Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1888-04-20

Y y
every voice of imprecatiOn. He hears
it all. The Oaths seem to die on the
air, but they have eternal echo. They
come back from the ages to come.
Listen Listen! sEAlI bIasnbemers
shall have their place in the lake which
burneth with fire and birthstone. which
IS the second death. And if, accord
ing to theory of some, a man commits
IN the next world the sins which he com
mitted IN this wOrld-if unpardoned.
unregenerated-t of a man going
on cursing In the name of God to all
eternity The habit grows. You start
with a small oath, you viii come to the
large oath. / saw a man die with an
oath between his teeth. VOItaire only
gradually came to his tremendous i'm
precatiOn; but the habit grew on him
until In the last moment, supposing
Christ stood at the bed, he exclaimed
Crush that wretch!' Oh, my brother,
you begin to swear and there is nothing
impossible for you In the wrong direc-
ton
Who is this God whose name YOU
are using in swearing? Who is he? Is
he a tyrant? Has he pursued you all
your life long? Has he starved you,
frozen you, tyranized over you? No.
He has loved you, He has sheltered
you, He watched you last night, He
viii watch you. He wants to love you,
wants to help you, wants to save you,
wants to comfort you. He was your
fathers God and your mothers God.
He has housed them from the blast,
and he wants to shelter you VIII you
spit In His face by an imprecation {?
VIII you ever thrust Him back by an
oath
Who is this Jesus whose name is
heard in the imprecation? Has He
pursued you all your life long? What
vile thing has he done to you that you
should so dishOr His name? Why, He
was the Lamb whose blood simmered
in the fires of sacrifice for you. He is
the brother that took off His crown
that you migt put it on. He has pur-
sued you all your life long with mercy.
He wants you to love Him, wants you
to serve Him. He comes with stream
ing eyes and broken heart and blistered
feet to save you. On the craft of our
doomed humanity He pushed out into
the sea to take you off the wreck.
Where is the hand that Will ever be
lifted in imprecatiOn again? Let that
hand, now blOOd-tipped, be lifted that
1 may see it. Not one. Where is the
voice that viii ever be uttered in dis
hOnOring the name of that Christ? Let
it speak now. Not one. Not one. Oh,
I am glad to know that all these voices
of the community, and these crimes of
our city Will be gone. Society is going
to be bettered The world, by the
power Of Christ's gospel, is going to be
saved, and this crime, this iniquity, and
all the other iniquities viii vanish be-
fore the rising of the Sun of Righteous
ness upon the nation. There was one
day in New England memorable for
storm and darkness. I hardly ever
saw such an evening. The clouds
which had been gathering all day I'M
1imbered their batteries. The HOusa-
tonic which flows quietly, save as the
paddles of pleasure-parties rattle the
Oar-lOcks, was dashed into foam, and
the waves hardly knew where to lay
themselves. Oh! what a time it was
The hills Jared under the rumbing of
Gods chariOts Binding sheets of rain
drove the cattle to the bars, or beat
against the window pane as though to
dash it in. The grain fields threw their
crowns of gold at the feet of the storm
king. When night came in it was a
double night. It's mantle\was torn with
the hghtnings, and into its locks were
twisted the leaves of uprOOted oaks and
the shreds of canvas torn from the masts
of the beached shipping. It was such
a night as makes you thank God for
shelter, and open the door to let in the
spaniel bowling outside with terror.
We went to sleep under the full blast
of heavens great orchestra, the forests
with uplifted voices in chorus that filed
the mountains praising the Lord. We
woke not until the fingers of the sunny
morn touched our eyelids. We looked
out the window and the HousatOnic
slept as quiet as an infants dream. Pill
lars of clouds set against the sky looked
like the castles Of the blest built for
heavenly hierarchs on the beach of the
azure sea. All the trees sparkled as
though there had been some great
grief in heaven and each leaf had been
God-appointed to catch an angels tear
1t seemed as if our Father had looked
upon the earth-His hayward child
and stopped to her tear-wet cheek and
kissed it. So viii the darkness of sin
and crime leave our world before
the dawn Of the morning. The light
shall gid the city spire and
strike the forests of Maine and the
masts of Mobile, and all between. And
one end resting on the Atlantic coast
and the other on the Pacific beach, God
viii spring a great rainbow arch of
peace. in token of everlasting covenant
that the world shall never more see a
deluge of crime.
But, says some one. preaching
against the evils of society viii accom-
plish nothing. Do you not see that
the evils go right On?" I answer, we
are not at all discouraged. Tt seemed
insignificant for Moses to stretch his
JaD1 ~v-or- tho Ra1 Gao VVbo+ 7,Ozrye7.