The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1885-03-18

ture Of men-that is, of all generous
and reasonable men-to gather about
those who are prosecuted and de-
fend' them, and they. are apt, to
forget the fault Of those who are the
subjects of attack while attempting to
driyelback the slanderers. Persecution is
elevation. Persecution shows the heroes
and heroines. go into another depart-
ment, and fiud that those great denomina-
tions of Christians which have been most
abused have spread the most rapidly, No
good man was ever more violently NAL
treated than John Wesley-belied and
caricatured and slandered until one day he
stood in pulpit in London, and q man
arose in the audience and said: "You
were drunk last nightw, and John Wesley
said: "Thank God, the whole catalogue is
now complete. have been charged with
every thing but thatW His followers
were hooted at and maligned, and called
by every detestable name that Internal in
genuity could invent, but the hotter the
persecution the more rapidly they spread,
until you know what great host they
have become, and what tremendous
force for God and the truth they are
welding the world over! / do not
wonder they celebrate their centennial
in Baltimore. 1t was persecution
that gave Scotland to Presbyterianism. 1t
was persecution that gave our land first to
civil liberty and afterward to religious
freedom. Yes, 1. might go further back
and say it was persecution that gave the
world the great salvation of the Gospel.
The ribald mockery, the hungering and
thirsting, the unjust charge, the ignomin-
ious death, when all the force of hel's fury
was hurled against the Cross, was the in
PRODUCTION of that religion which is yet to
be the earth's deliverance and our eternal
salvation. The State sometimes said to
the Church: "Come, take my hand and |
will help you.". What was the result? The
Church went back and it lost its estate of
ho iness, and it became ineffective. At
other times the'State said to the Church:
81 will crush you" What has been the
rcsult2 After the storms have spent their
fury the Church, so far from having lost
any of its force, has increased, and is
worth infinitely more after the assault
than before. Read all history and you
will find that true.
Learn also from our subject that sins
will come to exposure. Long, long ago
had those brothers sold Joseph into Egypt
They had made the old father believe that
his favorite son was dead. They had sup
pressed the rime, and it was a profound
secret well kept by the brothers. But sud-
denly the secret is out. The old father
hears that his son is in Egypt, having been
sold there by the malice Of his own broth
ers. How their cheeks must have burned
and their hearts sunk at the flaming out OF
this long suppressed crime. The smallest
iniquity has thousand tongues, and they
will blab out exposure. Saul was sent to
destroy the Canaanites, their sheep and
their oxen, but w hen he got down there
among the pastures he saw some fine sheep
and oxen too fat to kill, so he thought he
would steal them. Nobody would know it.
He drove these sheep and oxen toward
home, but stop ped TO report to the prophet
how he had executed his mission, when in
the distance the sheep began to
bleat and the oxen to below. The
secret was out, and Samuel said to
the blushing and confused Saul: "What
mehneth tho bleating of sheep that
hear and the believing of the cattlegn All
my hearer, you can not keep an iniquity
still. At just the wrong time the sheep
will bleat and tho oxen will below. Achan
can not steal the Babylonish garments
without being stoned TO death, nor Arnold
betray his country without having his neck
stretched. Look over the police arrests.
These thieves, these burglars, these
counterfeiters, these highwaymen, these
assassins, they all thought they could bury
their iniquity so deep down it would never
come to resurrection; but there was some
shoe that answered to the print In the soil,
some false keys in their possession, some
bloody knife that whispered of the death,
and the public Indignation at the anathe-
ma Of outraged law hurled them into tho
dungeon or hoisted them on the gallows.
Francis l., King Of France, stood COUNSEL
ing with his officers how he could take his
army into Italy when Ameril, the fool Of,
the court, leaped out from corner in the
room, and said: " You had better be. con-
sulting how you will get your army back;"
and it was found that Francis l. and not Am.
eril was the fool. Instead Of consulting as
to the best way OF getting into sin you had
better consult as to whether you will be
able 10 get out of it. II the world does
not expose you, you will tell IL yourself.
There is IN awful power in an aroused
conscience. A highwayman plunged out
upon Whiteheld as he rode along on horse
back, q sack OF money on the horse, money
that he had raised for orphan asylums, and
the highwayman put his hand on the
gold and Whitefeld turned TO him and
said: "Touch thatif you dare-that belongs
to the Lord Jesus Christ" And the rufiian
skunk into the forest. Conscience! Com
science! The rulIian had a pistol, but
Whiteheld shook at him the finger Of doom.
Do you think you can hide any great and |
protracted sin in your heart, my brother. |
In au unguarded moment 1t will slip Off the |
lip, or some slight action may for the |
set ajar this door that you wanted |
to keep closed. But suppose that In this
life you hide IL and you get along with |
This transgresslon burning In your heart.
rs ship on fire within for days hinders
The flames from bursting out by keeping
iown the matches, yet at last in the judg-
nent that iniquity will blaze out before
Iod and the universe.
Learn also from this subject that there Is
IN inseparable connection between all
vents, however remote. The universe Is