The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-06-10


self up to the bondage of Satan is voluntary
slavery 1t is voluntary acceptance OF
the mortgage of Eden 1t Is a volun-
tary servitude under that ancient mortgage
that he might have escaped; but he Is today
voluntary slave to Satan. And what do we
mean by that? That man knows what mean.
need not tell him. because he is experiencing it
day by day as he lives, and he is conscious OF 1T
tonight, and that very consciousness of 1T shines
in his face, In the blush of shame that comes to
him as he recognizes the fact that the world
knows it as we'll as be does, that he is no more
free man under G06 but he is the slave OF Satan
and of sin. He does not own himself, but sin
owns him. His time Is not his own because he
is giving his time, not to his eternal and immor-
tai interest, but he is giving it to the commission
of the devils work in the transgression OF GODS
law, in bringing Gods ordinances into shame,
and ridicule. and disrepute. He is using his
time. his muscle, his brain, his energies all the
attributes of his manhood not for his own eter-
nal interest, not in the interest of God. not &C
cording to the freedom that God would give him.
but according to the slavery that he has self-im-
posed upon his own nature by giving his time
his energies and his lahors, and the fruits OF his
labor to the devil. You ask me what meant
Let me give you just one instance. You take
that man out there who is drunkard. who IS
given to drinking whisky, who is given to
taking his dram. who has had that CALLING
chain, that one particular DEVICE that one
particular thing that the devil i'm
poses labor and as servitude
or is he working day by day to get that which
he must pay to the devil, that which he must
turn over to him, that which must be the profit
of the devil in immortal souls in eternity, or Is
he workingsor hmselfl How many men in this
community have you seen thus debauched in
their nature by drink. thus brought down from
ali their high and noble aspirations. thus brought
down from all the high things that God has
in store for them, thus brought down to be
grove.ing slaves to the devil, who are under the
dominion to night of his slave drivers. the men
| the pop of whose beer bottles and the crack OF
whose champagne corks are like the pop OF the
lash Of the slave-driver in the days OF old; and
| ne labors during the week, and he drinks along
| during the week, and he sweats. and he tolls,
and he drives with failing powers all the time
until Saturday night, when he gets his wages
| and walks up to the barkeeper and planks them
| down, like the slave used to do on Saturday
night to his master to tell him how much he had
done during the week.
There is many q barkeeper who is TO night In
Indianapolis nothing more nor less than a tax
collector an oyerseer, 1.-THE gatherer for the
devil, who every Saturday night gets every dol
| lar of the wages of his slaves lAppause.
| And you take then drunkards, gamblers, the
| lcentious those who are engaged in all these
nefarious practices and works of the devil, they
are more abiect, more despicable, more hopeless
| slaves tonight to the bondage of Satan and of
| sin than any colored man ever was in the his
| tory of slavery In the South.
Another thing about that slavery OF human
| beings was that the slave of the master must be
| obedient to the master. He must give him i'm
plicit obedience. When tho master issued his
| edict it the law supreme to
| the slave, and the slave dared not
| transgress it. The slave dared not to question
| it. The slave dared not TO disobey it, but he
| was bound by the very fact that he was owned
| by the master to give this implicit obedience to
| the masters command, and to violate one jot or
little was to call down upon himself punishment
and scourging. The slave had no will of his own.
81, nharon nf his
| The slave could exercise no judgment Of his own.
The slave could not say to the world that he had
any other faculty in his brain except the mere
| faculty of executing plain, welidehned order
from the master; and the slave OF Satan, the sin
ner tonight, in whatever position he may be,
| whether high or low, whether in refined sin or
in debased SIM whatever his position in the world,
| if he is sinner to night. he is obedient to the
/ law of Satan: hs is obedient to the edcts OF
Satan. and he cannot question them because he
| has will of his own IN the matter. Whas an
| expression and what wall there was. almost
vail of despair, rising out of slavery to the lust
and the passion that the living orders of hell
| to the sinner Saint Paul said, Il find law in
my nature warning against the spirit; the things
| that would do do not do, aud the things that
| would not do, those things do" And the sim
| ner finds himself IN that position that, though
| he knows the right he has not the will, OR the
| moral force nor the power to break away from
/ the edict of his master, and the thing that he
| would do he cannot do, and the thing he would
not do he is compelled by the very servisude of
| his nature to do
There was another thing that was peculiar in
| that institution of slavery in the South. The
| master had the right, for any real or tancled
| offense of the slave, or for any whim or plea OF
his own, for the qualification of anything IL bis
! own nature evil or Passionate. tn .svurge and
punish MS save, and do as he pleased with him
! M M s se inc iimIt Of life. Some of the most
| horrid tales ever written about the subject OF
| human slavery have had all their horrors con-
centrated upon the fact that the master was the
| absolute owner of the slave to the extent to be
| able to punish him in the most outrageous man
| ner if his within persuaded him to it.
What are all these agonies that sin causes to
| the soul of all these diseases, of all this dis
| grace and poverty, all this despair the sinner
reaps piece by piece as he goes on in his career,
| to the lashes that Satan is putting his back to
| keep his slave fast to his everlasting doomg Why
is it that there is so little profit in sin that the
| sinner is always in trouble, always upon the
verge of despair; that when be comes to think
of his condition he finds himself going into
deeper and deeper depths of despond; that we
| find ourselves in debt and disgrace, and we find
| inevitably that It's wages is deatha
But there was another popularity to which
| want to call you attention in that human sla-
| very. 1t that there used TO be preferred
slaves in the South. There were certain Slaves
that the owners had liking for. They would
| allow those slaves sometimes to use their own
line; to work for themselves and pay their mas
20, wages; to have piece or ground and Guilt
.ef ->r their own. They would have pre-
500 r;~t.. md privileges, and sometimes
M. .Sl,eu aiks'I uthority other slaves.
They would have b.s.- co, ,ld ,han osh hr
slaves, better food They "a foi ns s .oh LIZ
house what was left from the VIM, anch The
They had good time. and never felt H. averv
CALLING bonds of their servitude. But
once IN while something would happen tts can
them back to the fact that they SLAVES
and these were simply kindnesses that the mas
ter had allowed them for his own pleasure. They
would sometimes find themselves hack in the
ranks of those who worked hardest and were
scourged most.
There are some persons who say the life of
Christian is life of selfdenial They say: 81
don't see any use in going through the world de-
priyins myself of everything. while here is sin
ner going through the world having royal time
ENJOYING all the good things of the world If |