The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-07-31

up the mines. and then they took the
spears andthe swords, then they TOOK the
blacksmiths, then they took the GRIND
stones, and they took everything but a
file. Oh, that,is the way SIN WORKS. IL
grabs everything. 1t begins WIN TOD
berry, and it ends with robbery. IL oe,
spoils this faculty and that facaity ana
keeps on until the whole nature Is gone
Was the man eloquent before, 1t gener-
ally thickens his tongue. Was hs line
In personal appearance, it mars ms VS.
Rge. Was he afiuent, it sends the sner-
iff to sell him out. Was he influential,
1t destroys his popularity. was ne PLACID
and genial and loving, it makes MN
Splenetic and cross, and so utterly Is ne
changed that you can see he is sarcastic
and rasping and that the Phllsthes
have left him nothing but Tile.
Oh, 3the way of the transgressor Is
hard" His cup is bitter. His night is
dark. His pangs are deep. Ills end Is
terrific. Philistine iniquity says to that
man, CHOW, surrender to me, and WILL
give you all you want-muslo for the
dance, swift steeds for the race, imperial
couch to slumber on. and you snail De
refreshed with the rarest fruits IN bas-
kets of golden filigree." He lies. The
music turns out to be groan. me
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;l
An infidel when well, but what when slckf
Oh, then 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 a 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 chat 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 a file, a 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
fretting at his nurse, Fletcher, fretting
at himself, fretting at the world, fretting
at God, and he who gave to the world
'sChilde Harold" and 'sSardanapalus, ;"
and 'sThe Prisoner of Chillon," and 1.-THE
Siege of Corinth, reduced to nothing but
filel
THE WAGES OF SIN.
Oh, sin has great facility for making
promises, but 1t has just as great facility
for breaking them. A Christian life Is
the only cheerful life, while life Of
wicked surrender is remorse, ruin and
death. It's painted glee is sepulchral
ghastliness. In the brightest days Of
the Mexican empire Montezuma said he
felt gnawing at his heart something like
canker. Sin, like a monster wild beast
of the forest, sometimes ticks 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, Hildebrand? Is it not SO,
Robespierre? Ayel ayei it is SO; it is SO.
.sThe way of the wicked he turneth up
side down."
History tells us that when Rome was
founded, on that day there were 70
vultures flying through the air, but when
transgressor dies the sky is black with
whole fiocks Of them. Vulturesl When
see sin robbing so many people, and I
see them going down day by day and
week by week, must give a plain warn
ing. dare not keep it back lest I risk
the salvation of my own soul. Rover,
the pirate, pulled down the warning bell
on Inchcape rock, thinking that he would
have chance to despoil vessels that were
crushed on the rocks, but one night his
own ship crashed down on this very
rock, and he went down with all his
cargo, God declares, s'When I say to
the wicked thou shalt surely die, and
thou givest 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 if
they could only get all the metallic
weapons out of the hands of the Israel
ties all would be 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 Tsraelites was gone, their strength
was gone. This is the trouble with the
church of God today. tits surrendering
it's courage. 1t has not gotenough 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
1 n