Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1888-09-26

r postor and the implanter of great delu
8 sion. Go, at first out of curiosity, to see
. all the houses of dissipation and then gc
, because you have felt the thrall of theil
fascination. Getting along splendidly now
, Let me see what further can suggest il
, that direction. Become more defiant of all
decency, more loud-mouthed in your athe.
ism, more thoroughly alcoholised, and in
stead of the small stakes that will do well
enough for games of chance in ladies' par
J lor, put up something worthy, put mp more,
: put up all you have. Well done! You have
succeeded, You have made a chain-the
tobacco habit one link, the rum habit one
link, the impure club another link, infidel-
ity another link, Sabbath desecration an
other link, uncleanness another link, and
altogether they make chain. And 80 there
is chain on your hand, and chain on
your foot, and chain on your tongue, and
a chain on your eye, and chain on your
brain, and chain on your property, and a
chain on your soul. Some day you wake
up and you say: 81 am tired of this and I
am going to get loose from this shackle."
You pound away with. the hammer of good
resolution but cannot break the thrall
Your friends join you in a conspiracy of
help but fall exhausted in the unavailing
attempt. Now you begin, and with the
writhing of LAGOON, to try to break
away, and the muscles are distended, and
the great beads of Precipitation dot your
| forehead, and the eyes stand out from the
sockets. and with all the concentrated ener.
| gies of body, mind and soul you attempt to
get loose but have only made the chain sink
deeper. All the devils that encamp in the
wine flask and the rum jug and the decan-
| ter-for each one has devil of its own
come out and sit around you and chatter.
In some midnight you spring from your
couch aud cry: 81 am fast. o. God, let me
loose! 0 ye powers of darkness, let me
loosel Father and mother and brothers
and sisters, help me to get looseV Aud
you turn your prayer to blasphemy, and
then your blasphemy into prayer, and to
all the din and uproar there is played an
accompaniment-nota an accompaniment by
key and pedal, but the accompaniment is
rattle and the rattle is that of chain. For
five year, for ten years, for twenty years,
you have been making chain.
! But here l take step higher and tell
you there is power that can break any
chain, chain of body, chain of mind, chain
of soul. The fetters that the hammer of
the Gospel have broken of, if piled togeth-
er, would make mountain. The captives
which Christ has set free, if stood side by
side, would make an army. Quicker than
shipchandler's furnace ever melted
cable, quicker than key ever unlocked
handcuff, quicker than the bayonets of rev.
olution pried open the Bastile, you may
be liberated and made free son or free
daughter of God. You have only to choose
between serfdom and emancipation, be-
ohasu haf- ok,x,
and God. Make up your mind and make
it up quick. When the King of Sparta had
crossed the Hellespont and was about to
march through Thrace he sent word to the
people in the different regions asking them
whether he should march through their
countries as friend or an enemy. "By all
means as a friend" answered most of the
regions, but the King of Macedon replied:
81 will take time TO consider it." "'Then,"
said the King of Sparta: "Let him consid-
er it, but meantime, We march-we march"
So Christ, our King, gives us our choice be-
tween his friendship and his frown, and
many of US have long been considering
what We had better do; but meantime, He
marches On, and our opportunities are
marching by. And we shall be the loving
| subjects of His reign or the victims of our
own obduracy. So urge you to precipi-
fancy, rather than slow deliberation, and
write all over your soul the words of Christ
I saw inscribed on the monument of Prin-
cess Elizabeth in the Isle of Wight, the
words to which her index finger pointed in
the open Bible when she was found dead
in her bed after lifetime of trouble: Come
unto Me, all ye who are weary and heavy
laden, and will give you rest" Is there a
drunkard here2 You may, by the Saviour's
grace, have that fire of thirst extingulshed.
Is there defrauder here? You may be
made saint. Is there lbertine here?
You may be made as pure as the light.
| When minister in an outdoor meeting ia
Scotland was eulogising goodness, there
were hanging around the edge of the audi
ence some of the most deprayed men and
women, and the minister said nothing about
mercy for prodigals. And a depraved
woman cried out: "Your rope is not long
enough for the like of u.s." Blessed be
God, our gospel can fathom the deepest
depths and reach to farthest wanderings,
and here is a rope that is long enough to
rescue the worst: "Whosoever will"
But why take extreme cases, when we
all have been or are now the captives of sin
and death? Aud we may through the great
Emancipator drop our shackles and take
throne. You have looked at your hand
|
curious piece of anatomy, but there is some
thing about your hand and arm that makes
me think they are an undeveloped wing
And if you would know what possibilities
are suggested by that, ask the eagle that
has looked close into the eye of the MONDAY
sun; or ask the albatrOss that has struck
| its claw into the black locks of the tempest:
| or ask the coudOr that this morning is de-
scending to the highest peak of Chimbo-
razo. Your right hand and arm and your
left hand and arm two undeveloped ings
better get ready for the empyrean.
"Rise, my soul. and stretch thy wing,
| Thy better portion trace"
There have been chains famous in the
worlds history, such as the chain which
fastened the prisoner of Chillon to the pill
lar, into the staple of which l have thrust
my hand, on the isolated rock CT the Lake
of Geneva; such as the chain which the
Russian exile clanks on his way to the
mines of Siberia; such as the chain which
Zenobia, the captive queen, wore when
brought into the presence of Aurelian. Aye,
there have been races in chains, and ma
tiOns in chains, and there has been
world in chains; but thank God the last
one of them shall be broken and under the
liberating power of the omnipotent Gospel
the shackles shall fall from the last neck
and the last arm and the last foot. But
these shattered fetters shall all be gathered
up again from the dungeons and the work
houses and the mines and the rivers and
the fields, and they shall again we welded
and again strung link to link, and polished
and transformed until this world, which
has wandered off and been a recreant world
and lost world, shall by that chain be
lifted and hung to the throne of God, no
longer the iron chain of oppression, but the
this old ransomed world swing forever!
| Roll on, ye years, roll on, ye days, roll on,
ye hours, and hasten the glorious consum-
nation!