Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1893-07-24

puts man. Yes, These Philietinea shut
mp the mines, and then they took the
spears and the swords, then they took the
blacksmiths, then they took the grind
stones. and they took everything but q
file Oh, that is the way sin works. II
grabs everything. 1t begins with rob
berry, and 1t ends with robbery. It de
spoils this faculty and that faculty and
keeps on until the whole nature Is gone.
Was the man eloquent before, IL goner.
ally thickcr3 his tongue. Was he fine
In personal appearance, it mars his Wis
age. Was he affluent, it sends the sher-
LII to sell him out. Was he influential,
it destroys his popularity. Was he placid
and genial and loving, it makes him
splenetic and cross, and SO utterly is he
changed that you can see he is sarcastic
and rasping and that the philistines
have left him nothing but file.
Oh, "the way of the transgressor is
hard" His cup is bitter. His night is
dark. His pangs are deep, His end is
terrific. Philistine iniquity says to that
man, t'Now, surrendep to me, and will
give you all you want-music for the
dance, swift steeds for the race, imperial
couch to slumber on, and you shall be
refreshed with the rarest fruits in bas-
kets of golden filigree." He lies. The
music turns out to be groan. The
fruits burst the rind with rank poison.
The filigree is made up Of twisted snakes.
The couch is grave. Small allowance
of rest, small allowance of peace, small
allowance of comfort. Cold, hard, rough
nothing but file. So it was with
Voltaire, the most applauded man Of his
day:
The Scripture was his jestbook, whence he
drew
Bonmots to gall the Christian and the Jew;
An infdel when well, but what when sick2
Oh, then a text would touch him to the quick.
Seized with hemorrhage of the lungs
in Paris, where he had gone to be
crowned in the theater as an idol of all
France, he sends messenger to get
priest that he may be reconciled to the
church before he dies. A great terror
falls upon him. He makes the place all
round about him so dismal that the
nurse declares that she would not for all
the wealth of Europe see another infidel
die. Philistine iniquity had promised
him all the worlds garlands, but in the
last hour of his life, when he needed
solacing, sent tearing across his con.
science and his nerves file, file.
So it was with Lord Byron, his un-
cleanness in England only surpassed by
his uncleanness in Venice, then going on
to his brilliant misery at Missolonghi, end
tretting at his nurse, Fletcher, fretting
at himself, fretting at the world, fretting
at God, and he who gave to the world
"Childe Harold" and 'Sardanapalus,"
and THE Prisoner of Chillon," and 1.-THE
Siege of Corinth, reduced to nothing but
q filel
THE WAGES OF SIN.
Oh, sin has great facility for making
promises, but it has just as great facility
lor breaking them. A Christian life is
the only cheerful life, while a life of
wicked surrendkr is remorse, ruin and
death. Its painted glee is sepulchral
shastliness. In the brightest days of
me Mexican empire Montezuma said he
felt gnawing at his heart something like
u canker. Sin, like monster wild beast
Of the forest, sometimes hcks all over its
victim in order that the victim may be
more easily swallowed; but generally
sin rasps and gals and tears and up-
braids and files. Is it not so, Herod? Is
it not SO, HildebrandI Is it not so,
Robespierre? Aye! aye! it is so; it is 80.
The way of the wicked he turneth up
side down"
History tells us that when Rome was
founded, ON that day there were 10
yultures flying through the air, but when
transgressor dies the sky 10 black with
whole focks of them. VulturesI When
see sin robbing SO many people, and
see them going down day by day and
week by week, must give plain warn
ing. dare not keep it back lest risk
the salvation of my own soul. Rover.
the pirate, pulled down the warning bell
ON Inchcape rock, thinking that he would
nave chance to despol vessels that were
crushed ON the rocks, but enc night his
own ship crashed down on this very
rock, and he went down with all bis
cargo. God declares, when say TO
the wicked thou shalt surely die, and
thou giyest him not warning, that same
man shall die in his iniquity, but his
blood will require at thy hands"
learn from this subject what sad
thing it is when the church Of God loses
its metal. These Philistines saw that II
they could only get all the metallic
out Of the hands of the Israel
ties all would DO well, and therefore
they took the swords and the spears.
They did not want them TO have single
metallic weapon. When the metal Of
the Israelites was gone, their strength
was gone. This Is the trouble with the
church Of God today. 1t is surrendering
It's courage. 1t has not tgotenough metal.
How seldom it is that you see man
taking his position in pew, OF in pulpit,
or in a religious society, and holding
that position against all oppression, and
all trial, and all persecution, and all |
criticism.
The church Of God today wants more
more defiance, more conse-
Grated bravery, more metal. How often |
you see a man start out in some good |
and at the first blast Of news
paperdOm he has collapsed, and all his |
courage, gone, forgetful Of the fact that
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