The Penn's Grove record., 1896-04-17

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arose in the audience and said, "1ou HsIo
drunk last night" and John wesley saln:
"Thank God, the whole cafaloRus u no"
complete. have been charged Win every,
thing but that" His followers wero hooteN
at and maligned and called by every oe-
testabIe name that Internal ingenuity cou,d
invent, but the hotter the persecution tne
more rapidly they spread until you Know
what a great host they have become anu
what r tremendous force for God and the
truth they are welding the world over, ~
was persecution that gave Scotland %
Presbyterianism. II was persecution mat
rave our land first to civil liberty and aIter-
ward TO religious freedom. Yea. I might go
farther back and say 1t was persecution tnat
gave the world the great salvation q .ns
gospel. The ribald mockery, the nuhRefinH
and thirsting, the unjust charge. the
ignominious death, when all the force OF
hells fury was hurled against the croes, was
the introduction OF that religion which is
yet to he the earth's deliverance ana our
eternal salvation. The State sometimes saia
to the church, Come. take my n ana l
will help you" What was the result? INT
church went lack. and 1t lost its estate OF
holiness, aud it became Ineffective. At other
times the State said to the church, 81 Will
crush you" What has been the resultP
After the storms have spent their fury the
church, so far from having lost any OF Its
force, has increased and is worth infinitely
more after the assault than before. Head
all history and you will inc that true. The
church is far more indebted tothe 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 tha
sound OF racks and implements OF torture [
hear the rumbling of the gospel chariot.
Tn scaffolds Of martyriom have been the
stairs by which the church mounted.
Learn also from our subject that sin will
come to exposure. Long, long ago had those
brothers sold Joseph into Egypt. They bat
made the old father believe that his iavorita
child was dead. They had suppressed the
erime, and 1t was a profound secret we'll kept
by the brothers. But suddenly the secret Is
out. The old father hears that HIS son " In
Egypt, having been sold there by the inaiice
of his W brothers. How their checks must
have burned and their hearts sunk at the
flaming out Of this long suppressed crime.
The smallest iniquity has a thousand
tongues, and they will blab out exposure.
aul was sent to destroy the Canaanites.
their sheep and their oxen, but when he got
down there among the pastures he saw some
fine sheep and oxen too fat to kill. 50 he
thought he would steal them. Nobo "
would know 1t. He drove these stolen
bbCVE hhu lONhtu hoihp ia ot'RfSN
to report to the prophet how he had exe-
cuted his mission, when in the distance the
sheep began to bleat and the oxen to below.
tt secret was out, and Samuel said to the
blushing and confused Saul: "what mean
eth the bleating Of the sheep that l hear and
the believing OF the ~cattle?" All, my nearer,
you cannot keep an iniquity still. At just
the wrong timethe sheep will bleat and the
oxen will below. Achan cannot steal the
Babyionish garment without being stoned
to death, nor Arnold betray his country
without having his neck stretched. Look
over the police arrests. These thieves.
these burglars. these counterfeiters, these
highwaymen, these assassins, they all
thought they could bury their iniquity
30 deep Town it would never come to res
direction, hut there was som 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 hoisted them on the gsilows.
Francis J., king Of France, stood counsel
ing with his officers how he could take his
army into Italy, when Ameril, the fool Of
room and said: you had better be consult
ing how you viii get your army back" And
1t was found that Francis l., and not Ameril,
was the fool. Instead OF consulting as to
the best way of getting into sin, you had
better consult rs to whether you will be able
to get out OF it. II the world does not ex-
pose you, you will tell 1t yourself. There Is
an awful power in an aroused conscience.
A highwaYman plunged out upon White
field as he rode along on horseback, a sack
of money on the horse-money that he had
raised for orphan asylums aud the high
wayman put his HAND on the gold, and
Whitefield turned to him and said: 'Touch
khaf 40 x,n.t darn. that halrnra IN tha I Nrd
Jesus Christ" And the ruf1an skunk into
the forest. Conscience! Conscience! The
rufian had a pistol, but Whitefeld shook at
him the finger OF doom. Do not think you
can hide any great and protracted sin In your
heart, my brother. In an unguarded mo-
ment 1t will slip of the lip, or some slight
action may forthe moment set ajar this door
that you wanted to keep closed. But sup
pose that in this life you hide II, and you get
along with this transgression burning In
your heart, as a ship on fire within for days
hindeis the flames from bursting out by
keeping down the matches, yet at last in the
Judgment that tniquity will blaze out before
God and the univere.
Learn also from this subject that there Is
an tnseparable connection between all
events, however remote. The universe is
only one thought of God. Those things
which seemed fragmentary and isolated nre
only different parts OF that great thought.
How far apart seemed these two events-Jo-
seph sold to the Arabian merchants and his
rulership OF Egypt-yet you see in what a
mysterious way God connec, ed the " into
one plan. So the events are linked together.
You who are aged men look back and group
together a thousand things in your life that
ocee seemed isolated. One undivided c ,ain
OF events reaches from the garden of Eden
to the cross of Calvary, and thus up to the
kingdom Of heaven. There is a relation be-
tween the smallest insect that huns in the
summer mir and the archangel on his throne.
God can trace a direct ancestral line
from the blue jay that this spring will
build its nest in the tree behind the
house 20 some one of the fock OF birds
| which, when Noah hoisted the ark's window,
with a whir and a dash of bright wings,
went out to sing over Mount Afarat. The
tuiips that bloom in the garden this spring
were nursed by the snowfiakes. The farthest
star on ono side OF the universs couii 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 arr sisters" Moth
ing in God's universe swings ut loose ends.
Accidents are only Goi's way OF turning a
leaf In the book of His eternal DEGREES. From
our cradle to our grave there Is a path ali
| marked out. Each event in our life Is con.
| nected with every other event in our life.
J Our losses may be the most direct road to
| our gain. Our defeat and our victory are
twin brothers.
The whole direction of your life wa.
changed BY something which at the time
seemed to you trihing, while some occur
| renee which seemed tremendous affected you
| but little. Gods plans are magnificent be.
| yond all comprehension. He molds us and
turns and direc,s US, and We know il NOT.
Thousands OF years are to Him as the fight
| OF a shuttle. TIN most terrific occurrence
does not make God tremble. The most Irium.
phant achievement does not lift Him into
rapture. That one great thought OF God goes
| out through the centuries, and Nations rise
and fall, and eras pass, and the worii
| changes, but God still keeps the undiyide /
| mastery, linking event to event and century
| TO century. To God they are all one event,
one history, one plan, one development. QUE
! cs,em. Great and marvellous are Thy works,
iLorI God Almighty l was years 9 In
New Orleans at the exposition rooms, when
I Telegram was sent to the President OF This
limited States. at Washington, and we waited
some fifteen or twenty minutes. and then the
president's answer came back, a the pre-
siding officer waved his handkerchief. and
/ The signal was sent to Washington that We
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