The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1893-01-18

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They called you father" once; now
ttsy call you the "old man." If you live
q few years longer, they will call you
the "old chap!" What are those rough
words with which your children
are accosting 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 trying to chew, but find y I'M
masticable and your jaws ache, and you
surrender the attempt? Perhaps 4 may
be the gristle which you gaNe 70 y9Fr
father for his breakfast forty years oto.
A gentleman passing along th1Feet
saw a son dragging his father into the
street by the hair of his head. The
gentleman, outraged at his brutal con-
duct was about to punish the offender,
when the old man arose and said:
Don't hurt him; it's all right; forty
years ago this morning dragged out
my father by the hair Of his head" II
is circle My father lived into the
eighties, and he had very wide exper-
ience, and he said that maltreatment Of
parents was always punished in this
world. Other sins may be adjourned
to the next world, bu maltreatment Of
parents punished in this world.
The circle turns quickly, very quick
ly. o, what stupendous thought that
the good and the evil we start como
back to MS Do you know that the
Judgment day will be only the points
at which the circles join, the good and
the bad we have done coming back 10
us, unless divine intervention hinder
coming back to us with welcome de
light or curse OF condemnation.
o, I,would like to see Paul, the in
valid missionary, at the moment when
his influence rolling out through Anti
och, through Cyprus, through Lystra,
through Corinth, through Athens,
through Asia, through Europe, through
America, through the first century,
through five centuries, through twenty
centuries, through all the succeeding
centuries, through earth, through
Heaven; and at last, the wave Of infu-
ence having made full circuit, strikes
his great soul o, then would like to
see him. No one can tell the wide
sweep Of the circle of his influence,
save the one who is seated on the cir.
Gle Of the earth. / should not
want to see the countenance oi
Voltaire when his influence comes
to full orb. When the fatal hem,
orrhage seized him at eighty-three years
of age his influence did not cease: The
most brilliant man Of his century, he
had used all his faculties for nssaulting
Christianity; his bad influence, widen.
ing through France, widening out
through Germany, widening through all
Europe, widening through America,
widening through the one hundred and
fifeeen years that have gone by since
he died, widening through earth; widen
ing through hell; until at last the nc.
cumulated influence Of his bad life In
fiery serge Of omnipotent wrath will
beat against his destroyed spirit. and
at that moment II will be enough to
make the black hair of eternal darkness
turn white with the horror. No one
can tell how that bad mans influence
girdled the earth save the one who Is
seated on the circle OF the earth-the
Lord Almighty.
"Well, now" say people in this audi.
ence, 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
the thought that all the sins we have
ever committed will come back to us,
fills us with alright" My brother, |
have TO tell you God can break that
circle, and will do so at your call
can bring twenty passages Of Scripture
10 prove that when God for Christ's
sake forgives a man, the sins OF
his past life never come back. The
wheel may roll on and one, but you
take your position behind the cross
and the wheel strikes the cross and
is shattered forever. The sins fly off
from the circle into the perpendicular
falling at right angles with complete
oblivion. Forgivenl The meanest
thing man can do is, after some diff
Guilty has been settled, to bring II up
again; and God will not be SO mean as
that. Gods memory is mighty enough
TO hold all the events Of the ages, but
there is one thing that is sure TO slip
His memory, one thing He is sure to for
get, and that is pardoned transgression.
How do / know II? / will prove it.
Their sins and their iniquities will i
remember no more" Come into that
state this morning, my dear brother,
my dear sister. blessed is the one
whose transgressions are forgiven"
But do not make the mistake of think
ing that this doctrine OF the circle stops
with this life; II rolls on through
Heaven. You might quote in opposi-
tion TO me what ST. John says about
the city Of Heaven. He says It ''lieth
four-square." That does seem to mill
tate against this idea; but you know
there is many a square house that has
family circle moving and can prove
that this Is so In regard TO Heaven. ST
John says; 81 heard tho voice Of many
angels around the throne, and the beasts
and the elders" Again he says: "There
was q rainbow round about the throne
The two former instances q circle; tho,
last either 4 circle or a semi-circle The
seats facing each other. the men facing
each other Heaven an nmphithestcr
Of glory, Circumference Of patriarch
and prophet and apostle, 'Circumfer-
ence Of Scotch Covepanters and Theban
legion and Albigensea 'circumference
Of the good Of all ages. Periphery Of