The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-10-08
THE RECENT DEFALCATION.
Continued from page i.

suae you must give uD influence, or
else pay his price, the price OF a thorny
pillow, unrest, the chance of being
to-day q nations idol; tomorrow the
peoples execration. You cannot have
the store of inform alton possessessed by
tho student and enjoy robust health,
pay ms price and you have his reward.
10 SOW one seed and expect to harvest
something else is to mock God and reap
what has not bee n sowed.
Now the mistake men mako and the
eXtravagant expectations in which thew
indulge are these: They SOW for earth
and expect to win spiritual blessings.
or tnay SOW to the Spirit and then won
der that they have not q harvest of the
good things of earth. In each case they
complain: What have I done to ba
treated so?
The unreasonableness Of all this an.
pears the moment we have understood
the conditions contained in this prin
oiple: whatsoever man soweth, tina
shall he also reap" Now, brother, SOW
ing one kind OF seed can he expect to
reap another kind? If you look into 1t
the balance is perfectly adjusted even
here. God has made His world much
better than you and l could make it.
Every thing reaps its own harvest, every
act has its own reward. And before YOU
covet the enjoyment which another
possesses you must first calculate the
cost at which it was procured.
For instance, the religious tradesman
complains that his honesty is hinder
ance to his success; that the tide of Gus.
tom pours into the doors of his less
scrupulous neighhors in the same street.
while he himself waits for hours idle
My brother, do you think God is going
to reward honor, integrity and high
mindedness with this worlds coin? Do
you fancy that He will pay spiritual ex-
-cellence with plenty of custom? Now,
consider the price that man has paid for
MS success. Perhaps mental degraia-
ton and inward dishonor. His adver-
tisements are all deceptive; his treat.
ment of his workmen tyrannical; his
cheap prices made possible by inferior
articles. Now, brother, SOW that mans
seed and you will reap that mans har-
vest. Cheat, lie, advertise, be unscrupu-
lous in your assertions and custom will
come TO you. But il the price is too
dear, lot him have his harvest and take
yours. Yours is a clear conscience, a
pure mind, rectitude within and with
out Will you part with that for his?
Then why do you complain? He has
paio mis- price do you not choose to paw
it?
Again, let us lcok at this saying, it is
not an uncommon thing to see o man
rise from insignificance to sudden
wealth by speculation. Within the last
ton or twenty years cast your eyes
backward and see what has been in our
country sudden prosperity. You can
gaze on many such phenomenon. Now
In this case, as in spiritual things, the
"a hot hot
him shall be given. Tens of thousands
soon increase and multiply to hundreds
His doors are besieged by the rich and
great Royalty banquets at his table
and mobiles court his alliance. Where
upon some simple Christian is inclined
to complain: "How strange that so
much prosperity should be the lot OF
mere cleverness." Now, brother, do you
covet that mans success? Compute
now what he has paid for it. The price,
that merchants price, paid, perhaps
with the blood of his own soul was
shame and guilt. The price he is pay
ing now is perpetual dreod of detec ton;
or worse still, the hardness which can
laugh at detection; or one deep lower
yet, tho low and grovelling soul which
can be satisfied with these things as a
paradise and ask no higher. He has
sown, too, the seed of infamy.
Now, brother, don't complain. 1t is
all fair. Count the cost. "He that
saveth his life shall lose it," Save your
life il you like, but do not complain Il
you lose your nobler life, yourself; win
the whole world but remember you do
it by losing your own soul. Every sin
must be paid for; every sensual indul-
gence is harvest, the price for which
is so much ruin for the soul. God is
not Knocked" No, never. But YOU
have resolved to be liver, doer, a
champion of truth Your ambition ia
to be pure in the last recesses of the
mind. You have your reward; soul
upright and manly; fearless bearing
that breads to look no man in the face;
willingness to let men search YOU
through and through, and defy them to
see any difference between what you
seem and what you are.
Now brother, your price. Your price
is dislike. The price of being true is
the cross. The warrior of truth must
| not expect success. What have you to
you win have it. But IL you wish for
it, or wish for peace. you have mistaken
your calling You must not be a teacher
of the truth, you must not be preiu-
diced against the grain; you must leave
medical, legal, theological truth to
harder and nobler men, who are willing
to take the martyrs cross and win the
martyrs crown.
Now, my young brother, this is the
mistake you are making. You expect
both harvests and pay only one price
You would be blessed with goodness and
prosperity ct once. You would have that
on which they bestowed no labor. You
take sinful pleasure. and think it very
hard that you must pay for it in agony,
and worse than agony, soul separated