The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-05-05
afternoon. Let us hear what he says:
have fought good fight


ingly on tho right side, and secondly,
having taken a stand for God and the
right have fought with all my ransom
powers. If you were to ask me this
afternoon what is the trou BILE, what is the
matter with the world to-day, would
answer unhesitatingly it is because the
forces of Satan are all organized and
enthusiastic and all fully over on the
DEVILS side, and the Lords people were
never less united, were never less en-
thusiastic, were never less positive and
aggressive in their Christian lives.
The truth of the business is the only
way you can tell whether most people
arc In the church or not, is to go to the
church roll or list and see If their names
are there. You can tell very little
about man as you see him walk and
mingle with men whether he is Chris
tian or not. Our Savior tells us that a
Christian man is like city set on a
hill. You can see city sitting on n
NIL twenty miles in the distance.
Christianity is like a candle on the can
dle-stick. You can SEQ the candle q
great deal further than you can see the
candle-stick.
Now the first thing we want in Roa-
noke is a line drawn or an issue made.
After the line is drawn we want all who
are on Gods side to go over on Gods
side and all on the devils side to go over
on his side, and then we are ready for
the tight, but we are not ready yet. I
can remember, when YVES a boy, read
ing about Mason's and Dixon's line.
did not understand it, did not think or
care much about it, but you know we
got up an issue in this country on slav-
cry. The next thing you hear of is
Mason's and DiXon's line, a line drawn
between all the free States and slave
States. The next thing, after the line
has been drawn, Beauregard fires on
Fort Sumter and then comes four years
OF the bloodieSt war the world ever saw.
Now, what we want in this town is
tho issue fairly made, the lines drawn
like it was when Mason's and Dixon's
line was drawn. When Beauregard fired
on Fort Sumter every Southern man in
the North went home, and every North
ern man in the South went home and
then came the war. Now we want Il
fairly defined issue. desplsc n com
promise anywhere along the lines of
morals. do not believe there is point
In morals where you can compromise
and keep God with you. a thing is
crooked or straight, one or the other.
There is no such thing as being crooked
straight or straight crooked 1t is
either crooked or it is straight. A thing
is either right or it is wrong II it is
right am for it; if it is wrong am
against 1T. l do not care what other
folks say, or do or think
THAT is tho position sQuarely. You
will hear men abusing me all over this
country. They will abuse me and say
everything and anything. but there is
one thing they never shall say about
me and tell the truth, and that is Sam
Jones got on the wrong side of a uues-
ton once. Do you hear that? In the
twenty years of my ministry, if you
Will find single place where l got on
the wrong side l will get down on nv
knees In penltence and beg God and
the world to forgive me.
while l an here in Roanoke / an,
going to stand equally on the ten ON
mandments and the sermon on the
mount. If you do not like that YOU
must quarrel with God and not with mo.
II you do not weigh enough you must
not curse the one who weighed yov but
curse the one who made the scales. If
you are not tall enough do not fall out
with the fellow who measures YOU but
fall out wit the standard that God has
erected. That is common sense.
never would get mad with man for
shooting me but might get mad with
the fellow who held tho gun and pulled
the trigger. Il am simply the gun. Lord
God, hold it on tho mark and pull the
trigger.
Now, have nothing against you,
brethren. Really, ought not to have
and can have nothing against you. 1t
would not do for you and | to have a
personal difficulty. l mean it would not
do for me. What would have to make
by personal difficulty with little fell
low like youS Did you ever think of
that? What is there in it to me to have
a fuss with you. brethren? ] am in a
cool humor with everybody, and, while
l never call any names, every fellow
knows his member, and the bell rings
every time you touch his number. It'll
just as natural as life itself, and the onlv
way for you tie keep the crowd from know.
ing that your number has been struck
you mutile the bell, then no one knows
your number has been struck.
want to preach right along on the
lines OF morality and right. There is
ho compromising moral question. A
thing Is right or wrong in itself, and
your views of 1T do not change or alter
IL n particle. II a thing is right, it was
right yesterday and will b right for
ever. II it is wrong to. day it has been
wrong six thousand years and will bo
wrong six million years. The man who
takes the wrong side will be defeated or
overwhelmed sooner or later.
Now, let us see. What we want is a
line drawn. have foughta good fight.
have come squarely out on the good
side of the question. How many men
do you suppose there are in Roanoke
whS stand uncon promisingly and
squarely on the right side of every prop
ositlon which GENES up? How many do
you suppose there are in this city? That
is big thing to think about. have
known preachers who stood clear on the