The west Tennessee star. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1888, 1888-04-20
SUBSCRIPTION: sl.oO Per Year.

and instantly he fell under a bolt. Whas
destroyed him2 Ary mystery about it,
Oh. no. He cursed God and died.
On, my brother, God Will not allow this
sin to go unpunished. There are styles Of
writing with manifold sheets, so that a
man writing on one sheet writes clear
through ten, fifteen or twenty sheets, and
SO every profanity we utter goes right
down through the leaves Of Gods book Of
remembrance. 1t is no exceptional sin.
Do you think you could count the profan-
tiles of last week-the profanities Of office,
store, shop, factory They cursed God,
they cursed His word, they cursed His
only-begotten Son.
One morning, on Fulton street, as was
passing along, / heard a man swear by the
name of Jesus. Ny hair lifted. My blood
ran cold Ny breath caught. My foot halt
ed. Do you not suppose that God is aggra-
vated? Do you not suppose that God knows
about it? Dionysius used to have 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 whis-
per of those who were imprisoned. He
was a tyrant God is not q tyrant; but he
bends over this world and he hears every
thing-eYery 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.
Listeni Listenl "All blasphemers 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, q man oom-
mits in the next world the sins which
he committed in this world-h un-
pardOned, unregenerated-think OF
mans going on cursing in the name Of
God to ell eternity.
The habit grows. You start with a small
oath, you viii come to the large oath. L
saw q man die with an oath between his
teeth. Voltaire only gradually came to
his tremendous imprecatiOn; but the
habit grew on him until in the last mo-
ment, supposing Christ stood at the bed,
he exclaimed: Course that wretchf Curse
that wretchw Oh, my brother, you begin
to swear and there is nothing impossible
for you in the wrong direction.
Who is this God whose name you are
using in swearing? Who is He? Is He q
tryrant? Has He pursued you all your
life long? Has He starved you, frozen
you, tyrannized over youP No. He has
loved you; He has sheltered you; He
watched you last night; He viii 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? VIII you ever thrust Him
back by an oath2
Who is this Jesus, whose name heard
in the imprecation? Has He pursued you
all your live long? What vile thing has
He done to you that you should SO dis
honor 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 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
blistering feet to save you. On the craft
Of our doomed humanity He pulled out
into the sea to take you off the wreck.
Where is the hand that win ever be lift
! ed in imprecation again2 Let that hand,
now blood tipped, be lifted that may SEQ
/ it. Not one. Where is the voice that viii
! ever be uttered in dishonoring the name
| of that Christ? 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 Tho
world, by the power Of Christ's Gospel, ig
! going to be saved, and this crime, this in
! iquity, and all the other iniquities viii
vanish before the rising of the sun of
righteousness upon the nation.
There was one day in New England
memorable for storm and darkness.
! hardly ever saw such an evening. The
! clouds which had been gathering all day
unlimbered 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 them-
selves.
! Oh what a time It wasl The hills Jared
/ under the rumbling Of Gods chnriOts.
| 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 no the
/ feet Of the storm king When night came
/ in it was double night. It's mantle was
/ torn with the lightnings, aud into it's locks
| were twisted the leaves Of uproOted oaks
! and the shreds Of canvas torn from the
masts Of the beached shipping. IL was
such night as makes you thank Cod for
! shelter, and open the door to let An tho
| 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 filled
| 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
4 quiet as an infants dream. Pillars Of
| clouds set against the sky looked like the
castles of the blest built for heavenly hi
| erarchs 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 10 catch an
angels tear. 1t seemed as IL our Father
/ had looked upon the earth, His wayWard
child, and stopped TO her tear-wct cheek
and kissed it. So will the darkness Of sin
| and crime leave our world before tho
dawn Of the morning. The Light shall gild
! the city spire and strike the forests Of
Maine and the masts Of Mobile, and al
| between. And one end resting on the At
lantic coast and the other resting on the
Pacific beach, God win spring a great
rainbow arch Of peace, la token Of ever
lasting covenant that the world shall never
more see a deluge OF crime.
/ "But," says some one, preaching
| against the evils Of society will accom-
| plish nothing. Do you not SEQ that tho
| evils 20 right 0ni" / answer, we arc not
at al discouraged.
II seemed insignificant for Moses 10
stretch his hand over the Red sea. What
/ power could that have over the waters?
/ But the east wind blew al night; the
| waters gathered into two glittering pali-
| sades on either side. The billows reared
/ as Gods hand pulled back upon their crys-
tai bits. Wheel into line. o OIsrael Marchl
! MafCh4 CfAIiP cAtAnh uiH1t bAe t@0A' AAp
/ shout Of hosts mounting the beach an
/ swers the shout Of hosts mid-se0, until, as
the last line Of the Israelites has gained
| the beach, the shields clang, and
the cymbals clap, aud as the waters
whelm the pursuing foe, the swift
| fingered winds on the white keys Of the
foam play the grand march Of Israel de-
+ livered. and the awful dirge Of Egyptian
I overthrow. SO we 20 forth; and stretch
out the hand Of prayer and Christian ci-
fort over these dark, boiling waters Of
/ crime and sin. "Ahal aha :" say the de-
/ riding world. But wait. The winds of