The Yale expositor., 1898-05-06

was the extreme depression of two
years ago? A day of Judgment Do
you think that God is going to walt
until he has burned the world uD be-
fore he rights these wrongs? l tell
you, Nay! Every day is a day of judg
ment.
The fraudulent man piles up his
gains, bond above bond, United States
security above United States. security,
emolument above emolument, until his
property has become a great pyramid;
and, as he stands looking at it, he
thinks it can never be destroyed; bit
the Lord God comes and with his little
finger pushes it all over.
You build house, and you put into
1t rotten beam. A mechanic stand
ing by says, 1T will never do to put
that beam in; it will ruin your whole
building" But you put it in. The
house is completed Soon it begins to
rock. You call in the mechanic and
ask, What is the matter with this
door? What is the matter with this
wall? Everything seems to be giving
out" Says the mechanic, you put
rotten beam into that structure, and
the whole thing has to come down."
Here is an estate that seems to be all
right now. 1t has been building
great many years. But fifteen years
ago there was a dishonest transaction
in that commercial house. That one
dishonest transaction will keep on
working ruin in the whole structure
until down the estate will come in
wreck and ruin about the possessor's
ears-one dishonest dollar in the estate
demolishing all his possessions. have
seen it again and again; and so have
you.
Here is your money safe. man
ufacturer and yourself only know how
1t can be opened. You have the key.
You touch the lock and the ponder
GUS door swings back But let me tell
you that, however firmly barred and
bolted your money-safe may be, you
can not keep God out. He will come,
some day, into your counting-room,
and he will demand, Where did that
note Of hand come from? How did you
account for this security? Where did
you get that mortgage from? What
does this mean?" If it is all right,
God will say, "Well done, good and
faithful servant. Be prospered in this
world. Be happy in the world to come"
If it is all wrong, he will say, Depart,
We cursed. Be miserable for your mi
quities in this life; and then go down
and spend your eternity with thieves,
and horse-jockeys and pick-pockets."
You have an old photograph of the
signs on your street. Why have those
signs nearly all changed within the
last twenty years? Does the passing
away of a generation account for it?
Oh, no. Does the fact that there are
hundreds of honest men who go down
every year account for it? Oh, no.
This is the secret: The Lord God has
been walking through the commercial
streets of our great cities; and he
has been adjusting things according to
the principles of eternal rectitude.
The time will come when. through
the revolutionary power of this gos-
pei, falsehood, instead of being called
eXaggeration, equivocation, or evasion,
will be branded lie! And stealings,
that now sometimes go under the head
of percentages and commissions, and
bonuses, will be put into the catalogue
of state prison offenses. Society will
be turned inside out and upside down,
and ransacked of Gods truth, until
business dishonesties shall come to an
end, and all double-dealing; and God
will overturn, and overturn, and over
turn; and commercial men in all cities
will throw up their hands, crying out,
These that have turned the world
upside down are come hither."
In that future day of the reconstruct
ed Church of Christ, the church build
ing will be the most cheerful of all
buildings. instead of the light Of the
sun strained through painted glass, I'M
til an intelligent auditory looks green,
and blue, and yellow, and copper-col-
ored, we will have no such things. T,.e
pure atmosphere OF heaven will sweep
out the fetid atmosphere that has been
kept in many of our churches boxed
up from Sunday to Sunday. The day
of which speak will be day of great
revivals. There will be such time
as there was in the parish of Shots,
where five hundred souls were born to
God in one day; such times as were
seen in this country when Edwards
gave the alarm, when Tennent preach
ed, and Whitefeld Numbered, and Ed
ward Payson prayed; such times as
some of you remember in 1857. when
the voice Of prayer and praise was
heard in theater, and warehouse. and
blacksmith shop, and factory and en-
CINE house; and the auctioneer's cry
of "a half, and half, and half" was
drowned out by the adjoining prayer
meeting, in which the people cried out,
Men and brethren, what shall we do?"
In those days of witch l am speak
ing, the services of the Church of
God will be more spirited. The min
listers of Christ, instead of being anx-
ious about whether they are going to
lose their place in their notes, will get