Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1888-05-05
They cursed God. they cursed His word, they


cursed His only begotton Son.
One morning, on Fulton street, as was
| passing along, heard man swear by the
name Of Jesus. My hair lifted. My blood
| ran cold. My breath caught. My foot
halted Do you not suppose that God is ag.
gravated! Do you not suppose that God
knows about it, Dionysius used to have a
cave in which his culprits were incarcerated,
and he listened at the top of that cave, and
he could hear every groan, he could hear
every sigh, and he could hear every whisper
(, of those who were imprisoned. He was
tyrant. God is not a tyrant, but he bends
| over this world and he hears everything
every voice of praise, every voice Of impre-
cation. 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.
Iistenl Listen Gan blesphemers shall
have their place in the lake which burneth
with fire and birthstone, which is the second
| DEATH And if, according to the theory of
some, a man commits in the next world the
| sins which he committed in this world-if
unpardoned, unregenerated- of
mans going on cursing in the name of God
to all eternityl
The habit grows. You start with small
oath, you will come to the large oath. Isaw
a man die with an oath between his teeth.
| Voltaire only gradually came to his tremen-
dous imprecations; but the habit grew on him
until in the last moment, supposing Christ
|
| wretch. Crush that wretchr Oh, my
brother, you begin to swear and there is
nothing impossible for you in the wrong di-
rection.
Who is this God whose name you are
using in swearingl Who is he! Is he a
tyrants Has he starved you, frozen you,
tyrannized over you! No. He has loved
you, he has sheltered you, he watched you
last night, he will watch you tonight. 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. Will you spit in his
face by an imprecation 2 Will you ever
thrust him back by an oath9
Who is this Jesus whose name l heard in
the imprecation! Has he pursued you all
your life long What vile thing has he done
to you that you should SO dishonor his name
| Why he was the Lamb whose blood sim
mered in the fires of sacrifice for you. He is
the brother that took off his crown that you
might put it on. He has pursued you all
your life long with mercy. He wants you
to love him, wants you to serve him He
comes with streaming 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 agains Let that hand, now
blood tipped, be lifted that may see it. Not
one. Where is the voice that will ever be
uttered in dishonoring the name Of that
Christi Let it speak now. Not one. Not
one. Oh, am glad to know that all these
vices of the community. and these crimes of
our city will be gone. Society is going to be
bettered. The word by the powered Christs
gospel is going to be saved, and this crime,
this iniquity, and all the other iniquities will
vanish before the rising of the sun of right
E, eousness upon the nation.
There was one day in New England memoir
able for storm and darkness. | hardly ever
saw such an evening. The clouds which had
been gathering all day unlimbered their bat
teries. The Honsatonic. which flows quietly,
ave as the paddles of pleasure parties rattle
the oar locks, was dashed into FOAM and
the waves hardly knew where to lay them
selves.
|, Obi what time it was The hills Jared
under the rumbling of Gods chariot. Blind
ing 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 double
night. Its mantle was torn with the light
nings and into its locks were twisted the
leaves of uprooLed oaks and the shreds of
canvass torn from the masts Of the beached
shipping. 1t was such 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 up
lifted voices in chorus that filled the noun
tains, praising the Lord. We woke not until
the fingers of the sunny morn touched our
eyelids. We looked out the window and the
1ousatonic slept as quiet as an infants
dream. Pillars of cloud set against the sky
looked liked 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 cheek and kissed
it. So will the darkness of sin and crime
leave our world before the dawn of the morn
ing The light shall gild the city spire and
strike the forests of Maine and the masts of
Mobile and all between. And one end rest
ing on the Atlantic coast and the other rest
ing on the Pacific beach, God will spring a
great rainbow arch of peace, in token of
everlasting covenant that the world shall
never more see deluge of crime.
But" says some one, preaching against
the evils of society will accomplish nothing
Do you not see that the evils go right ons' l
answer we are not at all discouraged
1t seemed insignificant for Moses to stretch
his hand over the Red sea- What power
could that have over the waterss But the
east wind blew all night the waters gath
cred into two .glittering palisades on either
side. The pillows reared as Gods hand
pulled back upon their crystal bits. Wheel
into line, oh Israel! march, march, Pearls
crash under their feet. The shout Of hosts
mounting the beach answers the shout of
hosts mid sea, until, as the last line of the
Israelites have gained the beach, the shields
clang and the cymbals clap, and as the wa
tiers whelm the pursuing foe the swift fin
gered winds on the white keys Of the foam
play the grand march Of Israel delivered.
and the awful dirge of Egyptian overthrow.
So we go forth, and stretch out the hand Of
PRAYER and Christian effort over these dark.
boiling waters of crime and sim "Ahal
Ahaw says the deriding world. But wait
The winds Of divine help will begin TO blow:
the way will clear for the great army OF
Christian philanthropists; the glitterlng
treasures Of the worlds benefcence will line
the path Of our feet and to the other shore
we will be greeted with the clash OF all
heavens cYmbals: while those who resist
and deride and pursue us will fall under the
sea, and there will ba nothing left OF them
but here and there, cast high and dry upon
the beach, the splintered wheel OF chariot
and, thrust out from the surf, the breathless
nostril Of riderless charger.
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