The Newtown bee., 1895-04-19

many saintly christian lives, for 80 much of goodness and purity and truth in the world by remembering that there are many thousands of the christians weak ening, children of men who walk holding on, day by day, to the hand of Jesus Christ, for Jesus Christ never leads us into sin.
 There is also a. great likeness to our modern lives, in the scene where Phar- aoh's host pursue, along the line of the enemies which sap our communal and so- cial life to-day. Why is it that when there are legislative hearings on the sub ject of temperance at our state capitol the | state liquor dealers association is repre- sented by the most crafty lawyers and | the brewers by the best attorneys. Does any one claim that liquor traffic is a ben- eft to the citizens of this state. No sane sensible man, most surely. The saloon business,
 AS EVERY ONE KNOWS,
 IS a harpy preying on the vitals of our young manhood. Tbese saloon keepers are clamoring for laws to help them de- stroy the best interests of our common wealth. They are as the hosts of Phar- aoh with their chariots behind the chil- dren of God. And how they rage and how they destroy to-day. The candi- dates for our state prison take their first degrees in crime under the banners of King Alcohol and the gallows degree from the same imperial potentate. Men are murdered, barns are burned, women are insulted and abused, because rum rules in some mems brains. We vote to legalize and to perpetuate pauperism, crime, distress, wretchedness and social disaster every time we vote to license the rum traffic, the towns of the state ex- poets to vote themselves into affiuence by selling the blood of men and the eter- nal happiness of souls. But I tell you l the curse of God is on liquor selling and | liquor drinking. They may rumble their | beer wagons and their rum casks in the very halls of legislation, but please God ! the day will come when the Red Sea of Gods wrath will swallow up the whole ! business. Then too see what Pharaoh | host of gamblers are after the chil- dren of this question. They come whin- ! ing around our legislators telling them l that they must sell pools at the agricul- tural fairs and be allowed to bet freely | on the races or they cannot afford to trot ! their horses. My brethren, if the im- provement of horsef1esh can only come through gambling hell let us drive OK en forever. What this state needs to look to is not how to improve horsefiesh but how to improve manf1esh. We need | can do mile in 1.59. The safety and purity of my boy is worth more than all
 the horsefesh in the state. He has an
 immortal soul that may be lost forever and whether there IS any eternal value on
 horse souls we don't know. 1 tell you
 when I see these gamblers asking our
 legislature for the privilege of pool sell ing at the fairs in the state 1 feel as though every true man of the state ought to cry out against them until the tumult
 shall drown their appeals forever. We
 cannot afford to set temptation in any
 form before the susceptible youth offthis generation. Cursed be he that putteth
 the bottle to his neighbors lips, lest the bottle contain alcohol or the poison of
 gaming or the draught of vice. Let our legislators care more for souls and purity
 and manhood and less for money! mon- ey money! God will give to our com-
 monwealth the pillar of the cloud of His
 protection by day and the fire of His love
 by night when we seek to do the right if
 we do sacrifice some revenue to attain
 the right. And this leads me to the typ
 ical lesson from that Red sea passage.
 It is that God was watching on His chil-
 dren then and is watching on us still.
 do not suppose that many of those ex-
 slaves thought great deal about
 
 as guiding them. But, dear friends, do
 you and 1 realize the overshadowing pro- tection of our God in the Red sea Of our
 lives. The children of Israel may have
 said "God has left us now. He must
 have forgotten us to make us go down
 there on the damp sand and get our feet
 wet and have the foam of the sea dash about us." So in our troubles we say "God has forsaken us." But God never
 does forsake His children. We have to learn with Southey that atfiiction is not sent in vain from that good God who chastens whom He loves. It seems some. , times, know, as though all our lives , were in the Pi-habiroths, the places where the sedges grow and the marsh :. mud is around our ankles. Life has man ? ], atfiictions. We lose our friends, we are racked with sickness, business is dull and } we feel sick of earth's burdens. But oh beloved, there is eternal hope and cheer 3 in the presence of Jesus Christ and in the love of God. Gods ministries are sweet , est in our greatest sorrows. It is so many 5 times true as Whittier sings
 3 'With silence only as their benediction Gods . angels come,
 Where in the shadow of a. great afiiction tn. soul sits dumb"
 It is just as true for us as it was fol 1 the l2 tribes that in the narrow passage between the water walls of trou bles Goo
 walks with us. We only need to have , our eyes of faith opened to behold thu king in His chariot going beside us al , the way. Let then that Old Testament scene, with all it's typology, appeal tt your hearts to-day. Is life dreary? Art
 hopes faint? Do you distrust in face o
 the waves of trouble? Remember you ] God and my God watches over us. It Ii 5 the Father in His love. It ia the elder brother with His sympathy. It is tn, 5 Saviour in His power who aids us. Fol verify that fine stanza from Keble is sweet truth for us to bear home, "The sun and every vassal star
 All space, beyond the soar ot angel wings, Wait on His word. And yet-He stays His eal For every sigh contrite suppliant brings" Live Farm Topics.