The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-12-17

/ III Ill CIl1OIl1C IItCuIlI0IICS, IL Oil eye 4
quick to catch passing objects is better |
than one with vision dim and uncer- |
tain, then God Will require of is eff |
cheney just in proportion to what he
has given us. Physical energy ought
to be a type of moral power. We ought
to have a good digestion Of truth as we |
have capacity to assimilate food. Our
spiritual hearing ought to be as good
as our physical hearing. Our spirit |
ua1 taste ought to be as clear as u
tongue. Samsons in body, We ought
to be giants in moral power.
But while o find a great many
men who realize that they ought to use |
their money Alright and use their intel
1igence Alright, how few men you find
aware of the fact that they ought to
use their physical organism Alright!
With every thump OF the heart there
is something saying, work, work."
and lest we should complain that we
have no tools to work. with, God gives
us our hands ard feet, with every
knuckle, and with every joint, and
with every muscle, saying to us, lay
hold and do something"
But how often is it that men with
physical strength do not serve Christ!
They are like a ship full manned and
full rugged, capable Of vast tonnage,
able to endure all stress of weather, yet
Wv liS ioiy at tEC oCIhS, "itCh
men ought to be crossing and recross-
ing the great ocean of human suffering
and sin with Gods supplies of mercy.
How often it is that physical strength
is used in doing positive damage or in
luxurious ease when, with sleeves roll
ed UP and bronzed BOSOM, fearless of
the shafts OF opposition, it ought to be
laying hold with all it's might and tug
ging away to lift up this sunken wreck
! of a world.
A SHAMELESS FACT.
Tt is a most shameless fact that much
Of the business of the church and of the
world must be done by those compare
lively invalid. Richard Baxter, byrea-
son OF his diseases, all his days sitting
in the door of the tomb, yet writing
more than a hundre volumes and
sending out an influence for God that
will endure as long as the Saints Ev-
%erlasting Rest" Edward Payson, new
er knowing a we'll day, yet how he
preached, and how he wrote, helping
thousands of dying souls like himself
to swim in a sea of glory" And Ro-
bert M'Cheyne, a walking skeleton. yet
you know what he did in Dundee, and
how he shook Scotland with zeal for
God. Philip Doddridge, advised by his
friends, because of his illness, not to
enter the ministry, yet you know h
he did for the rise n rOgress of re-
ligion" in the church and in the world.
Wilberforce was told by his doctors
that he could not live a fortnight, yet
at that very time entering upon phil
anthropic enterprises hat demanded
the greatest endurance and persistence.
Robert Hall, suffering excruciations,
so that often in his pulpit while preach
ing he would stop and lie down on a
sofa, then getting up again to preach
about heaven, until the glOries of the
CELESTIAL city dropped on the multi
tude, doing more work perhaps than
almost any we'll man in his day.
Oh, how often it is that men with
great physical endurance are not 50
great in moral and spiritual stature!
!, While there are achievements for those
who are bent all their days with sick
ness - achievements of patience,
!, achievements of Christian endurance
| I call upon men of health today, men
t of muscles, men of nerve, men Of ply
steal power, to devote themselves to
the Lore Giants in body, you ought
5 to be giants in soul.
/ Behold also in the story of my text
l illustration of the damage that
l strength a do if it be misguided 1t
f seems to me that this man spent a
e great deal of his time in doing evil,
> this Samson of my text. To pay a
e bet which he had lost by guessing of
his riddle he robs and kills 80 people.
\ He was not only gigantic in strength,
but gigantic in mischief and a type OF
those men in all ages of the world who
q powerful in body or mind or any fac
n ulty of social position or wealth, have
used their strength for ubiquitous pur-
poses.
MISGUIDED GIANTS.
= 1t is no. he small, weak men of the
), day Who do the damage. These small,
= men who go swearing and loafing about
- your stores and shops and banking
: houses assailing Christ and the Bible
!, and the church. They do not do the
damage. They have no influence. They
a are vermin that you crush with you1
foot. But it is the giants of the day
the misguided giants, giants in phySi-
h cal power, or giants in mental acumen
or giants in social position, or giants
= in wealth, who do the damage. Tbs
q men with sharp pens shat stab religion
g and throw their poison all through oul
q literature; the men who use the power
- of wealth to sanction %iniquity, and
Il bride Justice, and make truth and hon.
or bow to their golden scepter. Mis-.
guided giants. Look out for them. II
the middle n latter part of the las
!, century no doubt there were thousands
!. of menin Parisand Edinburg and Lon
:, don who hated God and b~iasphemet
- the name of the Almighty, but they
=. did but little mischief. They were
y mall men, insignificant men. Yet
- there were giants in those days.
;; Who can calculate the soul havoc o
a Rousseau, going on with a very en-
thusiasm of iniquity, with a fiery i'm.
,, agination Selling upon all the impulsivs
- natures of his day, or David Hume
who employed his life as a spider EN-.
{. ploys it's sunmersin spinning out silk
# en- webs to trapthe unwary, or Voltaris
l. the most learned man of his day, mar
S shaling a great host of skeptics, ant
leading them oil in the dark Ian o
d infidelity, or Gibbon, who showed al
uncomfortable grudge against religion