a
well day, yet how he preached and how he
wrote, helping thousands of dying soulslik
hlmself to swim in g sea Of glory. And
Robert McChayne. a walking skeleton, vet
you know what he did in Dunde and how
he shook Scotland with zeal for God.
Philip Doddridge, advised by his friends
because of his illness not to enter the min
istry, yet you know what he did for the
"Rlse and Progress Of Religion' in the
Church and in the world. Wilberforce,
told by his doctors that he could not live a
fortnight, yet at that very time entering
upon philanthropic enterprises that de-
handed the greatest endurance and per-
sistence. Robert Hall, suffering ~excrucia-
lions so that sometimes while preaching he
would have to stop and rest a little, and
then getting up again would preach about
q III UuC S1OIItS IL buc celeSGldl
city dropped on the multitude, doing more
work perhaps than almost any well man in
his day. Oh, how often it is that men
with great physical endurance are not so
great in moral and spiritual stature!
While there are achievements for those
who are bent all their days with sickness,
achievements of patience, achievements of
prayer, achievements Of self-denial,
achievements of Christian endurance, I
call upon men of health, men of muscle,
men of nerve, men of physical power, to
devote themselves to the Lord. Giants in
body, you ought to be giants in soul.
Behold also in this story of my text illus
tration of the fact Of the damage that
strength can do if it be misguided. 1t
seems to me that this man of my text spent
a great deal Of his time in doing evil. To
pay a debt which he had lost by the guess
ing of his riddle, he robs and kills thirty
people. He was not only gigantic in
strength, but gigantic in mischief, and a
type of these men in all ages of the world
who, powerful in body or mind or in any
faculty of social position and wealth, have
used their strength i'll ubiquitous purposes.
Behold how a giant may be slain of
a sorceress. Delilah started the train of
circumstance that pulled down the temple
Of Dagon about Samson's ears. And tens
of thousands of giants have gone down to
death and hell through the same impure
fascination. 1t seems to me that it is high
time that pulpit and platform and printing
press speak out against the impurities eff
modern society. F~astidiousness and prud-
cry say: "Better not speak-you will
arouse up adverse criticism; you will make
worse what you want to make better: bet
ter deal in glittering generalities: the sub
iect is too delicate for polite ears. But
there comes a voice from Heaven over
towering the mincing sentimentalities
of the day, saying: "Cry aloud,
spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet,
and show my people their transgrcssions
and the house of Jacob their SINS" The
trouble is that when people write OF speak
upon this theme they are apt to cover it up
with the graces of belles-letters, SO that
the crime is made attractive instead Of re-
p~ulsive. Lord Byron, in Don Juan, adorns
this crime until it smiles like a May queen.
Michelet, the great French writer, covers
it up with bewitching rhetoric until it
CLOVIS like the rising sun, when it ought to
he made loathsome as a smallpox hos
nital. There are to-day influences abroad