Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1896-04-25

pest time vi all cur life. You see We ART 10
be happy together forever. BE brave now.
for Ye shall soon ne IN the kingdom OF our
Father together Persecution shows tue
heroes and heroines. | 90 into ano'ner oe-
] partment. and l find that those great DE-
nominations Of Christians which have Deen
| most abused have spread the most rapidly.
No good man was ever more violently
rnaltreated than John Wesley-bel1ed and
caricatured and slandered until one day he
stood in q pulpit in London. and a.. MAJ
arose in the audience and said. You were
drunk last night and John wesley SAID;
Thank God. the whole catalogue Is Tow
complete. have been cha-ced@Hith every
thing but that His followers were hooted
II and ma!ignei aud called by every de-
testable name that internal Ingenuity could
invent. but the hotter the persecution the
more rapidly they spread until you know
what a great host they have become and
what a tremendous force for God and the
truth they are welding the world over. 1t
was persecution that gave Scotland to
Presbyterianism. 1t was persecution that
gave our land first TO civil liberty and after
ward to religious freedom. Yea. l might go
farther back and say it was persecution that
gave the world the great salvation Of the
gospel. The ribald mocaery. the hI1gerin2
and thirsting. the unjust charge. the
iSnominious death. when all the force OF
helIs fury was hurled against the cross. was
the Introduction OF that religion which is
yet to be the earth's deliyerance and our
eternal salvation. The State sometimes said
10 the church. Come. take my hand. and l
will help You" What was the result? The
church went lack. and il lost its estate OF
holiness. and it became Ineffective. At other
times the State said TO the church. Il with
crush YOU What has been the result?
After the storms have spent their fury the
church. SO far from having lost any of its
az voc nar1ocol or1 ~ 1N~ SuHr.{olv,
moro after the assault than before. Read
all history and you will 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 [
hear the rumbling of the gospel chariot.
The scafolds Of martyr1om have taen the
stairs by which the church mounted.
Learn also from our subject that sin will
coTne to exposure. Long. long ago had those
brothers sold Joseph into Egypt. They had
made the old father believe that his favorite
child was dead. They had suppressed the
crime. and it was a profound secret we'll kept
by the brothers. But suddenly the secret is
out. The old father hears that his son is in
Egypt. having been sold there by the malice
Of his own brothers. How their cheeks must
| rave DuEIltd tlu luplE III Sulh i'll IL
flaming out Of this long suppressed crime.
The smallest iniquity has a thousand
tongues. and they will blab out exposure.
| Saul was sent 70 destroy the Canaanit2s.
their sheep and their oxen. but when he got
Gown there among the pastures he saw some
fine sheen and oxen too fat to kill. so lie
tholgilt he would steal them. Nobody
would know It. He drove these stolen
sheer and oxen toward home, bat stopped
to renort to the prophet how ne had exc
cuted his mission. when in the distance the
sheep began to hleat and the oxen to below.
The secret was out, and Samuel said to the
blusllins and confused Saul: what mean
eth the b!eatins Of the sheep that I hear and
the believing Of the c~attle?" All. my nearer,
you cannot keep an iniquitv still. At lust
the wrong time the sheep will bleat and the
oxen will below. Achan cannot steal the
B~abylOnish garment without being stoned
to death. nor Arnold betray his country
without having bis neck stretched. Look
over the police arrests. These thieves.
these burglars. these counterfeiters. these
highwaymen, these assassins. they all
thought they could bury their iniqui:y
SO deep down it would never come to res
direction, but there WAS some shoe that an
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 hOlSred them on the gailOWs.
Francis r.. king OF France. stood counsel
ing with his officers how be could take his
,rniy into Italy. when Ameril, the fool of
he court. leaped out from u corner OF the
room and said: "You had better be consult
ing how you will get your army back" And
it was found that Francis l., and not Ameril,
was the fool. Instead of consulting as to
he best way Of getting into sin. you had
better consult as to whether You will be able
TO get out of il. II the world does not ex-
pose You. you will tell it yourself. There is
an awful power in an aroused conscience.
a h'ghwaymaa plunged out upon White
field as ne rode along on horseback, a sack
Of money on the ~horse-moEey that he had
raised for orphan aSyiums-aDd the high
Wayman Int his hand Or the gold, and
Whitefield turned to him and said: "Touch
that if you dare; that belongs to the Lord
Jesus Christ And the ruflan slunk into
The forest. Conscience: Conscience! This
rIffian had a pistol. hut Whiteneld shook at
aim the lnger OF doom. 90 not think you
IAN hide any great ard protracted sin in your
heart. ny brother. In an unSuardcd mo-
ment it will slip oil the lip, or some slight
action may forthe moment set aiar this dool
that You wanted 10 Keen closed. But sup
pose that III this life YOU hide il. and you ge
dong with this transCrasSiOn burning il
v9ur heart. "a u ship on fire within for day:
hinir,s the flames from bursting out b,
| kce,'!a: down the matches. We. at last in tn
judgment that iniquity viii b.a-e out befor
God amt the univerr.
Learn also from this subject that there i
an iaseparaola connection hetveen al
events. however remote. The universe i
+ ontv one thought If God. Those thing
/. which seemed fragmentarv and isolated ar
i only different paris of that great thought
: How iar apart seemed these two events-JO
: seDh sold to.the Arabian merchants and hi
! ru.er.hip OF Egypt-yet you see in what
: mysterious way God connected the two int
one plan. SO the events are linked togethe!
/: You who are aged men look back and grou
2 together Il thousand things IN your life tia
| o-ce seemed isolated. One undivided Goa;
/ Of events reaches from the garden OF Eide
q 10 the cross OF Calvary. and thus up to til
r kingdom OF heaven. There is a relation tt
: tween the smallest insect that huns in tn
summer air and the archaDgel on his throne
4 Gat can trace Il direct ancestral lin
4 from the blue jay tha. this spring wi
: b3i!d its nest III the tree behind ii
) house TO some one Of the flock of bir5
J. which. when Noah hoistelthe ARK window
/ with a whir and a dasn OF bright wing
yeLt out ID sing over Mount Ararat. Ii
Il iullnS that bloom in the car1en this sprin
u We're nur-ed BY the .nowGakeS. The farthe+