The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-07-01

IN these times. Ihey Stlr INTO tue aclQ DeV
erage Of life the saccharine. They make thu
cup of earthly existence, which IS sometime!
stale, etfervesce and bubble. They placatt
| animosities. They foster longevity. They
slay folies and absurdities which all the ser
mons of all the pulpits cannot reach.
They have for examples Elijah, who made
fun of the Baalites when they called down
fire, and it did not come, suggesting that
their heather god had gone hunting. or was
| off on journey, or was asleep. and nothing
| but vociferation could wake him. saying
Cry aloud for he is god. Either he Is
talking or pursuing or peradventure be
sleepeth and must be awaked." They have
! al example in Christ. who with healthful
sarcasm showed up the lying, hypocritical
Pharlsees by suggesting that such perfect
people like themselves needed no improve.
ments, saying. ''Tce whole need not ply
sician but they that are sick
But what use are you making OF your wit!
Is it besmirched with profanity and unclear-
ness? Do you employ it In amusement at
physical Gefecrs for which the victims are
not responsible? Are your powers OF nlui-
icry used to put religion in contempt! Is IL
bunch of nettlesome invective? lsit oolt
of unjust scorn? Is it fun at others misfor,
tune? Is it gee at their rdisappointmenta ana
defeat? Is it bitterness put drop oy crop
into cup! Is it like the squeezing OF Ar
tenisia absinthium into a draueht al
ready puncant? Then you are the star
Wormwood Yours is the fun of rattle
snake trying how well 1t can sting. tits the
fun of hawk trying how quickly 1t can
strike out the eye OF dove.
But will change this and suppose you are
star of Worldly Prosperity. Then you
have large opportunity. You can encourage
that artist by buying his picture. You can
improve the fields, the stables, the highway,
by introducing higher style of fowl and
horse and COW and sheep. You can bless the
world with pomo!ogical achievement in the
orchards. You can advance arboriculture
and arrest this deathful icoaoclasm of the
American forests. You can put piece OF
sculpture into the niche of that public
academy. You can endow college. You
can stocking thousand bare feet from the
winter frost. You can build a church. You
can put q missionary OF Christ on that
foreign shore. You can help ransom world.
rich man with his heart right-can you
tell me how much good James Lenox or a
George Peabody or Peter Cooper or a
William E. Dodge did while living or IS
doing now that he is dead? There is not a
city. town or neighborhood that has not
glorious specimens OF consecrated wealth.
But suppose yon grind the face OF the
poor. Suppose when mans wages are due
you make him wait for them because he can
not help himself. Suppose that. because his
family is sick and he has had extra expenses,
he should politely ask you to raise his wages
for this year and you roughly tell him II he
wants better place to go and get It, Sup
pose by your manner you act rs though he
were nothing and you werecverythinS. Sup
pose you are selfish and overbearing and ar
roSant. Your first name ought 70 be Attila
and your last name Attila, because you are
the star Wormwood, and you have lmblrtered
one-third if not three-thirds OF tho waters
that roll past your employees and operatives
and dependents and associates, and the long
line Of carriages which the undertaken orders
for your funeral, in order to make the oeca-
sion respectable, will be filled with twice as
many dry, fearless eyes as there are persons
occupying them.
There is an erroneous idea abroad that
there are only few geniuses. There are
millions OF them-that is, men and women
who have especial adaptation and quicknesS
for some one thing. 1t may be great; it may
be small. The circle may be like the circum-
ference of the earth or no larger than thlm.
bic. There are thousands OF genluses. and
in some one thing you are star. What
kinG of star are you! You will be in this
world but few minutes. As compared with
eternity the stay Of the longest life on earth
is not more than minute. What are We
doing with that minute9 Are we imbittering
the domestic or social or political fountains,
o. are we like Moses, who, when the Israelites
in the wilderness complained that the waters
OF Lake Marah we're bitter and they could
not drink them, cut of the branch OF GER
tain tree and threw that branch into the
water, and it became sweet and slaket the
thirst of the suffering host? Are we with q
branch OF the Tree Of Life swceteninS all the
braekish fountains that we can touch3
Dear Lord, send Us all out ON that mission.
All around US imbittered livcs-imbit-
tered by prosecution. imbittered by hyper
criticism, imbittered by poverty, in
bittered by pain, imbittered by injustice,
imbittered by sin. Why not go forth and
sweeten them by smile, by inspiring words.
by bene:actions, by hearty counsel, by prayer,
by gospelized behavior Let US remember
that if we are wormwood to others we are
wormwood to ourselves, and our life will be
bitter and our eternity bltterer. The gospel
Of Jesus Christ is tho only sweetening power
that is sufficient. It sweetens the DISPOSE
tion. II sweetens the manners. 1. sweetens
life. 1t sweetens mysterious providences.
II sweetens Affections. 1t sweetens death
1t sweetens everything. I have heard peo-
Die asked in social company. IF you could
have three wishes gratiled what would your
thre. wishes be2" If could have three
wishes met this morning. tell you what
they would be: /. More Of the grace Of God.
2. More Of the grace Of God. 8. More OF the
grace OF God. In the dooryard OF my
Brother John. missionary in Annoy, China,
there was q tree called the emperor tree, the
.wo characteristics of which are that It al
WAYS grows higher than its surround
ings. and its leaves take the form OF
crown. If this emperor tree be planted
BY rosebush, II grows little higher
than the bush and spreads out above II
crown. II it be planted by the side OF an
other tree, 1t grows little higher than that
tree and spreads above it q crown. Would
God that this religion Of Christ. more Won
derful emperor tree, might oversha1ow all
your lives! Are you lowly in ambition or
circumstance, putting over you It's crown?
Are YOU high in talent and position, putting
over you Its crown? Oh, for moro OF the
saccaarine in our lives and less Of the worm
wood!
What is true of individuals is true OF ne
tious. God sets them upto revolve as stars,
but they may fall wormwood.
Tyre, the atmosphere of tho desert, fra
grant with spices, coming in caravans to her
fairs, all seas cleft into foam by tho keels OF
her laden merchantmen, her markets rich
with horses and camels from Togarmah, her
bazaars filled with upholstery from Dedan,
with emerald and coral and agate from
SYRIA, with wines from Helbon, with en-
broidered work from Ashur and Chilmad
Where now the CLEAN OF her towers, where
the roar OF her chariots. where the masts OF
her ships? Let the fishermen who dry their
nets VII. re once she stood, let the sea that
rushes upon the parrenness where once she
challenged the admiration Of all nations, let
the barbarians who set their rude tents
where once her palaces glittered. answer
the question. She was star, but by her
own Sin turned to wormwood and has fallen.
Hundred gated Thebes, for all time to be
the study of the antiquarian and hlerogly-
phist, her stupendous ruins spread over q
miles her snnlntnraS nreSantinC in figures OF