The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-05-06

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of you have once enjoyed happy days
in the service of Christ. Once your
voice was heard In prayer and praise
among Gods people. Once you sang
with young converts "Oh happy day,
when Jesus washed my sins away"
You were once active In Christian work.
You were man of prayer. But you
have been taken away as Il captive.
You were conquered by Satan, the
world, or your sinful heart and now
you are an exile in strange land
You live in scrvitude to evil propensites
and bad habits You are slave to
lust and unbelief. You keep company
with unbelievers You suffer the pun
ishments of backsllders. How a wan
derer regrets. at times, spiritual bar
renness! Backsliders are never happy.
They know that they have fallen from
a great height of joy and usefulness
"Of all sad words of tongue or pen.
the saddest are these II might 1t might
have been" The wanderer has wasted
many years of usefulness. He has been
sowing pernicious seed. His influence
has been injurious to the cause of
Christ. He has injured the church
more than scofflng iniidels! There is
a great army of prodigals. They have
left their Fathers house, the church.
and have become spiritual paupers In
a strange land. In their captivity they
often have regrets FOR the past. 1t Is
true of many backsliders of today. by
the qivers of Babylon there we sat
down, yea, we wept, when we remem-
bered Zion"
Language of the Unsnvcd.
This sad refrain Is also the language
of those who had Christian homes, but
still they are unsaved. Many who are
not Christians today had wonderful
mothers John Quincy Adams said
"All that ! am my mother made me-"
Some of you remember kneelng, as
child at your mothers knee, to pray.
You were fought to pray in youth, al
though you do not pray now. Your
mothers influence was like an angels
smile. Her daily life was full of little
sacrifices for your happiness. And
still her prayers are unanswered. You
do not love and serve your mothers
God Some of you had a godly father.
You remember a family altar. and his
prayers and counsels. He is in heaven
tonight.
You saw him die. You stood at the
bedside and promised to meet him in
heaven But you are still ''in iniquity."
Some of you had Christian Sunday
school teachers. pastors and friends
who sought your salvation. But you
grieved the Holy Spirit and you are
still unsaved. You often regret these
wasted years. You are in captivity to
unbelief, procrastination. cowardce,
hard heart When you think of your
childhood in a Christian home and the
old church you long to become as true
a Christian as your mother was The
psalmist expresses the language of
your heart: by the rivers of Babylon.
there we sat down, yea, we wept, when
we remembered Zion" May your god
ly sorrow work true repentance.
Nota Congcnial Place.
Worldly society Is no congenial place
for soul thirsting for God The sim
full joys of the world cannot satisfy the
longing of a penitent sinner. Ungodly
society has no sympathy for back
slider or prodigal. The world ridicules
a man under conviction for sin. This
was true in Babylon. The Chaldeans
mocked the Jews in their sorrow. They
asked these captives to sing their sa-
cred songs at their idolatious banquets
For there they that carried us away
captive required of US song; and they
that wasted us required of us mirth.
saying, Sing us one of the songs of
Zion" The prosecuted Hebrews an
swered their mocking captors, How
shall we sing the Lords song in a
strange land?" Sinners love to jest
about holy things. Texts of Scripture
are quoted in sport. Sacred hymns are
turned into travesty. Sacred things are
ridiculed in jest. But these penitent
Hebrews in their captivity had still
love and reverence for holy things.
They would not profane a beautiful
melody of Zion by singing it at a
heather feast. They hung their sweet
harps upon the willows in their grief.
They who could sing as freemen on the
banks of the Jordan could not sing at
pagan feasts on the banks of the
Euphrates. They who had chanted the
magnificent psalms as Lentes in the
temple at Jerusalem would not sing
these beautiful melodies of worship in
the temple of Bel at Babylon This
heather temple was eight stories high.
towering over 600 feet high, and yet its
walls should never reverberate with the
songs of Zion from their lips. If you
had a Christian home, reverence your
mothers God and her religion even in
a sinful world, although you are not a
Christian. Many who had praying
mothers and goldly fathers, yet profane
Gods name and the sacred day of the
Sabbath.
Loyalty VIII De Rewarded.
Loyalty to God will be rewarded. In
these seventy years of captivity many
of the Jews became rich and prosper
Gus in Babylon. They loved Babylon
and her idolatry. They never returned
to the Holy Land. But there was q
faithful remnant who never forgot God
and their native land. They never
would swear allegiance to the heather
god Bel of the Chaldeans. King John
H. of France, as an exile in England,
could not be merry at a tournament,
and quoted: "How shall we sing the
Lords song in a strange land" Dur
ing all these dark years Of exile and
slavery they We're true to their God.
When Cyrus the Great issued his decree
allowing the Jews to return to Pales-
tine there were thousands who re-
turned in gladness and joy to Jerusa-
lem. Nehemiah was such loyal ser
want of Jehovah.
He said to the king of Babylon, why
should not my countenance be sad
when the city, the place of my fathers
sepulcher, lieth waste, and the gates
thereof are consumed with fre?' Such
loyal souls said in true patriotism and
religious zeal, "If ] forget thee, o
Jerusalem, let my right hand forget
its cunning; If / do not remember
thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof
of my mouth; If I prefer not Jerusa-
lem above my chief joy" Such fidelity
to God Is always rewarded. The sacred
city must ever be first in their thoughts,
the queen of their souls. There are in
music two unisons: If you strike one,
you shall perceive the other to stir, as
If 1t were affected. So one faithful soul
can stir another to fidelity) These
faithful ones could not be fiattered or
ridiculed or frightened out of their re-
lgion. They persevered In trials and
prosecutions In wicked and pagan
Babylon until they were permitted to
clean and rebuild the temple and Jeru-
salem. What gratitude and praise
there were among these exiles when