Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1896-04-11

drums last night. ana .iohn Wesley sau.
THANK God. the whole catalogue is now
complete l have been charged with cv-
crythug hat ilint Ills followers were
hontcd 10 and mnligucd and called hy cv.
cry d,tc>tahlc name that informal ingenuity
could invent. but the hotter the prrsccu-
tipu The mere rapidly they spread. until
yuu know what "a great host they have bc
come and what tremendous force for
God and the truth they are WEDDING all
The world ovrr. II was persecution that
gave Scotland To- Prrsbytcriansm. Ii was
persecution that gave our land first Ia civil
liberty and aitcrWar1 Ia religious freedom.
Yea, | might - farther hack and say IL
was persecution that gave the world tho
great salvation OF the gospel. The rihald
MuCkcry. the hungering and thirSting,
the unjust charge, the ignominious death,
when all the force of hell fury was hurled
against the cross was the Introduction uf
that religion which Is vet To- bc the carth's
drliNcraureand our eternal salvation The
state sometimes said to the church, Come,
take my hand. and | will help YOU"
back and IL lost its estate OF holiness, and
il became Ineffective Al other times the
state said to the church, II will crush
YOU. What has been the result! After
the storms have spent their fury the
church. 50 far from having lost any OF its
force, has increased and i worth infinitely
more after the assault than before. Read
all history, and you will find that true
The church j. far more indebted To the OPP
position of civil government than To its
approval The fires nf the stake have only
been the torches which Christ held in his
hand, hy the light of which the church has
marched tu her present glorious position.
In the sound Of racks and implements "
torture hear the rumbling Of the gospel
chariot. The scaffoldS of martyrdom have
been the stairs hy which the church
mounted.
sin Exposes Itself.
Learn also from our subject that sin will
como to exposure. Long, long ago hal
those brothers sold Joseph into Egypt.
They had made the old father believe that
his favortc child was dead. They had sup
pressed the crime, and il was profound
secret well kept by the brothers. But sud
denly the secret Is out. Tho old father
hears that his son is in Egypt, having been
sold there by the malice of his own broth
ers How their cheeks must have burned
and their hearts sunk at the flaming ont OF
this long suppressed crime. The smallest
iniquity has II thousand tongues, and they
will blah out exposure. Saul was sent to
destroy the CanaanitcS, their sheep and
their oxen. but when he got down there
among the pastures he saw some fine sheep
and oxen too fat Ia kill, 80 he thought he
would steal thcm. Nobody would know IL.
He drove these stolen sheep and oxen to-
ward home, but stopped to report to the
/ prophet how hc had executed his mission,
/ when in the distance the sheep began TO
/ blcat and the oxen Ia below. The secret
WAS ont. and samuel said 10 the hlushing
/ and confused saul What mcancth the
/ hlcaiing OF the sheep that | hear and the
! believing Of the cattle All, my nearer,
1 you cannot keep an iniquity still At just
4 the wrong time the sheep will blcat and
i the oxen will below. Achan cannot steal
/ the Haby!oniSh garment without being
/ stoned 10 death nor Arnold betray his
/ country without having his neck stretched.
+ Look over the police arrests. These thieves,
4 these burglars, these countcrfciicrs, these
+ highwaymen, these assassins. they all
+ thought they could bury their iniquity so
J
rcciipn hut there WAS some shoe that
answered to the print in the soil, some
false KEYS found in their possession. some
i bloody knife that whispered Of the DEATH
and the puhlic Indignation and the anath-
cma uf outraged law hurled them into the
1 dungeon or hoisied them ON the gallowS.
Francis |. kinE uf France, stood counsel
4 ing with his officers how he could take his
/ army into Italy, when Amcril, the fool Of
the court. lcapcd out from corner of the
room ANA said. "You had better be con-
sul,ing how you will get your army back, Z"
4 and il WAS found that Francis !. and not
4 Amcril. WIS the fool Instead of consult
4 ing a. TO the best way Of getting into sin,
you had better consult rs To whether you
will be- able To get ont OF it, II the world
does not cxpnsu You. you will tell it your
self There j. an awful power in an aroused
conscience. y h.ghwayman plunged out
1 upon Whiicfcld ~ hc rode along on horse
1 back, a sack of money on the horse-money
! that he had raised for orphan asylums-
] and the highwayman put his hand on the
gold, and Whtciicld turned To him and
said: Touch that If you dare, That be-
] longs TO the Lord Jesus Christ" And the
ruilian skunk into the forest. Conscience!
4 Conscience, The ruiiian had Il pistol, but
Whitciirld shook at him the finger Of
doom. Do not think you can hide any
great and protractcd sin in your heart, my
brother In an unguardcd moment IL will
/ slip off the lip or some slight action may
for the moment set ajar this door that you
wanted la keep closed But suppose that
in this life you hide il, and you get along
1 with this transgression burning in your
heart, rs ship on fire within for days
/ binders the flames from bursting out by
keeping down the matches. yet mt last in
the Judgment that iniquity will blaze out
before God and the universe.
One Mighty Plan.
Learn also from this subject that there
is an inseparablc 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. How far apart seemed these two
cvcnts-.Ioseph sold tn the Arabian mer-
chants and his rulership Of Egypt, yet you
see in what n mysterious way God con-
ncctcd the TWO into one plan. 50 the events
are linked together. You who arc aged
men look back and group together u thou
sand things in your life that once seemed
isolated. One undivided chain of events
reaches from the garden Of Eden to the
cross Of Calvary and thus up TO the king
dom Of heaven. There is n 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 10 some one Of the flock of birds
which, when Noah hoistcd the ark's win
dow, with whir and dash Of bright
wings went out to sing over Mount Ararat.
The tulips that bloom in the garden this
spring We're nurscd by the snowflakcs.
The farthest star on one side OF the universe
could not look toward the fariheSt star
on the other side Of the universe and say,
You are no relation To me, = for from
that bright orb voice Of light would ring
across the heavens, responding. YES yes,
we are sisters. Nothing in Gods uni
verse swings al loose ends Accidents are