Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-10-11

enemy's works. For little while Heaven
would not have trumpets enough to cele-
brate the yictors.
". Again: my subject teaches us on
WHAT A SMALL ALLOWANCE
Philistine iniquity puts a man. Yes;
these Philistines shut up the mines, and
then they took the spears and the swords;
then they took the blacksmiths, then they
took the grindstones, and they took every
thing but file. Oh, that is the way sin
works; it grabs everything! 1t begins with
robbery, and ends with robbery. 1t de-
spoils this faculty, and that faculty, and
keeps on until the whole nature is gone.
Was the man eloquent before, it generally
thickens his tongue. Was he fine in per-
sonal appearance, it mars his visage. Was
he affluent, it sends the sheriff to sell him
out. Was he influential, it destroys his
popularity. Was he placid, and genial,
and loving, it makes him splenetic and
cross; and so utterly is he changed that
you can see Ire is sarcastic and rasping,
and that the Philistines have left him
nothing but a file
Oh, 1.-THE way of
THE TRANSGRESS0R
is hardn'i His cup is bitter. His night is
dark. His pangs are deep. His end is
terrific Philistine iniquity says to that
man: "Now, surrender to me, and l will
give you all you want-music for the
dance, swift steeds for the race, imperial
couch to slumber on, and you shall be re-
freshed with the rareSt fruits in baskets of
golden filagree." He lies. The music
turns out to be groan. The fruits burst
the rind with rank poison. The filagree
is made up of twisted reptiles. The couch
is a grave. Small allowance Of rest, small
allowance of peace, small allowance of
comfort. Cold, hard, rough-nothing but
a file. So it was with Voltaire, the most
appladed man of his day.
The Scripture was his jest book, whence he
drew
Bonmots to gall the Christian and the Jew.
An infidcl when well, but what when sick?
oh, then text would touch him to the quick :
Seized with hemorrahge of the lungs in
Paris, where he had gone to be crowned rs
the idol of all France, he sends a messen-
ger to get priest that he may be recon-
ciled to the Church before he dies. A
great terror falls upon him. He makes
the place all around about him so dismal
that the nurse declared that she would
not for all the wealth of Europe see an
other infdel die. Philistine iniquity had
promised him all the worlds garlands,
but in the last hour of his life, when ne
needed a solacing, sent tearing across his
conscience and his nerves file, file. So
it was with Lord Byron, his uncleanness
in EngIand only surpassed nv his unclean-
ness in Venice, then going Oh to end his
brilliant misery at MissOlOughi, tretting
at his nurse Fletcher, fretting at himself,
fretting ut the world, fretting at God; aud
he who gave the world 'Childe Harold" !"
and "Sardanapalus," and "The Prisoner
of ChiIlon, and ''The Siege Of Corinth, "
reduced to nothing but file. Oh, sin
has great facility for making promises;
but it has just as great facility for break
ing them!
A Christian life is
THE ONLY CHEERFUL LIFE,
while life of wicked surrender is remorse,
ruin, and death. Its painted glee is
Sepulchral ghastlincss. In the brightest
days of the Mexican Empire, Montezuma
said he felt gnawing at his heart something
like q canker. Sin, like monster wild
beast of the forest, sometimes licks all over
its victim in order that the victim may be
more easily swallowed; but generally sin
rasps, and gals, and tears and upbraids,
and files. Is it not 80, HerOd? Is it not
30 Hildebrand? Isit not so -Robespiere?
Aye; ayol lis so, it is so. ''The gay
of the wicked lie turneth upside down" "
History tells us that when Rome was
founded on that day there were twelve
vultures, flying through the air; but when
transgressOr dies the sky is black with
whole tlocks ofthcm. Vultures! vultures!
vultureS! When | see sin robbing so
many ofmy hearers, and see them going
down day by day, and week by week,
must give plain warning. | dare not
keep it back lest risk the salvation of my
own soul Rover the pirate pulled down the
warming bell on Inchcape Rock, thinking
that they would have n chance to dtspOil
vessels that were crushed on the rocks; but
one night his own ship crashed down
on this very rock, and he went down with
I'll his cargo. God declares: "When |
saw to the wicked thou shalt surely die,
and thou givest him not warning, that
same man shall die in his iniquity, but
his blood will require at thy hands
V. | learn from this subject what 4
sad thing it is when the church of God
loses its metal. These Philistines saw
that if they could only get all the metal
lie weapons out of the hands of the Israel
ties, all would be well, and therefore they
took the swords and the spears. They did
not want them to have single metallic
weapon. When the metal of the Israelites
was gone, their strength was gone. This
is the trouble with the Church of God to-
day. 1t is surrendering its courage. 1t
has not got enough metal. How seldom it
is that you see a man taking his position
in pew or in the pulpit, or in 4 religious
society, and holding that position against
all oppression, and all trial, and all perse-
cution, and all criticism.
THE CHURCH OF GOD TO-DAY WANTS
MORE BACKBONE
more defiance, more cOnsecrated bravery,
more metal. How often you see a man
SlStIl Oul III SOillG SOOu CuVi PADS, ohu oe
the first blast of opposition he has col
lapsed, and all dis courage gone, forgetting
the fact that if a man be right, all the OPP
position of the earth pounding away at
him cannot do him any permanent dam
lge. 1t is only when man is wrong that
he can he damaged. Why, God is going
TO viudicate His truth, and he is going to
stand by you my friends, in every effort
you make for Christ's cause and the saliva
ton of men.
Go forth in the service of Christ and do
your whole duty, You have one sphere.
have another sphere. The Lord of
Hosts is with US, and the God of Jacob is
our refuge, Selah." We want more of the
determination of Jonathan. / do not
suppose he was a very wonderful man,
but he got on his knees and
climbed up the rock, and with the help Of
MS armor-bearer he hewed down the Phil
istines; and man ofvery ordinary intel
lectual attainments on his knees can storm
anything for God, and for the truth. We
want something of the determination Of
the General who went into the war, and as
he entered his first battle his knees
knocked together, his physical courage