The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1895-01-17

COlnpASS stA ana lthDu 10 nuke Ou0 UTOSB-
lyte, and when he is made yo make him
twofold more the child of hell than
yourselves. Woe unto you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye pay tithe
of mint and anise and cummin, and
have omitted the weiglItier matters of
the law, Judgment, mercy and faith.
These ought ye to have done, and not to
leave the other undone. Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, bypoorites, for ye
make clean the outside Of the cup and
the platter, but within they are full of
extortion and excess. Woe unto you,
soribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for
ye are like unto whited sepulchers,
which indeed appear beautiful outward,
but are within full of dead mems bones,
and of all uncleanness.
Sin Exposed.
There stood the great white marble
mausoleum. Men had admired it. Men
had said, "What pure thing it isl"
And with one single blow Christ sweeps
away the whole face of it, and men look
in upon the fostering, rotten corruption
men that had made long prayers and ao-
counted themselves pious, men that had
been fred with missionary zeal to make
proselytes, men that had worshiped in
the temple and thought themselves re.
ligious because scrupulous as to all rites
and ceremonies, and Christ fastens on
them the sin Of corruption, hypocrisy,
greed, iniquity. He fastens their sins on
them, and makes them see their sins
and makes all the world see them. And
the church has done this since.
The church did this in the age when
Savonarola denounced the corruption of
rotten and decaying oligarchy; the
church did this when Luther fought the
whole scheme Of denominations that cen
tered around the doctrine of indulgences;
did it again when the Puritan preach.
ers thundered against the licentiousness
and corruption Of the rotten court of
Charles IL; did it in our own land when
in this very pulpit there stood the man
who cried: Land of the free and home
Of the brave? No, land of the slave and
home of the cowardp If there had not
been men in that time to fasten the sin
Of slavery on the nation, and the sin Of
cowardice ON men that would not see
and refused to speak, the nation would
not have been emanUipated. If there had
not been thunder in the pulpit in 1850,
there would not have been thunder from
the guns of Grant in 1864.
Now, do you think that the time has
gone by for that; that there is no longer
needed power in the pulpit that shall
thunder on men, Christ that shall
walk upon the earth and fasten sins up
on men, In this age, in our time? Ask
society, where men and women come be-
fore the altar and plight their troth to
one another and then go straightway
out to Dakota and seek divorce and re-
marry. Ask literature, which paints
adultery as though 1t were love, and lust
as though it were affection. Ask tho
theater, which dishonors womanhood on
the stage, which ought to glorify her
Ask politics. Ask our own state, where
partisanship has stuffed the ballot box
in Gravesend, has wrought systematio
blaokmail in New York, has robbed the
mails in Albany and has committed
murder in Troy.
Do you remember the story of "The
Scarlet Letter, that letter ON the breast
Of the woman who was an outcast? Ev.
erywhere she went it said: "Harlotl
Harlotl Harloti" l sometimes wish an
angel could go through American soci.
ETY. and take this man that sits in his
shop and deals out death and coins his
money out Of the poverty and early
graves Of widows and daughters and
put on his breast, Murderer. I" And this
man who has made his wealth, not by
honest industry Of brain or Drawn, but
by skillful filchiDg of other mems pock.
cts by ways which other men call legiti-
mate, and write on his breast "Thief. I"
And call this woman out who hides be-
hind a smiling face an envious and hat.
Ing heart and write ON her breast
Liar" And call this preacher out that
breaches doctrines he does not believe
and write ON his breast "Hypocrite. I"
We need church that shall fasten on
men their sins.
Chri IS Work.
But If Christ did this he did it al
ways that he might take the sin away.
He made men soc the iniquity to which
their eyes were blinded that they might
be purified from il. He did not always
take away the penalty. When the wom-
an that was sinner knelt at his feet and
wiped the tears away with her hair and
he said, "Go in peace; thy sins are for
given thee, b" do you suppose she went
back into society," Do You suppose the
hands that had been held back were
now outstretohed to receive her? AS long
as she lived she bore the penalty of her
fall unless society then was something
very different from what it has been
since that time
Christ does not come to take away our
penalty--that sometimes goes and some
times stays; he comes TO do much
greater and better thing--he comes to
take away the sin, 70 put into the heart
such fire Of enthusiasm that the fisher
man leaves his nets behind him and con-
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