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

me that 1t is high time that pulpit and
platform and printing press speak out
against h impurities OF modern So
ciety. Fastidiousness and prudery
say: Better not speak. You will
UP adverse criticism. % will
make wors what yOu want to make
better. Better deal in gdittering gen
eralfties. The subject is too delicate
for polite ears" But there comes a
voice from heaven Overpowering the
mincing sentimenta1ities Of the day,
saying, Cry aloud, spare not, lift up
thy voice like a trumpet and show my
people their t-ransgression and the
house of Jacob their SINS"
The trouble is that when people write
or speak upon this theme they are apt
to cover it up with the graces of bellies
1~ettres, 50 that the crime is made at
.tractive instead of repulsive. Lord
Byron in Don juan adorns this
crime until it smiles like a May queen.
Michelet, the great French writer, COW
ers 1T UP with b~ewftching rhetoric I'M
til it CLOVIS like the rising sun, when it
ought to be made 1oathesome as a
smallpox hospital. There r today
influences abroad which, if unresisted
by h pulpit and the printing press,
will turn our modern cities into Sodom
and Gomorrah, fit only for the storm
of fire and birthstone that whelmed the
cities of the plain.
A GULF OF INIQUITY.
You who are seated in your Chris
tian homes, compassed by moral and
religious restraints, do not realize the
gulf Of iniquity that bounds you on the
north and the south and the east and
the west. While 1 speak there are tens
re ~, ~l1 xf WAGON ND ,o~oo~ -1;r~
owe the awful plunge of an impure
life, and while I cry to God for mercy
upon their souls, 1 call upon you to
marshal in the defense of your homes,
our church and your nation. There
is a banqueting hall that you have
never heard described. You know all
about the feast of Ahasuerus, where a
thousand lords sat. You know all
about BelshaZZar's carousal, where the
blood of the murdered king spurted in
to the faces of the banQueters. YOu
may know of the scene of riOt and
wassail when there was set before
Esopus one dish Of food that cos $780,
900. But I speak now of a different
b~anqueting hall. It's roof is fretted
with fire. It's floor is tessellated with
fire. Its chalices are chased with fire.
Its song is a song Of fire. It's walls VI
buttresses Of fire. Solomon refers to it
when he says, her guests are in the
depths of hell"
Behold also this giant of the text
nj in the giant of our own century
that great physical power must crum-
BILE and expire. The Samson of the
text long ago went away. He fought
the lion. He fought the Philistines.
He could fight anything, but death
was too much for him. He may have
required a longer grave and a broader
grave, but h tomb nevertheless was
his terminus.
If, then, we are to be compelled to go
F! out of this world where are We to go?
| This body and SOU must soon part.
| What shall be the destiny Of the form
er I know-dust to dust-but what shall
De the destiny of the latter? Shall it
rise into the cOmpanfOnship of the
white rObed, whose sins Christ has
slain, or will it go down among the un-
believing, who tried to gain the world
and ave their souls, but were swindl-
ed out of both Blessed be God, we
have a champion! He is so styled in
the Bible-a champion who has con.
Quered death n hell, and he is ready
to fight all our battles from the first tC
the last. "WhO is this that cometI
from Edom with dyed garments from
Bozrah, mighty to save?" If we fol.
low in the wake of thai champion
death has no power and the grave NJ
victory. The wors man trusting il
him shall nav his dying pangs allevi
ated and his future Illuminated.
THINGS TO CONSIDER.
In the light of this subject I want tt
call your attention to the fact which
may not have been rightly considered
~, G-o oo~ ~ n I {lo r,-o~1I 49, 49,
is the act that we. must be brough
into Judgment for the employment o
our physical organism. Shoulder
brain, hand, foot-we must answer il
judgment for the use we have made o
them Have they been used for tn
elevation of society or for it's depres
sion? In proportion as our arm i
strong and our step elastic will our &C
count at last be intensified. Thousand
OF ermOn are preached to inva1ids,
preach this morning to stout men an,
healthful wOmen We must Civ t
God an account for the right use o
this physical organism.
These invalids have comparativel
little to account for perhaps. The,
could not lift 20 pounds. They coul
not walk half a mile without sittin1
down to rest. In preparation of thi
ouOJGSC l. uoNC SdIO " Myself. I1Oh
shall I account to God in judgment 70
the use of a body which never kne1
n moment of real sickness? Risin;
up in judgment, standing beside me
n women who had only littl
physical energy, and yet consume
that energy in a cOnf1agration Of relig
ious enthusiasm, how will we fee
abashed.
Oh, men of the strong arm and tn
stout heart, h use are you maxim
of our physical forces? Will You b
able to stand the test of that day whe
We must answer for the use of ever
talent, whether it were a physical en-
ergy, OF a mental acumen, or a spirit
ual power?
The day approaches and I sc
n who in this world was an invalid
n as she stands before the throne @
God to answer she says: Il was sic
all my days. I had but very littl
strength, but I did as well as I coul
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