The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-11-04

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coin, died, and all the land was sympathetic
with that sorrow in the White House. That
lad used to run into the cabinet session, n
he saw his father and the eminent men of
the land discuss the questions Of national Ok
istence.
God is dealing like a razor skillfully swung,
cutting that which ought to bs cut and avoid
ing that which ought to be avoided. Time.
pieces often strike wrong, and they strike one
when it is two and they strike two when it
is three; but Gods clock always strikes right.
ly, and when it is twelve it strikes twelve,
and when it is one it strikes one, and the sec
ond-hand is as accurate as the minute-hand.
I preach no fatalism. I preach good govern
ment, fatherly government, divine govern
ment. Precision. Precision to q hair-breadth.
That is the teaching Of my text.
But I find also in my text that the Lord
sometimes shows motives. "In the same day
shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired. !"
With one cut he went clear across the land i
had allowed to grow In this country oppres-
sion, misunderstanding, fraud, uncleanness,
and all forms Of turpitude. The North had
its sins, the South had it's sins, the East had
its sins and the West had its sins God
warned us, but we did not heed. Then the
sword of war came and cut clear through
from tho St Lawrence to the Gulf, and from
the Atlantic beach to the Pacific. The pride
of the land, not the cowardice, but the heroes
on both sides went down. We thought it was
the sword Of war. No, it vas the Lords
razor. In 1858 it swept across the land again,
in 1854 again, in 1885 again, and then tho
terrible instrument was put up and put away.
But, my friends, if we do not quit our indi-
vidual and national sins the Lord may again
take US in hand. He has other razors beside
the razor Of war. Epidemic, flood, draught,
plague, locust and grasshopper, or our over
towering prosperity as a nation may excite
the jealousy Of all the great nations of Eu-
rope and Of Asia, and il all the great ma
tions of Europe and Asia in Jealousy against
us should como up, what q power! GU ma
and so easily approached from the south, and
so easily approached from the Atlantic beach
and from the Pacific beach, that if the great
nations of Europe and Asia should rise up,
what a hostility! Insultei China, outraged
China, the wealthiest land on earth, as shall
be proved when her resources are fully de-
veloped-China, insulted China, will, after a
while, have all the modes OF modern warfare,
and may at the Golden Gate be discussing the
question whether Americans must go! l pray
God there never may be such a combination
of the great nations of Europe and Asia
against US; but I only say this to show you
that as Assyria was the hired razor against
Judah, and as Cyrus was the hired razor
against Babylon, and as the Huns were the
hired razor against the Cloths, so God may find
q hired razor with which to chastise US If we do
not give I'D our individual sins our national sins
and turn unto the Lord. In 1870 Germany was
the hired razor with which the Lord shaved
France. England will be the hired razor with
which the Lord will shave Russia. But ma
lions sometimes repent. nations will repent in
a dow ND Tpro " Gad fhat hv a e11Hdpn cOmlnp
together Of all nations, Of all lands on both
sides the Atlantic, all national calamities
may be averted the world over. But do not
let us by unrighteous enactment at Washing
ton, or by bad lives among ourselves DEFY the
Almighty. One would think that our ma
tional symbol, the eagle, might sometimes
suggest to us another eagle, the eagle that
ancient Rome carried as its standard. That
eagle, that Roman eagle at one time clutched
IN its talons Britain, France, Spain, Italy,
Dalmatia, Rhoetia, Novicum, Ramona,
Thrace, Datra, Marcedonia, Phonicia, Pales'
tine, Egypt, all Northern Africa, all the
islands Of the Mediterranean-indeed, all the
earth that was worth having. One hundred
and twenty millions of subjects under the
wings of that one eagle. Where is she now
Ask Gibbon, the historian, in his prose poem
'Tne Decline and Fall Of the Roman Empire
Ask her gigantic ruins. struggling their SAD.
ness across the centuries; the screech-oWl at
tho windows from which the ~conquerors OF
the whole earth looked out. Ask the Day OF
Judgment when her crowned d%ebauchers
commanders and Pertinal and Caligula and
| Diocletian shall be called to. answer fol
their infamy. Oh, as individuals and as No
tions let us repent and depend upon a pardon
ing God rather than upon any past success az
an immunity. Of fourteen OF the creates,
battles of the world Napoleon had lost only
one before be lost Waterloo. Pride goeth be-
fore destruction, and they often ride in the
same saddle.
Once more, and more than all, I want you
to notice in this text that God Is 80 loving
and 50 kind that when it is necessary to Gu
He has to 90 to others to get the edged, tint
sbarpest edged weapon. 1.-THE Lord shall
shave with a razor that is hired" God il
love, God is pity, God is help, God is shelter
God is rescue. II you want. balm for wounds
He has it. If you want salve for blind eyes
He has that. If you want q helping hand
He has that. But He has no sharp edge
about Him, no thrusting points, no lnstru
ment of liberation. When in His Providence
it is a dire necessity that He cut, He goes tt
others to get the sharp edged weapon. Tn
Lord shaves with a razor that is hired. An
this divine geniality is no surprise to YOU
who have pondered the Calvarian massacre
where Cod submerged Himself in human
tears and crimsoned Himself from puncturec
arteries, and allowed the terrestrial world anc
the Internal world to maui Him until it wa
necessary to turn out the chandelier OF tn
sky, because the universe could not stand tn
indecency. Iliustrious love that must hav'
been that brought Him out as our substitute
and caused Him out Of the blood OF His hear
to pay the crimson price for our admission a
the celestial gate. Henry II. crowned ri
own son, and on the day of coronation To
king, the father, put on the garb OF a servan
and waited at the table, and waited upon al
son, and all the princes were amazed; ,. 5u
hear the more wondrous story that the klnl
of heaven and earth this day offers you, III
child, d crown Of life, and offers as q servcn
to bear your blessing. Install that love Wit
everything best in painting, in sculpture, II
music, in architecture, in worship. In Dres
denian gallery let Raphael hand Him up as
child, and in Antwerpisn gallery let ruben
hand him down from the cross as a martyr
and let Handel make all his oratorios vlorat
around that one chord. He was wounded 10
! our transgressions and He was bruised 10
our iniquities, but not until all the reoeeme
came home and from the mountains 9
the piled up galleries Of the ransomed shal
be reflected the wonders OF redemptlo'
not until then shall man or .seraph, or arcn
angel understand the height, the depth, tn
length, the breadth Of the love of God. IN
monument in the capital to the one who Oh
more than any other man for the achieve
ment of our American independence tina
monument was going up at the capital score
and scores Of years, and many OF US "eT
discourared aboutit, and said the work woul
never be done: but when at last in the pres
ance Of the officials of the nation, that monu
ment was pronounced as completed, how gla'
We all were. But my friends, the monumen
to Him who suffered for the eternal lloera
ton of the human race will never be com
pleted. 1t has been going up for many ages