Democratic messenger., 1889-05-18

And hosts of sin arc pressing hari
To draw thee from the skies,
His subject was ~ Poisoned Dinner,
and his text II Kings w., 10: $50 they
poured out for the men To eat. Aud !,
came TO pass. rs they were eating Of the
poiiagc. that they cried out. and said. q
thou man Of God. there is death in the pot
And they could not eat thereof"
Elisha had gone down 10 lecture to the
students In the theological seminary al
Gilgal. lie found the students very hun
cry. as students are apt to he. II is very
seldom the world makes large provisions
for those who give themselves TO intellcc-
tual toll. In order that these students
may lie prepared TO hear what Elisha says
he first feeds their hunger. He knew very
well il is useless to talk, TO preach, TO lee
turc with hungry men.
So Elisha. recognizing this common
sense principle, which every Christian
ought to recognize. sends servants out Ia
get food for those hungry students. They
pick up some good hcalthful herbs, hut
they happen to pick up also some colo
quinti,la, a bitter. poisonous, deathful
herb. They bring ali these herbs. they
put them into the boiling pot, they stir
them up, and then a portion Of this food
is brought To the students and their pro-
fessors. Seated at the table, one Of the
hungry students begins Immediately to
eat, and he happens To get hold Of some
of the coloqnintida. lie knew II by the
taste. lie cries out "poison. poison! q
thou man of God. there Is death in the
pot" CONSERVATION is thrown over the
whole group. What fortunate thing II
was that this student so early found the
coloquiniida in the mixture ut the table
You will by reference find this story is
precisely as have mentioned il.
cALDRoSs az SIN AND DEATH.
Wen, in our da, there are great cald-
rons of sin and death. Coloquiniila Of
mighty temptation is sprcsscd into il. Some
dip it out. aud taste, an,l reject il aud live.
Others dip il out, taste il, keep on aud die.
And il is the business of every minister
Of religion and every man who wishes
well To the human race. and who wants
to keep the world back from its follies
and /, suilcrings, /" cry out: Beware
poison, poison! lookout for this caldron
Stand hack Bcwarc."
Sin has done an awful work in our
world. II has gone out through all the
ages, il has mixed up grca, callron Of
trouble aud suffering and pain. aud the
whole race is poisonc,l-poisoned in body,
poisoned in mind. poisoned in soul. But
blessed bc God that the Gospel of Jesus
Christ is the antilolc. and where there
was sin there shall I've pardon. and where
there was suffering there shall bc comfort,
and where there was death there shall be
life
Some time ago. you will remember,
persuaded you Of the Importance of being
charitable in Judgment of others. Al the
same time said To you briefly villa, this
morning wish to say with grea, empha-
sis, that while we sympa,hizc with the
sinner we must dcnounce the sin; that
while we pity the unfortunate we must bc
vehement against iransgression. Sin is n
Jagged thing that needs Ia be roughly
handled. You have no right to garland
il with fine phrases or lustr0us rhetoric.
You cannot catch buffalo with a silken
lassO.
\ group of cmigranis settle in wild
region The next day wild beast comes
down from the mountain and carries nii
one or the children. The next day wild
beast comes down from the mountain and
carries of another child Forthwith all
the neighhors band together. ani they gN
out, with torch IN nnc hand and gun IN
the other, To hunt these monsters down,
to find their hiding place, tn light up and
nnsnck the caverns, and to destroy the
invaders of their houses. 80 we want
now not merely Ia talk about the sins an,l
i0llirs ofilc world. we want 10 gn behind
them, back of them. Down into the cav
erns where they hide we nectl To go with
the torch Of Gods Word In one hand and
the sword OF Gods eternal Spirit In the
other, TO hun, gu, aud shay these iniqui
lies in their hi,ling.placcs. Or. tO cOmt
back Ia the figure suggested 10y my text
We want 10 find what are the caldrOns Oi
sin and death from which the iniquities
Of societies are dipped out.
UNHAPPY HOMES.
I. In the first place. remark Thai
unhappy aud undisciplined homes are the
caldrons Of great iniquily. Parents harsh
and cruel on the one hand. or on the 9th
er hand lo0se in their government, wick
edly loose IN their government, are rails
ing up generation OF vipers. A hom'
where scollIng and frclfulncss are domi
nanl il blnod relation Ia the gall0ws an,
pcnitcniia-y. Petulancc is scrpant tina
crawls up into the family nursery some
times and cushcs everything. Why, Their
are parents who even make religion dis
gusiiny To their children. They scol,
them for not loving Christ. They have NJ
cxnspcrating way of doing their duty
The house Is full of the war-whoop u
contention. and from such n place hus
band aud sous 20 out Ia die.
oh is there llagar leading ava!
Isllmacl inio the desert la be smitten a
the thirst and parche'l Of the sand: II
the solemn birth hour voice fell To ihe'
from the throne of God. saying: "rak'
this child aud nurse IL for me. and ! viii
give thee Thy wages" At even time, licI
the angels Of God hover over that hom,
do they hear the children lisping the name
of Jesus, o traveller for eternity, you
little ones gathered under your robes, au
you leading them an the right road. o
are you taking them out an the danger