Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1897-07-21
NO. 80


until he got piece of it. 1 suppose that
Adam was just as much to blame ~ Eve was.
You cannot throw of the responsibility of
anv sin upon the shoulders of other people.
Here is a young man who says: Il know
l am doing wrong but | have not had any
chance. l had father who deSpised God
and a mother who was n disciple Of goddess
fashion am not to blame for my sins; II Is
my bringing up. Oh. no: that young man
has been out in the world long enough to
see what Is right and to see what Is wrong,
and in the great day of eternity he cannot
throw his sins upon his father or mother.
but will have to stand for himself and an
swer before God. You have had con-
science. You have had Bible and the infiu-
ence of the Holy Spirit stand for yourself
or fall for yourself.
Here is a business man. He saws, "I
know don't do exactly right in trade but
all the dry goods men do 1t and all the hard
ware men do this, and l am not respon-
sible." You cannot throw of your sin upon
the shoulders of other merchants. God
will hold you responsible for what you do
and them responsible for what they do. /
want to quote one passage of Scripture for
you-l think II is in Proyerbs-''If thou be
wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself but IL
thou scornest thou alone shalt bear it,"
learn further from this subject what
God meant by determination. Saul was
told to slay all the Amalekites and the
beasts in their possession. He saves Agag
and oxen. God chastises him for it. God
will not stay in the soul that Is half His
and half the devils. There NAV be more
sins in our souls than there were
Amalekites. We must kill them Woe
unto US il We spare Agag. Here is Chris
tian. He says: Il will drive out all the
Amalekites of sin from my heart Here is
jealousy down goes that AmAlekite. Here
is backbting down goes that Amalekite -
and what slaughter he makes among his
sins, striking right and left! What Is that
out yonder, lifting up his hea12 1t is
Agag-it is worldliness. 1t is an old sin he
cannot bear to strike down. Ii is a darling
transgresSiOn he cannot afford to sacrifice.
Oh, my brethren, appeal for entire conse-
Grafton. Some of the Presbyteriaus call
it the 'higher life The Methodists
1 believe call it perfection" / do not
care what you call it, without holiness no
man shall see the Lord" know men who
are living with their soul in perpetual com
munion with Christ aud day by day are
walking within sight of heaven How do 1
know? They tell me so. l believe them.
They would not lie about it. Why cannot
We all have this conservation? Why slay
some of the sins in our soul and leave
others to bleat and below for our exposure
and condemnation? Christ will not stay in
the same house with Agag. You must give
up Agag or give up Christ. Jesus says:
"All of that heart or none" Saul slew the
poorest of the sheep and the meanest OF
the oxen and kept some of the finest and
the fatteSt, and there are Christians who
have slain the most unpopular of their
transgressions and saved those which are
most respectable. 1t will not do. Eternal
war against all the Amalekites-no mercy
for Agag!
l learn further from this subject that il is
vain to try to defraud God Here Saul
thought he had cheated God out Of those
sheep and oxen, but he lost his crown, he
lost his empire. You cannot cheat God out
of single cent. Here is man who has
made $1,000 in fraud. Before he dies
every dollar of it will be gone, or it will
give him violent unrest. Here is Chris
tian who has been largely prospered. He
has not given to God the proportion that Is
due in charities and benevolenceS. God
comes to the reckoning, and he takes it all
away from you. How often it has been that
Christian men have had large estate and
il is gone. The Lcrd God came into the
counting room and said: - have allowed
you to have all this property for ten, fif-
teen or twenty years, and you have not
done Justice to my poor children. When
the beggar called upon YOU you bounded
him of your steps; when my suffering chill
dren appealed to you for help, you had no
mercy. / only asked for so much or so
much, but you did not give it to me, and
now | will take it all"
God asks of us one-seventh of our time in
the way of Sabbath. Do you suppose we
away from its true object? No. no. God
has demanded one-seventh of your time.
If you take one hour of that time that is to
be devoted to Gods service and instead of
keeping his Sabbath use it for the purpose
of writing up your accounts making
worldly gains God will get that hour from
you in some unexpected way. God says to
Jonah, You 90 to Nineveh." He says:
NO, 1 won't. I'll go to Tarshish." He
starts for Tarshish. The sea raves, the
l. 4 a - Ia
whales, and take this passenger for Tar
shish! No man ever gets to Tarshish
whom God tells to go to Nineyeh. The
sea would not carry him; it is Gods sea.
The winds would not wait him; they are
Gods winds. Let man attempt to do
that which God forbids him to do or to 20
into q place where God tells him not to 60
the natural world as well as God is against
him. The lightnings are ready to strike
him. the fires to burn him the sun to
smite him, the waters to drown him and
the earth to swallow him. Those whose
princely robes are woven out Of heart
strings, those whose fine houses are built
out Of skulls, those whose springing foun-
tains are the tears Of oppressed nations,
have they successfully cheated God2
The last day will demonstrate. 1t will be
found out ON that day that God indicated
not only his goodness and His mercy, but
His power to take care of His own rights
and the rights of His church and the rights
of His oppressed children. Come We mar
tyred dead, awake and come up from the
dungeons where folded darkness hearsed
YOU and the chains like cankers peeled
loose the skin and wore of the flesh and
ratified on the narrowiess bones. Come ye
martyred dead, from the stakes where
you were burned. where the arm upIifted
for mercy fell into the ashes and the cry Of
pain was drowned in the swapping Of the
flame and the bowling Of the mob; from
valleys of Piedmont and Smithfield market
and London Tower and the highlands Of
Scotland. Gather in great procession and
together clap your bOny hands, and to-
gether stamp your moldy feet and let the
chains that bound you to dungeons all
clank at once and gather all the flames
that burned you in one uplifted arm OF fire
and plead for "a judgment. Gather all
the tears ye ever wept into a lake and
gather all the sighs ye ever breathed into
a tempest until the heaven piercing chain
ciank and the tempest sigh and the thun-
der groan announce to earth and hell and
heaven a judgment. Oh, ON that day God
will vindicate the cause of the troubled and
the oppressed 1t viii be seen III that day
that though we may have robbed our fell
lows, We never have successfully robbed
God.
My Christian friends, as you go out into
the world exhibit an open hearted Christian
frankness. Do not be hypocritical in any
thing. You are never safe if you are. At
| the most inoppoTtune moment the sheep
| will beat and the oxen below. Drive out
| the last Amalekite of sin from your soul.
| Have no mercy on Agag. Down with your
| sins down with your pride, down with your
worldliness. | know You cannot achieve
| this work by your own arm, but almighty v
/ grace is sufficient-that which saved Joseph
/ in the pit that which delivered d Daniel in
| the den that which shielded Shadracn II
J the fire, that which cheered Paul in the
| shipwreck.
The love of God does not consist il
| shedding tears, nor in experiencing
| sweetness and tenderness of heart, but il
truly serving God i'll Justice, strength an