The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-09-03
SERMON BY SAM JONES.

.s MILL A414HIA/AlAO ~ e
SERMON BY SAM JONES.
Conscience, Record, God, the Index Point
Ing Eternity's Course.
"What have written, have writtcn."-
81. Join, 18th Chapter 22d rerse.
Three things are before us to day. We
have to do with them now; we had tc
do with them yesterday, and we will
have to do with them to morrow. They
are conscience, record, God. Conscience
and record-two index fingers which are
ever pointing upward to God, and God
the great index, pointing to the judg'
ment; conscience, King, reigning OF
subdued in my breast, which God has
placed there; something that, when dis
pleased, will not let me eat when hungry
nor sleep when sleepy. Who is there
who has not felt the tortures OF, an out
ragged conscience? The worst sin in the
world is to deliberately sin against ones
conscience. 1t ought to be enlightened,
but whether so or not it should not be
offended. The poor Iort1an who throws
her infant into the Ganges to appease
God does an awful thing, but she is bet
ter in doing that than the Christian
mother who deliberately sins against her
conscience. Without conscience, we are
at sea without chart or rudder. Wien
conscience is silenced, when it cries out
that it has been murdered, it is the
death .knell of the soul. Who is there
who has not record? NY record is as
inseparable from me as my hand from
my body. You say that is nothing, for
a surgeon can cut off my hand in a
moment. He can't. I remember an old
soldier who had carried an empty sleeve
for years, :emarking to me. that his
fingers had been burning and itching all
day. I asked him how that could be,
when the whole arm had been amputated.
oh, he said, they say my arm and hand
are buried in Virginia, but it's not so |;
they are as much with me to. day as they
ever were.
You can't get rid of record. It began
with the beginning of life, when God,
the great blacksmith, laid the flaming
mass of the universe on the anvil of
eternal purpose, and when he struck,
every spark of light became world. I
shall have to do with recofd forever.
Where shall go to avoid God? If I
take the wings Of the morning and fly to
the uttermost parts of the desert, He will
be there before me. If go, down into
the deepest pits of hell, God is there.
Well has some one said that it is fearful
thing to be a man.
But these three things of which I am
speaking are all that lift me above the
animals. Take them: away, and / am
like the horse in bis pasture or the OK
that heedlessly grazes in the fields.
THE DAY OF JUDGMENT.
Conscience, record, God-three index
fingers, and they point to the day Of
Judgment. What is this day9 It has
been spoken of as the day of retribution,
the day when the Lord shall claim. His
own, and as the great day of His wrath.
II has been called the day for which all
others were made. 1t has its hands on
the knob of door that shall admit me
to God or send me down to hell. Who
is there who is not afraid of the ju3g-
ment? 1 have seen men who dared death
everywhere without fliuching, but I have
never yet seen the man who was not
afraid of Judgment Day. There was
Mr.. Zachary, a Georgia Shsriff, who was
the bravest man I ever knew. he had
faced death thousand times, never
finching, and there was not another man
in the State who had his courage. One,
day q preacher asked him if he would
not come to church and prepare to die.
The man laughed: and, drawing himself
up, said he was not afraid Of death. "I
know you are not" said the preacher;
"you are ready for death, but are you
ready for judgment ?" The Sheriff
broke down; his face turned pale, aud
he said: "You are right, and you are
braver man than I, for lam afraid of
the judgment" Oh, there shall be
day to come when all creation will
tremble. Then will I sing with fervor
1 never knew on earth, "Jesus, refuge of
my soul, let me to Thy bosom fly" I
will sing it from the very bottom of my
heart. I will want Jesus then, and 1
want him here now. Judgment is 10 legal
term; the ecclesiastical sense is a final
settlement of Gods chancery business.
It will be the day when the stars shall
fall like figs, and yet everywhere turn I
shall see God. Sister, we shall all appear
before God just as we are, we shall ap
pear with the record of all we have said,
of all we have done, of all we have
thought. =
Law is defined as a rule of action laid
down by the supreme power in the State,
com mmanding us to do what is right aud
abstain from what is wrong. How is
wrong punished here in Kentucky {?
When a man commits crime the first
thing that is done is to summon a grand
Jury, which may or may not return an
Indictment, as it sees fit. Ifit does,
writ is issued, the offender is arrested,
and his trial follows. Now there are
several ways by which he may defeat
Justice. He may bribe the grand jury,
30 that they will not return a true bill,
or he may influence the Judge or the
jury to acquit him. Legally, however,
there are only three ways1eby law, testi.
mony, or the prerogative of pardon vest.
ed in the Governor. He may have
an offense against which there
is no statute, so that the Judge may
direct his discharge on the ground that
he has violated no law; he may be
acquitted through lack of testimony to
prove that he did the crime, and the jury
will acqlit him on the ground that the
charge was not made out. But in cases
where it is clearly provided that he is
guilty sentence is passed by the Judge,
and his only hope Of escaping the gallows
is by the pardoning prerogative of the
Governor. So in the last judgment these
,hree will be the only ways by which
you can hope to escape damnation.
How will it be as to law?
start out with the proposition that no
one can be justified by this. No man
,r woman can say he or she has never
violated the law. He that breaketh it iI
he least breaks all. Let me explain.
A boat which desire to use is fastened
o the shore by q chain of.100 links.
To get it loose, must I break twenty or
twenty-five links, or will one do? Gut
,nly the smallest and the boat is free.
30 one sin will cut the soul loose from