The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-09-29


heart. But sometimes it is wider circle
and does not return for a great while. l saw
a bill of expenses for burning Lat!mer and
Ridley. The bill Of expenses says:
One load Of fir fagots. ..... .:.... 3s. 4d.
Carriage of four loads of wood.... q. I'd.
Item, post :................. IS 49-
Item two CHAINS. S................. oS. So
Item, two staples. es............... US. ga.
Item, four laborers. s.............. IS. CD
That was cheap fire. considering all the
circumstances: but it kindled a light which
shone all around the world; and around the
martyr spirit; aud out from that burning OF
Latimer and Ridley rolled the circle, wider
and wider, starting other circles, convolut-
ing. overrnnGing, circumscrIDlng, oVerarch-
ing all heaven-a circle.
But what is true of the good is Just as true
of the bad You utter a SANDER against your
neighbor. It has gone forth from your teeth.
It will never come back, you think. You
have done the man all the mischief you can.
You rejoice to see him vince. You say:
"Didn'tI give it to him?" That word has
gone out, that slanderous word, on its poison.
GUS and blasted wsy. You think 1t VIII
never do you any harm: but am watching
that word, and see it beginning to curve,
your heart. You had better dodge it You
cannot dodge it. 1t rolls into your bosom,
and after it rolls in a word Of an old book,
which says: "With what measure ye mete,
it small be measured to you again"
You maltreat an aged parent You be-
grudge him the room in your house. You
are impatient OF his whimsicalities and gar
rulity. 1t makes you mad to hear him tell
the same story twice. You give food he
cannot masticate. You wish he were away.
You wonder if he is going to live forever.
I,o
shorter and shorter. He is gong 70 stop.
But God has an account to settle with you
on that sub ;et After while your eye will
be dim and your gait will halt, and the sound
of the grinding will be low, and you will tell
the same story twice, and your children Will
wonder if you are going to live forever, and
wonder if you will never be taken away.
They called You Father once; now they
call you 'the old man." If you live few
years longer they will call you 1.-THE old
chap" What are those rough words with
which your children are accosting you They
are the echo Of the yerT words YOU used
IN the ear Of your old father forty years
ago. What is that which you are trying to
chew, but find it unmasticable, and your
jaws ache as you surrender the attempt!
Perhaps it may be the gristle which you gave
to your father for his breakfast forty years
ago. A gentleman RAISING along the street
by the hair of his head. The gentleman, out
ragged at this brutal conduct, was about to
punish the offender, when the old man arose
and said: Don't hurt him; it's all right;
forty wears ago this morning dragged out
nv rather by the hair Of the head" 1t is
circle. My father lived into the eighties. and
he had a very wide experience, and no said
that maltreatment of parents was always
punished in this world. Other sins may be
adjourned to the next world, but maltreat-
ment of parents is punished in this world.
The circle turns quickly, very quickly.
Oh! what a stupendous thought that the
good and the evil we start come back to US.
Do YOU know that the Judgment day will
be only the points at which the circles JOIN,
the good and the bad we have done coming
back to us, unless divine intervention hinder
coming back to us welcome of delight CT
curse of condemnation!
Oh! would like to see Paul, the invalid
missionary, at the moment when his influence
comes to full orb1his influence rolling out t
through Antioch, through Cyprus, through
Lystra, through Corinth, through Athens,
through Asia, through Europe, through
America, through the first century, through
five centuries, through twenty centuries,
through all the succeeding centuries, through
earth through heaven, and. at last TIE wave
of influence having made full circuit strikes
his great soul! Oh then I would like to see
him! No one can tell the wide sweep OF the
circle Of his influence, save the One who IS
seated on the circle Of the earth. ! should
not want to see the countsnance of Vo:taire
when his influence comes to full orb. When
the fata! hemorrhaye seized him at eighty
three years of age his influence did not cease:
The mo It brilliant man of his century, he had
usel all his faculties for assaulting Chris
tianity; his bad influence widening through
France widening out through Germany,
widening through all Europe, widening
through America, widening through the lOl
years that have gone by since be died, widen
ing through earth, widening through bell,
until at last the accumulated influence OF his
bad life in ferv surge Of omnipotent wrath
will beat against his destroyed spirit, and at
that moment it will be enough to make the
black hair Of eternal darkness turn white
with the horror. No one can tell how that
bad mans influence girdled the earth, save
the One who is seated on the circle OF the
earth-the Lord Almighty.
"Well, now,' say people In this audience,
sthis, in some respects, is very glad theory,
and in others very sad one; we would like
to have all the good we have done come back
to us, but the thought that all the sins we
have ever committed will come back to us
fills us with alright" My brother, have to
tell YOU God can break that circle, and will
do SO at your call l can bring twenty pas
sages of scripture to prove that when God, for
Christ's sake, forgiveS man, the sins Of his
past life never come back. The wheel may
roll on and roll on, but you can take your
position behind the cross and the wheel
strikes the cross and it is shattered for
ever. The sins fly off from thu circle into the
falling at right angles into
Complete oblivion. For givenl Forgivenl
The meauest thing man can do is, after
some difficulty has been settled, TO bring 1t
up again, and God will not be so m can as that.
Gods memory is mighty enough to hold all
the events of the ages, but there IS Que thing
that is sure to slip his memory, one thing he
is sure to forget, and that is pardoned trans
gression. How do know it! will prove
It. Their sins and their ini1uities will re-
member no more" Come into that state this
my dear brother, my dear sister.
"Blessed is the one whose trangressions are
forgiven"
But do not make the mistake OF thinking
that this doctrine of the circle stops with this
life; it rolls on through heaven You might
quote in opposition to me what st. John says
about the city of heaven. He says it .!ieth
four sJuaren That does seem to initiate
against this idea; but you know there Is
many a square house that has family circle
facing each other, and in q circle moving,
and / can prove that this is so in regard to
heaven. st. John says: II heard voice
of many angels round about the throne,
and the beasts and the elders" And,
again he says: "There was rainbow round
about the throne" The two former instances
a circle; the last either circle or a semi
circle. The seats facing each other, the
angels facing each other, the men facing
each other. Heaven an ampitheatre of glory.
Circumference of patriarch, and prophet, and
apostle. Circumference of Scotch covenant
ers, and Thebau legion, and AlbigenSes. Cir
cumference of the good of all ages. Periph-
cry of splendor unimagined and indescriba'
BILE. A circle! A circle!
But every circumference must have cen