Milford chronicle., 1896-04-17

ness sake, for theirs is tho Kingdom OF
heaven" but they do not realize the fact
that his principle applies 10 worldly as
well as spiritual success. tt is true in all
departments. Men rise to high official
positions through misrepresentation. Pub
lie abuse is all that some Of our public
men have had to rely upon for their eleya-
ton. 1t has brought to them what talent
and executive forco could not have achiey-
ed. Many Of those who are making great
effort for place and power will never sue
ceed just because they arc not of enough
importance TO be abused. It is the nature
of mon-that is, Of all generous and rea-
sonablo men-to gather about those who
are prosecuted and defend them, and they
are apt to forget tho fault of those who are
the subjects of attack while attempting to
drive back tho slanderers. Persecution Is
elevation. Helen Stirk the Scotch mar
tyr, standing with her husband at the
place of execution, said: Husband, lot us
rejoice today We have lived together many
happy years. This is the happicst time Of
all our life You see we are to be happy
together forever BE bravo now-be brave.
/ will not say Good nightr to you, for we
shall soon be in the kingdom of our Father
together" Persecution shows the horoes
and hero:nes. go into another depart
ment, and find that those great denomi-
nations of Christians which have been
most abused have spread the most rapidly
No good man was ever more violently
maltreated than John Wesley-belied and
caricatured and slandervd, until one day
he stood in IA pulpit in London, and man
arose in tho audience and said So You were
drunk last night" and John Wesley saidi
"Thank God, the whole catalogue IS now
completed 1 have been charged with CIV
erything but that" His followers were
hooted at and maligned and called by ov-
cry detestable name that internal ingenuity
could invent, but the hotter the perseou-
ton the more rapidly they spread, until
you know what a great host they have be-
come and what a tremendous force Tor
God and tho truth they are welding all
the world over. It was persecution that
gave Scotland to PFesbyterianism. 1t was
persecution that gave our land first to civil
liberty and nfterward tn religious freedom,
Yea, l might go farther back and say It
was persecution that gave the world the
great salvation of tho gospel. The ribald
mockery, the hnngoring and thirsting,
the unjust charge, the ignominious death,
when all the force of hel's fury was hurled
against the cross WIS the Introduction OF
that religion which is yet to be the earth s
deliveranec and our eternal salvation. The
state sometimes said to the church, Como,
take my hand, and l will help you.
What was the RESULT The church went
back. and It lost its estate OF holiness, and
it became Ineffective. At other times the
state said to the church, Il will crush
YOU" What has been tho resUltY 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. Read
all history, and you will find that true.
The church is far more indebted to tho OPP
position of civil government than to It's
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 he rumbling of the gospel
chariot, The scafTOlds of martyrdom have
been tho stairs by which the church
mounted.
Sin Exposes Itself.
Learn also from our subject that sin will
como 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 sup
pressed the crime, and it was profound
secret well kept by the brothers. But sud
denly the secret is out. The 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 out Of
this long suppressed crime. The smallest
iniuuity has Il thousand tongues and they
will blab out exposure. Saul was sent to
destroy the Canaanites, their sheep and
their oxen, but when no got down there
among tho pastures he saw some fine sheep
and oxen too fat to kill, SO he thought no
would steal them Nobody would know it.
He drove these stolen sheep and oxen to-
ward home, bGt stopped to report to the
prophet how no had executed his mission,
when in the distance the sheep began to
bleat and the oxen to below. The secret
was out, and Samuel said to the blushing
and confused Saul, what meaneth the
bleating of the sheep that l hear and the
believing of the eattle?" All, my hearer
you cannot keep an iniquity still. At JUST
the wrong time tho sheep will bleat and
tho oxen will BELOW. Achan cannot steal
the Babylonish gariL ent without being
stoned to dcath nor Arnold betray his
country without having his neck stretched.
Look over this police arrests. These thieves,
these burglars, these counterfeiters, these
highwaymen, those assassins, they all
thought they could bury their iniquity so
deep down it would never come to resur-
rection, but there was some shoe that
answered to the print in the soil, some
false KEYS found in their possession, some
- - ! fs.r,s Il f,f H1fa dc
and the public Indignation and the anath-
ema of outraged law hurled them into the
dungeon or hoisted them ON the gallows.
Francis l, 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 ont from corner Of the
room and saSd, You had better be con-
sulting how you will get your army back,
and it was found that Francis /, and not
Ameril. was the fool. Instead of consult
ing as to the best way Of getting into sin,
YOU had better consult as to whether you
will be able 10 get out of it. If the world
does not EXPOSE you, you will tell it your
self There is an awful power in an aroused
conscience. A highwayman plunged out
upon Whitcdeld as he rode along on horse
back, a sack Of money on the horsG-moncy
that be had raised for orphan asylums-
and the hlglwayman put his hand on the
gold and Whitefeld turned to him and
said "Toueh that if you darol That be-
longs to tho Lord Jesus Christ" And the
.ufiian skunk into the forest Corscioncel
Consciencei The ruilian had IA pistol, but
Whiteheld 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 moment it Will
slip off the lip, or some slight action may
for the moment set aiar this door that you
wanted to keep closed. But suppose that