Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1890-06-06

ment with King Darius whereby he could
nave retained part of his form of religion
without making himself so completely OBJ
noxIous TO the idolaters. Paul might have
retained the favor Of his rulers and escaped
martyrdom If he had only been willing to
mix up his Christian faith with few errors.
HIS unbending Christian character was
taken an Insult
Fagot and rack and halter in all ages
have been only the different ways in which
the world has demanded obeisance. It was
once, away up on the top Of the temple that
Satan commanded the Holy One of Nazareth
70 kneeI before him. But it is not now so
much on the top of churches as down in the
aisle and the pew and the pulpit that Satan
tempts the espousers of the Christian faith to
kneel before him. Why was it that the Pla-
tonic philosophers Of early times, as well as
Ioland, Spinoza and Bolingbroke of
latter days, were 30 madly opposed
10 Christianity? Certainly not because
it favored immoralities, or arrested
CIVILIZATION, or dwarfed the intellect. The
genuine reason, whether admitted or not, Yves
because the religion OF Christ paid no respect
70 their intellectual vanities. Blount and
Boyle and the host of infdels Matched out BY
the vile reign of Charles IL. as reptiles crawl
out of marsh of slime, could not keep their
patience because as they passed along there
were sitting in the gate of the church sucn
men as s1arInew ana Marx, and Luke, and
John, who would not bend an inch in respect
to their philosophers.
Satan told our first parents that they
would become as gods if they would only
reach up and take a taste of the fruit.
They tried it and failed but their descend
ants are not yet satisfied with the expert
ment. We have now many desiring to be
as gods, reaching up after yet another
apple. Human reason, scOrnful of Gods
word, may foam AMI strut with the proud
wrath Of a Haman and attempt to compel
the homage of the good, but in the presence
Of men and angels it shall be COMPOUNDED.
GOd shall smlte thee, thou Whited wall"
W hen science began to make its brilliant
discoveries there were great facts brOugh to
light that seemed to overthrow the truth
OF the Bible The aIch8olOgist with his
crOWDar. and the geOlOgist will, his nam
mer, and the chemist with his batteries
charged upon the Bible. Noses account of
the creation seemed denied by the very
structure Of the earth. The astronomer
wheeled round his telescope until the heaven
ly bodies seemed to marshal themselves
against the Bible as the stars in their courses
fought against Sisera. ObservatOries and
universities rej2iced at what they considered
the extinction Of Christianity They gath
cred new courage at what they considered
past victory, and pressed on their conquest
into the kingdom of nature until, alas, for
theml they discovered too much. Gods
word had only been lying in ambush that,
in some unguarded moment, with a sudden
bound, it might tear infidelity to pieces.
1t when Joshua attacked the city of
Al. He selected thirty thousand men, and
concealed most of them: then with few
men he assailed the city, which poured out
its numbers and strength upon JOshua's lit
tie band. According to previous plan they
tell back in seeming defeat, but, after all the
proud inha bitants of the city had been
brought out Of their homes, and had joined
IN the pursuit of Joshua, suddenly that brave
man halted in his fight, and with his spear
pointing toward the city, thirty thousand
hOunHo1
spring to their prey, and the pur-
5uers were dashed to pieces, while
the hosts Of Joshua pressed up to the
city and with their lighted torches tossed it
into flame. Thus it was that the discoveries
Of science seemed to give temporary victory
against God and the Bible, and for a while
the church acted as if she were retreat;
out, when all the Opposers of God and truth
had Joined in the pursuit, and were sure Of
the field, Christ gave the signal to His
church. and, turning they drove back their
foes in shame. There was found to be no
antagonism between nature and revelation.
The universe and the Bible were found to be
the work of the same hand, two strokes of
the same pen, their authorship the same
God.
Again: Learn the lesson that pride goes
before fall. Was any man ever so far up
as Haman, who tumbled SO far down.
Yes, on a smaller scale every day the world
sees the same thing. Against their very
When God humbles proud men, it is usu-
ally at the moment of their greatest AFRO.
gaucv, II there be a man in your COM
munity greatly pufed up with worldly
success, YOU have but to stand a little.
while and you will see him come down
You say, [ wonder that God allows that
man to on riding over others heads
and making great assumptions OF power.
There is no wonder about it. Haman has
not yet got to the top. Pride IS a COM
mander well plumed and caparisoned, but
it leads forth dark and frOwning host
We have the best OF authority for saying
that pride gOeth before destruction, and
a naughty spirit before fall" The arrows
from the Almighty's CULVER are apt to strike
a man when on the wing. Goliath shakes
his great spear in Defiance but The small
stones from the brook Elah make him stag
ger and fall like OK under the butchers
bludgeon. He VINO is down cannot fall
Vessels scudding under bare poles do not
feel the force of the storm but those with all
sails set capsize at the sudden descent of the
tempest.
Again: This oriental tale reminds US of
the fact that wrongs we prepare for others
return upon ourselves. The gallOWS that
Hannah built for Mordecai became the prime
minister's strangulatiOr. Rooespierre, who
sent so many to guillotine, had his own head
chopped off by that horrid Instrument The
evil YOU practice on others will recoil upon
your own pate. SANDERS come home. OPP
pressions come hOme. Cruelties come home.
You will vet be a lackey walking beside the
very charger on which you expected to ride
others down. When Charles l. who had
DESTROYED StrafOrd was about to be be-
headed he said: I baSely ratified an unjust
sentence, and the similar injustice [ am now
TO undergo is a sensible retribution for the
punishment | inflicted on an innocent man
Lord Jeffries, after incarceratlng many