Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-10-12
THE RAZOR OF TILE LORD.
A LESSON FROM THE STARTLING
IMAGERY OF THE BIBLE.

CAre HnouAu be Ihken IN hAnuithE the
sharp Judgments OF the Lord-More
Hymn Books and Fewer RazOrs Advo-
Gated for Use I'm the World.
BRooKLYN, Oct. I1.-Dr. Talmage
preached this morning on the subject,
''rhe Lords Razor" The Brooklyn
Tabernacle was crowded. At all the SER
vices held there are present people from
all parts of this land and from foreign
lands. One characteristic Of the audience
is the great number Of clergymen present.
Before the sermon to-day DR.. Talmage
read and expounded the Gath chapter of
the First Book of Samuel, the story of
David allowing Saul, his enemy, TO
escape, taking only piece OF his robe by
which Saul might afterwards see that
David had him in his power. The OPEN
ing hymn was
''The morning light Is breaking,
The darkness disappears,
The sons Of men are waking
To penitentlal tears"
DR.. Talmage's text was from Isaiah vii,
20-"In the same day shall the Lord shave
with razor that is hired, namely by them
beyond the river, by the King Of Assyria."
He said:
The Bible is the boldest book ever writ
ten. There are no similitudes IN Ossian
or the Had or the Odyssey so daring. Its
Imagery sometimes seems on the verge OF
the reckless, but only seems so. The fact
Is that God would startle and arouse and
prOpel men and nations. A tame and
limping similitude would fall TO accom-
plish the object. While there are times
when He employs in the Bible the gentle
dew and the morning cloud and the dove
and the daybreak in the presentation of
truth, we often find the iron chariot, the
lightning, the earthquake, the spray, the
sword, and, in my text, the razor.
This keen-bladed instrument has adj
vanced in usefulness with the ages. In
Bible times and lands the beard remained
uncut save IN the seasons of mourning
and humiliation, but the razor was always
suggestive symbol. David says of DOeg,
his antagonist: "Thy tongue Is a sharp
razor working deceltfully." That is, it
pretends to clear the face, but is really
used for deadly incision. In this morn
ing's text this weapon OF the toilet ap-
pears under the following circumstances.
Judea needed 10 have some of its prosper
ites cut of and God sends against it three
Assyrian kings, first SennacheriD, then
Ezerhaddon, ana atterward Nebuchad-
neZzar. These three sharp inYasiOns that
I
TO so many swOops Of the razor across the
face OF the land. And these circumstances
were called hired razor, because God
| took the kings of Assyria, with whom He
/ had no sympathy, 10 do the
/ WORK and paid them ia palaces and spOils
| and anneXatiOns. These kings were hired
| TO execute the divine behests. And now,
| the text, which on its urst reading, may
| have seemed trivial or inapt, is charged
| with mOmentous imports. ''In the same
| day shall the Lord shave with a razor that
| is hired, namely, by them beyond the
/ river, by the King of Assyrla."
Well, ii Gods Judgments are razOrs,
we had better be careful how we use them
| on other people. In careful sheath, these
| domestic weapons are put away, where
no one, by accident, may touch them, and
| where the hands Of children may not
/ reach them. Such instruments must be
| carefully handled or not handled at all.
! But how recklessly some people
! WELD the Judgments Of God If a man
meet with business mistOrtunes, how
many there are ready to cry out: "rhat
/ is a judgment of God upon him because
| he was INSCRIPTIONS, or arragant, or
Over-Teaching, or miserly. / thought he
! would get cut down. What a clean
sweep OF everything! His city house and
| country house gone, His stables emptied
of all the fine bays and sorrels and grays
| that used to prance by his door. All his re-
| sources OverthrOwn and all that he prided
himself on tumbled into demolition. Good
| for him." Stop, my brother. Don't sling
around too freely the judgments Of God,
tor they are razOrs. Some OF the most
wicked business men succeed, and they
1--we and die in prosperity, and some OF
the most honest and conscientious are
driven into bankruptcy. Perhaps his
manner was unfortunate and he was not
| really as proud as he looked to be. Some
Of those who carry their head erect
and look imperial are humble as a child,
while many a man IN seedy coat and
slouch hat and unblacked shoes is as
proud as Lucifer. You cannot tell by a
| mans look. Perhaps he WAS not unscru-
pulOus in business, for there are two
sides to every story, and everybody that
accompllshes anything for himself or
others. gets industriously lied about. Per-
haps his business misfortune was not a
punishment, but the fatherly discipline
TO prepare him fer heaven, and God may
love him far more than he loves you who
can pay dollar for dollar and are put
down In the commercial catalogue a. Al.
Whom the Lord lOveth he gives EfOur
hundred thousand dollars and lets die on
embroidered pillows? No; whom the Lord
loveth no chasteneth. Better keep your
hand Of the LORDS razors, least they cut,
and wound people that do not deserve II.
II you want 10 shave of some OF the Drist-
ling pride Of your own heart,
do so; but be very careful
how you put the sharp edge
on others. How | do dislike the be-
Aavior Of those pereons, who, when peo-
pie are unfortunate, say: II told you So
getting punlshed-served him right" If
th0se-Ltold-you-so's got their desert, they
would long ago have been pitched over
tho battlements. The mote ia their neigh
boris eyes, 50 small that II takes a micro
scope TO find IT,, gives them more trouble
than the beam which obscures their
own optics. With air sometimes super
ciliOus and sometimes pharisaical, and
and always blasphemous, they take the
razor OF divine Judgment and sharpen IL
on the none Of their own hard hearts, and
then 20 20 work on men spraWled out at
full length under disaster, cutting mercl-
lossly. They begin by soft expressions Of
sympathy and pity. and half praise, and
lather the victim all over before they put
on the sharp edge. Let us be careful how
we shoot at others lest we take down
the wrong one, remembering the servant
Of King William Rufus who shot
deer, but the arrow glanced
against tree and killed
the King. Instead Of going out with
shafts 20 pierce ard razors 20 cut, we had
better initiate the friend Of Richard Cwur
de Lion, who, in the war Of the orusades,