The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1897-12-17

comfortable grudge against religion in
, his history of one of the most fascinat.
ing periods of the worlds existence.
, "The Decline and Fall Of the Roman
Empire"-a book in which, with all
the splendors of his genius, he magnifed
the errors of Christian disciples, while,
with a sparseness of notice that never
can be forgiven he treated of the Chris
tian heroes of whom the world was not
, worthy?
A Crown on Earth.
Oh, men of stout physical health,
men of great mental stature, men of
high social position, men of great power
of any Sort I want you to understand
your power, and want you to know
that that power devoted to God will be
crown on earth, to you typical of a
crown in heaven, but misguided, be-
draggled in sin, administrative of evil,
God will thunder against you with his
condemnation in the day when million
aire and pauper, master and slave, king
and subject, shall stand side by side in
the judgment, and money bags and ju-
dicial ermine and royal robe shall be
riven with the lightnings
Behold also how giant may be slain !
Delilah started the train of circum-
stances that pulled down the temple of
Dagon about Samsons ears, and tens
of thousands of giants have gone down
to death and hell through the same i'm
pure destinations 1t seems to me that
it is high time that pulpit and platform
and printing press speak out against
the impurities of modern society. Fas-
tidiousness and prudery say: 'Better
not speak. You will rouse up adverse
criticism, you will make worse what you
want to make better. Better deal in
glittering generalities. The subject is
too delicate for polite ears" But there
comes voice from heaven overpower-
ing the mincing sentimentalities of the
day, saying, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift
up thy voice like trumpet and show
my people their transgressions 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
lettres SO that the crime is made at
tractive instead of repulsive. Lord By
ron in Don Juan" adorns this crime
until it smiles like May queen. Mich
elet, the great French writer, covers it
up with bewitching rhetoric until it
glows like the rising sun, when it
ought to be made loathsome as a small
pox hospital. There are today influences
abroad which if unresisted by the pull
pit and the printing press will turn our
modern cities into Sodom and Gomor-
rah, fit only for the storm of fire and
birthstone that whelmed the cities of
the plain.
You who are seated in your Christian
homes, comprised by moral and reli-
gious restraints, do not realize the gulf
of iniquity that bounds you ON the
north and the south and the east and
the west. While l speak there are tens
of thousands of men and women going
over the awful plunge of an impure
life, and while I cry to God for mercy
upon their souls | call upon you to mar
shall i'll the defense Of your homes yoHr
church and your nation. There is ban
quoting hall that you have never heard
described You know all about the feast
of Ahasuerus, where thousand lords sat
You know all about BelshazZars ca
rousal, where the blood of the murdered
king spurted into the faces of the ban
queters. You may know of the scene of
riot and wassail when there was set be- |
fore Esopus one dish of food that cost |
$500, 600. But speak now of a differ
ent banqueting hall. It's roof is fretted |
with fire. Its floor is tessellated with |
fire. Its chalices are chased with fire..
It's song is a song of fire. Its walls are
buttresses Of fire. Solomon refers to it .
when he says, "Her guests are in the
depths of hell 1"
Death the Invincible.
Behold also in this giant of the text
and in the giant of our own century
that great physical power must crumble
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 broader grave but
the tomb nevertheless was his terminus.
If, then, we are to be compelled to go
GU Of this world, where are we to 90?
This body and soul must soon part.
What shall be the destiny of the former
know--dust to dust. But what shall
be the destiny of the latter? Shall it rise
into the companionship of the white
ROBBED, whose sins Christ has slain, or
will it go down among the unbelieving,
who tried to gain the world and save
their souls, but were swindled out of
Doth? Blessed lie God, we have "a cham
1ion! He is so styled in the Bible-a
champion who has conquered death and
lell, and he is ready to fight all our
battles from the first to the last "Who
S this that cometh from Edom with
lyed garments from Bozrah, mighty to
aver" If we follow i'll the wake of that
champion death has no power and the
,rave no victory. The worst man trust I
ng in him shall have his dying pangs
Elevated and his future illumined.
In the light of this subject l want to
all your attention to a fact which may Y
Ot have hean rightly considered bp 6,,a r