The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-02-01

TO phuaEthropleS anu puoltS iuVoA es'o' SoN
up and see me-" 81,
want to introduce myself to you. went
into a PRAYER meeting in Atlanta some
years ago; sat back by the door; you arose
to make an exhortaton; that talk changed
the course Of my life, and If ever get to
heaven, under God I will owe my salvation
to YOU" In only ten, twenty or thirty
years the circle swept out aud swept BACK
again to your own grateful heart.
But sometimes it is q wider circle and
J does not return for a great while. saw q
bill OF expenses for burning Lstimer and
Ridley The bill OF expenses SAYS;
One load Of fir fagots ..-......... ....... ss. 10
Carriage Of four loads OF wood....."...... y.
Item, post ...''''' % -
Item, Two chains s.................... ss' 80
Item, two stap les .,................-. ...' a. ~
Item, four lahore rs ..................... 70. eo
| That was cheap tire. considering all the
| circumstances but it kindled hght tnat
shone all around the world anu arouseo cue
| martyr spirit, and out from that burning or
Iatimsr and Ridl ey rolled the circle wider
and wider. starting other circles, convolut-
ing, overruuuing, circumscribing, oVerarcn'
| ing all heaven-Aclrcle.
But what is true Of the good Is Just a.
| tr,1s of the bad. You utter islander against
YOUR neighbor. 1t has gone forth from
your teeth; it will never come back, 70,
think. You have done the man all the mis-
chief you can. You reioics to see him Vince
You say, stDidn't give it to him!" Tha
word has gone out that slanderous word, on
its poisonous and blasted way. You think
it will never do you any harm. But an
watching that word, and see it beginning
to curve, aud it curves around land it is aim
ing at your heart. You had better dodge
it. You cannot dodge it. It rolls into your
bosom and after it rolls in a word Of an old
book, which says, "With what measure ye
mete, it shall be measured to you again. ,"
You maltrsat an aged parent. You be.
grudged him the room in your house. You
are impatient of his whimsicalities and gar
ruity. Itmakes you mad to hear him tell
the same story twice. You give him food
he cannot masticate. You wish he was
away. You wonder IL he is going to live
foreveA He will be gone very soon. His
steps are shorter and shorter. He is going
to stop. But Goi has an account to settle
with you on that subject. After awhile
your eye viii be dim, and your, gait will
low, and you will tell the same story twice.
and your children will wonder if you are
going to live forever and wonder if you will
never be taken away.
They callei you "father" once; now they
call you the s'old man." It you live a few
years longer they will cali you the ''old
chapp What are those rough words with
which your children are accostng you?
They are the echo Of the very words you
used in the ear of your old father forty
years ago. What Is that which you are
ticable and your jaws ache, aud you sur.
render the attempt? Perhaps it may be the
gristle which you gave to your father for
bis breakfast forty years ago.
A gentleman passing along the street saw
SON dragging his father into the street by
the hair Of the head. The gentleman, out
ragged at this brutal conduct, was about to
punish the offender when the old man arose
and said, "Don't hurt him: its all right;
forty years ago this morning I dragged OUT
my father by the hair Of his headm It is q
circle. My father lived into the eighties,
and he had very wide experience, and he
said that maltreatment Of parents was
always punished IN this world. Other sins
may be adjourned to the next world, but
maltreatment OF parents Is punished in this
world. =
The circle turns quickly. very quickly.
Oh, what stupendous thought that ths
good and the evil we start come back to us!
Do you know that the Judgment Day will
be only the points at which the circles join.
tho good and the bad we have done coming
back to US unless divine intervention hinder
coming back to US with welcome Of delight
or curse of condemnation.
Oh, would like to see Paul, the invalid
missionary, at the moment when his infu-
ence comes to full oro-his influence rolling
out through Antioch, through Cyprus,
Athens, through Asia. through Europe,
through America, through the first century,
through five centuries, through twenty GEN.
turies, through all the succeeding centuries,
through earth, through heaven, and at last.
the wave of influence having made full cir
cult, strikes his great soul. Oh, then would
like to see himl No one can tell the wide
sweep OF the circle Of his influence save the
One who is seated on the circle of the earth.
of Voltare when his influence comes to full
orb. When the fatal hemorrnage seizad
him at eighty-three years OF age his indu-
ence did not cease. The most brilliant mai
OF his century, be had used all his faculties
for assaulting Christianity, his bad influ-
ence widening through France, widening out
through Germany, widening through all
Europe. widening through America. WIDEN
ing through the lis years that have gone by
widening through nell, until at last the &C.
cumulated influence of his bad life in tery
surge of omnipotent wrath will beat against
his destroyed spirit, aud at tnat moment it
will be enough to make the black hair OF
eternal darkness turn white with the horror.
No one can tell how that bad mans indu-
ence girdled the earth save the one who is
seated on the circle OF the earth the Lord
Almighty.
"Weli, now," say people in this audience,
''this in some respects is very glad theory
and in others very sad one; we would like
to have all the good we have ever done come
back to us, but Ine Thought that all the sins
we have ever committed will come back to
US fills US with alright" My brother, I
have to tell you God can break that circle
and will do 80 at your call. I can bring
twenty passages OF Scripture to prove that
when God for CSrist's sake torgives a man
the sims Of his ASst life never come back.
The wheel may roll on and roll on but
you take your position behind. the CT oss,
and the wheel strikes the cross and is shat
tered forever. The sins fly of from the cir. 4.
Gle into the perpendicular, falling at right
angles with complete oblivion. Forgivenl
Forgiven! The meanesJ thing that man
can 90 l., after some difficulty has been SET
tied, TO bring 1t up again, and God will not
be so mean as that. Gods memory is mighty
enough TO hold all the events Of the age,
but there is one thing that is sure to slip HIS
memory, one thing he is sure to forget, and
that is pardoned transgresslon. How do l
knowIt? 1 will prove It. Their sins and
their lnlquities will 1 remember no more"
Come INTO that state this morning, my dear
brother, my dear sister. blessed is the
on. whose transgressions are forgiven
But do not make the mistake OF thinking
that this doctrine or the circle stops with,
this lite; it rolls on through heaven. You
might quote in opposition to me what st.
Jonn says about the city OF heaven. He
says it '.llsth four square" That does seem
a. sA-A 49,