Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1894-08-03
A Line Drawn.

those who profess religion. Some OF the
most gigantic swindles Of the present
day have been carried on by members
of the church. There are men In the
churches who would not be trusted for
So without good collateral security.
They leave their business dishonesties
in the vestibule Of the church as they
40 In and sit at the communion. Hav-
ing concluded the sacrament, they get
up, wipe the wine from their lips, GO
out and take up their sins where they
let off. To serve the devil is their regu-
lar work; to serve God, sort OF play
spell. With a Sunday sponge they ex'
peot to wipe off from their business slate
all the past weeks inconsistencies. You
have no more right to take such mans
life as a specimen Of religion than you
have to take the twisted irons and split
timbers that lie on the beach at Coney
Island as specimen Of an American
shin. II is time that we drew line be-
tween religion and the frailties OF those
who profess it.
HindrAnceS TO flelys
Again, there may be some OF you
who, in the attempt after Christian
life, will have to run against powerful
passions and appetites. Perhaps 1t is
disposition to anger that you have to
,ontend against, and perhaps. while in
O very serious mood, you hear Of some
thing that makes you feel that you must
swear or die. l know Of Christian
man who was once so exasperated that
he said to a mean customer, Il cannot
swear at you myself, for l am mem
Der of the church, but II yor will go
down stairs my partner in business will
swear at you" All your good resolu'
tions heretofore have been torn to tat
tiers by explosions Of temper. Now, there
IA no harm in getting mad II you only
get mad at sin. You need 70 bride and
saddle these hot breathed passions. and
with them ride down injustice and
wrong. There are thousand things in
the world that we ought to be mad at
There is no harm in getting redhot II
you only bring to the forge that which
needs hammering. A man who has no
power Of righteous indignation Is al I'M
beetle. But be sure it is a righteous in'
dignation and not a petulancy that
blurs and unravels and depletes the soul
There IS large class Of persons In
midlife who have still in them appe'
tites that were aroused in early man
hood, at a time when they prided them
selves on being little fast, high
liyerH, free and easy, " hail fellows
we'll met. " They arc now paying in
compound interest for troubles they ool'
looted 20 years ago. Some OF you are
trying to escape, and you will, yet very
narrowly, las with the skin OF your
teeth" God and your own soul only
know what the struggle ih Omnipotent
grace has pulled opt many a soul that
was deeper in the mire than you are'
They line the beach Of heaven, the mQl-
titude whom God has rescued from the
thrall Of suicidal habits II you this day
turn your back on the wrong and start
anew, God will help you Oh, the weak
ness Of human help Men will sympa-
thize for awhile and then turn you OF.
II you ask for their pardon, they will
give 1t and say they will try you agsinl
but, falling away again under the power
of temptation, they cast you of forever.
But God forgiyes seventy times seven
- yea, seven hundred times - yea
though this be tho ten thousApdth time
he Is more earnest, more sympathetic.
more helpful this last time than when
you took your first misstep.
If, with all the influences favorable
Tor a right life, men make 50 many mis-
takes, how much harder 1t is when, for
instance, some appetite thrusts its iron
graphic into the roots Of the tongue and
pulls a man down with hands OF de-
structionl If under such circumstances
he break away, there will be no sport
In the undertaking, no holiday enjoy
menb but struggle in which the wres-
tiers move from side to side and bend
and twist and watch for an opportunity
to get In a heavier stroke until with
one final effort, In which the muscles
are distended, and the veins stand out,
and the blood starts the swarthy habit
falls under the knee Of the victor-es'
caped at last as with the skin Of his
teeth
In the last day it will be found that
Hugh Latimer and John Knox and
Huss and Ridley were not the greatest
martyrs, but Christian men who went
up incorrupt from the communications
and perplexities Of Wall street, Water
street, Pearl street, Broad street. State
street Third street, Lombard street and
the bourse On earth they were called
brokers or stockholders or retailers or
importers, but in heaven Christian
heroes, No iagots were heaped about
their feet, no inquisiEon demanded
from them recantation. no soldier aim
ed a spike at their heart, but they had
mental fortunes, compared with which
all physical consuming is as the breath I
Of 4 spring morning.
Peace Of tho Gospel.
I find In the community large class
Of men who have been 30 cheated. 50
lied about, so outrageously wronged
that they have lost faith in everything.
In world where everything seems 20
topsy turvy they do not see how there
can be any God They are COMPOUNDED
and frenzied and misanthropic Elabo-
rate Argument TO prove 10 them the
truth Of Christianity or the truth Of
anything else touches them nowhere.
Hear me, all such men. l preach TO you
no rounded periods, no ornamental dis
course, but ! put my hand on your
shoulder and invite you into the peace
Of the gospel Here Is a rock ON which
you may stand firm, though the waves
dash against it harder than the Attain
tic, pitching its surf clear above Eddy
stone Lighthouse. Do not charge upon
God all these troubles Of the world. AS
long as the world stuck 70 God, God
stuck to the world. but the earth seeded
from his government and hence all
these outrages and all these woes. God
"a uood. For many hundreds Of years he