The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-04-01

4 I'D dStFcp III ~ Sah. AoAk GA .
mirth was once music to you. Now 1t
is d~eafening- You say, Boys. stop
that racket" You turn back from
June to March. In the family and In
the neighborhood your popularity is 95
per cent of. The world says What
Is the matter with the d~isagreeable
NAM? What a woebegone counten-
ance! I can't bear the sight or him"
You have got your pay at last-got
your pay. You feel just as the man
felt, that man for whom you had no
mercy, and my text comes In with mar
velous appositeness, with what mea-
sure We mete it shall be measured to
you again"
In the study of society I have come
to the conclusion-that the most of the
people want to be good, but they do
not exactly know how to make it out.
they make enough resolutions to lift
them into angelhood. The vast ma
1ority of people who fall are the vic
Tins Of circumstances. They are cap
tured by ambuscades. If their tempta-
lions should come put in a regiment
and fight them in a fair field, they
would go out in the strength and the
triumph of David against Goliath. But
they do not see the giants, and they
do not see the regiment. Temptation
comes and says, Take these bitters,
a k this %nervine, take this aid to d.
g%estion, take this n~ightcap." The vast
majority of men and ONE who are
destroyed by opium and by run first
take them as medicines. In making
up your dish of criticism in regard to
them take from the caster and the
cruet of sweet oil and not the cruet
OF cayenne pepper.
REMEMBER THE PROCESS.
Do you know how that physician,
that lawyer, that journalist became the
victim of dissipation? Why, the ply
stefan was kept up night by night on
professional duty. Life and death
lowered in the balance. His nervous
system was exhausted. There came a
time of epidemic, and whole families
were Frustrated, and his nervous
strength was gone. He was all worn
out in the service of the public. Now
he must brace himself up. Now he
stimulates. The life of this mother,
the life of this child, the life of this
oI1Oi III lllC VI lIlS WuOic ldullly
must be saved, and he stimulates, and
he does it again and again. You may
criticise his judgment, but remember
the process. 1t was not the selfish pro-
cess by which he went down. 1t was
magnificent generosity through which
he fell.
That attorney at the bar for weeks
has been standing in a poorly venti-
lated courtroom, listening to the testi-
mony and contesting in the dry tech
nicalities of the law, and now the time
has come for him to wind up, and he
must plead for the life of his client and
his ervOu system is all gone. If he
fails in the speech, his client perishes.
If he have eloquence enough in that
hour, his client is saved. He slim
ulates.
That journalist has had exhausting
midnight work. He has had to report
speeches and orations that kept him
up till a very late hour. He has gone
! with much exposure working up some
case of crime in company with a de-
tective. He sits down at midnight to
write out his notes from a memoran>
dunn scrawled on a pad under unfav-
OAoOlC SuA1SIdACCS. Ills 0lICuSIu Is
gone. Fidelity to the public intelli-
gence, fidelity to his own livelihood,
demand that he keep up. He must
| keep up. He stimulates. Again and
| again he does that, and he goes down.
You may criticise his judgment in the
| matter, but have mercy. Remember
the process. Do not be hard.
SCOLD LESS AND PRAY MORE.
My friends, this text will come to
| fulfllment in some cases in this world.
! The huntsman in Farmsteen was shot
by some unknown person. Twenty
| years after the son of the huntsman
was in the same forest, and he acct
IDENTIFY shot a man, and the man in
dying said: God is just. I shot your
| father just here twenty years ago." A
bishop said to Louis XI of France,
Make an iron cage for all those who
do not think as we do-an iron cage
in which the captive can neither lie
down nor stand straight up" 1t was
fashioned-the awful instrument Of
| punishment. After awhile the bishop
offended Louis XI, and for fourteen
| years he was in hat anne cage and
could neither lie down nor stand up.
1t is a poor rule that will not work
both ways. with what measure We
mete it shall be measured to you
again.
Oh, my friends, let us be resolved to
scold less and pray more!
What Roadway will we make in the
judgment if in this world WI have
been hard on those who have gone
astray? What headWay will you
make in the last great judgment. when
we must have mercy or perish? The
Bible says, "They shall have judgment
| without mercy that showed no mercy"
I see the scribes of heaven looking
up into the face of such a man, say
ing: What! You plead for mercy,
| you whom in all your life never had
| any mercy on your fellows! Don't
| you remember how hard you were in
your opinions of those who were
| astray? Don't you remember when
| you ought to have given a helping
-- h-~1 .