The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1894-10-02

Ffne same day Sapphira, Ignorant
OF what had occurred. came into the
place of assembly. Peter, willing to
give he. an opportunity TO confess her
and said TELL me whether We sold
the land for so much, and she said,
Yea, for so much.' With this lie In
her heart and . % her lips she
fell dead at the apostles feet and
vas taken out and buried beside her
husband.
"The lie OF Ananias and Sapphira
was o to the church, and yet they
were charged by Peter with lying UNI
to the holy ghost. The explanation OF
this is that the church was the habita-
ton of the holy ghost, and In lying to
the assembled membership OF the
church, or its official representatives,
they lied to the holy ghost.
A PREMEDITATED LIE
In measuring the enormity of their
wickedness in this transaction we must
consider two facts In the first place,
their lie was not born of some mental
excitement into which they were sud-
denly and unexpectedly precipitated.
1t vas calmly and carefully premedita-
ted. They came together and discuss
ed the matter. The result of that dis
cussion was u agreement, and the
W. IL "tho pbet oitS1 otlObio " III
to the company of the disciples and
say, by their conduct Behold, we
put into the Lords treasury all that we
received for the landn 1t was q cold,
deliberate, premeditated lie, told, not
only to Gods people, but to God him
self.
"But their lie was aggravated by
the fact that in this matter they agreed
to tempt the spirit of the Lord How
did they tempt the spirit Of the Lord ?
They'had been taught that tho holy
the secret thoughts of men. They said
I'VE will test this doctrine. We will
see whether the spirit Of the Lord can
read the secret concealed in our
hearts, They had been taught that
God will punish all sin and unrighte-
BUSINESS. In connecting their lie, they
said we will toy him. We will
try him by throwing an audacious lie
into His face 1t was thus that they
tempted the Lord God. Their punish
ment vas immediate and terrible, be-
cause it was OF the utmost Importance
to the cause of truth and righteous
ness that, in the beginning of the
church's career, God should impress
His people, and the world, with tho
enormity and hatefulness Uf the sin of
hypocrisy-especially of religious hy-
pocrisy. God has put this event on
record in this im~perishabie book that
it may be Il perpetual warning to men
in the church and elsewhere not
to deceive each other-not to profess
virtues which they do not possess, and
not to get credit for gifts and sacrifices
which they have not made.
my brethren, if there was q Judas
among the apostles, and an Ananias in
the first church, it should not surprise
us to find deceitful and corrupt men in
any community of Christians. W.
have Gods infallible word for it that
the tlres and the wheat grow together
until the Judgment
"Tho preaching of the gospel is a
SAVIOR of life unto life to some and of
death unto death to others. Barna-
has and Ananias belonged to the same
church they sat under the same min
istry they sang the same hymns Of
devotion they came to the same com
munion table to celebrate the dying
love of their divine Lord-and yet one
of them developed into Christ-like
purity and u~nselishness, and the other
into a demon of dishonesty and hypo-
rcrisy.
II LIFE PROGRESSIVE AND RE-
TROGRESKIVE.
I'm every age, and in every Chris
tlan community, we see the tendency
Of men to reproduce either the sinceri-
ty and self-denying generosity of Barn
abas, or the damning deceitfulness and
sordidness of Ananias. For more than
ten years | have gone in and out before
this people. During this period, in
which | have tried to declare the whole
council Of God, my heart has beer com
forted and gladdened by the constant
advancement of some in Christian
strength and beauty, and at the same
time depressed and saddened by tho
increasing wOrldliness, earthiness, sell
ishness n deceitfulness of others.
My friends, you are either better or
worse. more spiritual or moro sordid,
moro sanity or more satanic than you
were ten years ago. You cannot reach
II certain plane of moral life and re-
main there. By an immutable law of
God you must ascend or descend. You
must gravitate, either towards the fell
lowship of angels or the communion of
devils.
The worship of God and the worship
OF mammon, spirituality and worldli-
ness, purity and uncleanness, Christ
and Belial, the cup Of the Lord and the
cup of devils, cannot be mixed. And
the church member who is trying to
mix them is on his way to the s~tarIess
doom of the hypocrite. Balaam tried
it. He prophesied for the God of Is
rael, and at the same time sought and
received the wages of unrighteous-
ness" from lsrael's enemy. His double
dealing developed into open treason,
and ended in infamy and destruction.
Judas tried it, and the fruit of it was
treachcry, madness and suicide. Ana
Mas and Sapphire tried it, and the end
was hopeless n eternal failure-a
premature grave, and an everlasting
heritage Of shame.
BRECKENRIDGE AS AN OBJECT LESSON. !
THAT brilliant Kentuckian who has
just been consigned to political oblivion
Will be an object lesson for ages to
come. What an example he has given
us of wrestling with the Lord and DIAL
lying with the devil, of shifting the
Philistines and lolling in the lap of De-
lilah, of burning incense to Jehovah
and paying tribute to Baal, of sudden
transitions from the sanctuary of God
to the synagogue of Satan, of commun-
ing with the saints and holding high
carnival with the sinners, of common
iZing purity and at the same time living
PROSTATE at the feet Of uncleanness.
Now that Cod and tho courts have
uncovered this arch-dissembler, be-
hold the reward of his duplicity. A
illustrious in American history,
darkened with disgrace, q coniiding
and loving constituency, burning with
Indignation at his shame, Il country
pursuing him with every expression Of
no go Hnts 49, -.I