Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1896-04-24

truth they are welding the Worlu over: Il
was persecution that gave Scotland Il
Presbyteranism. 1t was persecution ina
gave our land first to civil liberty aud alter
ward to religious freedom. Yea. might &c
farther back and say it was persecution thai
gave the world the great salvation OF the
gospel. The ribald mockery, the hungerlnp
and thirsting, the unjust charge, the
lgnominious death, when all the force Oh
hell's fury was hurled against the cross, was
the introduction of that religion which IL
vet to he the earth's delverance and our
eternal salvation. The State sometimes said
to the church, "Come. take my hand. and
will help you." What was the result2 The
church went rack. and 1t lost its estate OIL
holiness, aud it became Ineffective. At other
times the State said to the church, II will
crush you." What has been the result2
After the storms have spent their fury the
church, so far from having lost any of Its
force, has increased aud Is worth infinitely
moro after the assault than before. Read
all history and you wiz find that true. The
| church is far more indebted to the opposition
OF civil government than to its approval.
The fires Of the stake have only been the
torches which Christ held In His hand. by
the light OF which the church has marched
to her present glorious position. In the
sound OF racks and implements OF torture
| neur tue TuUlDllDR Vi luo HO5p0l
| The scaffolds OF martyrlom have been the
stairs by which the church mounted
Learn also from our subject thet sin will
come TO exposure. Long, long ago had those
brothers sold Joseph into Egypt. They had
made the oil | father believe that his favorte
child was dead. They hal suppressed the
crime, and 1t was profound secret well kept
| by the brothers. But suddenly the secret Is
| ont. The old father hears that his son IL In
| Egypt, having been sold there by the malice
| of his own brothers. How their cheeks must
| have burned and their hearts sunk at the
flaming out of this long suppressed crime.
The smallest iniquity has thousand
tongues, and they will blab out exposure
Saul was sent to destroy the Guarantees,
their sheep and their oxen, but when he got
down there among the pastures he saw some
fine sheep and oxen too fit to kill. so he
thought he would steal them. Nobody
woulI know IT, He drove these stolen
sheer and oxen toward home, but stopped
to report to the prophet how he had exc
cuted his missioD when in the distance the
sheep began to bleat and tho oxen to below.
The secret was out, and Samuel said to the
blushinG an confused Saul: "Wbat mean
eth the bIeating OF the sheep that hear and
the believing o the cattle2" All. my nearer,
you cannot keep an iniqulty still. At Just
the wrong time the sheep will bleat and the
oxen will below. Achan clnnot steal the
Babylonsh garment without being stoned
to death, nor Arnold be;ray his country
without having his neck stree ched. Look
over the police arrests. These thieves.
these burglars. these counterfeters, these
'hghwaymeu, these assassins, they ali
thought they could bury their in.qutiy
so deep down it would never come to res
| nj xUQQ that
swered to the print in the soil, some false
KEYS found in their possession, some bloody
knife that whispered of the death. and the
public Indignation and the anathema OF
outraged law hurled them into the dungeon
or hoisted them on tho gallows
Francis J., king OF France. stood counsel
ing with his officers how he could take his
army into Italy, when Ameril, the fool of
the court. leaped out from a corner OF the
room and said: "You had better be consult
ing how you will get your army back" And
1t was found that Francis l., and not Amerll,
was the fool. Instead of consulting as to
the best way of getting into sin, you had
better consult as to whether you will be able
to get out of 1t. II the world does not ex-
pose you, you will tell it yourself. There is
an awful power in an aroused conscience.
A highwayman plunged out upon White
field as he rode along on horseback, sack
of money on the horse-money that he had
raised for orphan asylums and the high
wayman put his hand on the gold, and
Whiteheld turned to him and said: "Touch
that il You dare; that belongs to the Lord
Jesus Christ" And the ruffian SUNK into
the forest. Conscience! Conscience! The
rufflan had p stol, but Whiteaeld shook at
him the finger OF doom. Do not think you
can hide any great and protracted sin in your
bot In, nO11n rdQ m n
ment it will slip off the lip, or some slight
action may for the moment set ajar this door
that you wanted TO keep closed. But sup
pose that in this life you hide 1t, and you get
along with this transgression burning in
your heart, as ship on fire within for days
hindels the flames from bursting out by
keeping down the hatches yet at last in the
Judgment that iniquity will blaze out before
God aud the univere.
Learn also from this subject that there Is
an inseparable connection between all
events, however remote. The universe is
only one thought of God. Those things
which seemed fragmentary and Isolated are
Only different parts OF that great thought.
seph sold to the Arabian merchants and his
rulership OF Egypt-yet you see in what
mysterious way God connec. ed the two into
one plan So the events are linked together.
You who are aged men lock back and group
together thousand things in your life that
occe seemed isolated. One undivided chain
of events reaches from the garden of Eden
to the cross Of Calvary, and thus up to the
kingdom Of heaven. There is relation be-
tween the smallest insect that huns in the
summer air and the archangel on his throne.
God can trace direct ancestral line
from the blue jay that this spring will
build its nest in the tree behind the
house to some one of the flock Of birds
which. when Noah hoisted the arks window,
with a whir and dash OF bright wings,
went out to sing over Mount Ararat. The
tulips that bloom in the garden this spring
were nursed by the saowiakes. The farthest
star on one side of the universe could not
look toward the farthest star on the other
side OF the universe and say, 'You are no
relation to me-" for from that bright orb a
voice of light would ring across the heavens
responding, Eyes, yes, we are sisters" Moth
ing in Gods universe swings ut loose ends.
Accidents are only Gods way of turning
leaf in the book OF His eternal DEGREES. From
our cradle to our grave there is path all
marked out. Each event in our life is con.
nected with every other event in our life.
Our losses may b. the most direct road to
our gain Our defeat and our victory are
twin brothers.
The whole direction of your life was
changed by something which at the time
seemed 10 you trihing. while some occur
renee which seemed tremendous affected you
but little. Gods plans are magnificent be.
yond all comprehension. He moids US and
turns and directs US, and we know it not.
Thousands of years are to Him rs the flight
of shuttle. The most terrific occurrence
does not make God tremble. The most trium.
phant achievement does not lift Him into
rapture That one great thought of God goes