Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1898-09-22
SATURDAY SERMON.
For Sunday PerusaI and Every Day
Guidance.
The Lord is t hand.-Phil,. As.


The Lord is Il hand.-Phil,, As.
One of the strongest instincts OF
the human heart is the impression
that there is to be reckoning. This
| is universal, it is the result of an in
tellectual apprehension, plus nat
ural instinct. The instinct is born
with man, and the apprehension is
acquired by converse with those who
have Learned, and by personal knowl-
edge derived from Holy Scripture.
! There is no doctrine of Scripture
more definitely stated or more
strongly insisted upon than this
There is nothing from Scripture
surer than this. The expression
nothing certain but death and
taxes" should include ''and judg
ment." We must believe i'll final
reckoning, not only because of ou1
instinct, but because. of our knowl.
edge of Gods revelation.
But this impression is not all con
fined to Christianity and to Chris
tians. Ancient Rome, in her night OF
Paganism, possessed it. Offerings
and oblations were promised and
presented in the temples of Jove
| Venus, Mercury and Mars, to pro
pitiate the angry deities and smooth
the way for an easy judgment al
their hands Lrebus was the dark
valley leading to the river Styx and
| Charon, the grim ferryman, who
carried the trembling mortals across
the river, while the hideous Cerbe.
rus, with his three terrible heads
barked and snapped furiously as he
tore at his chain before the gates o1
| hades. Happiness OF torment. awaited
each soul at death. Egypt, too, had
the same fixed idea of a reckoning,
Osiris was the king of life, the king
Of gods, and on the Judgment Of
Osiris in the .thall of double judg.
ment, to which all the dead were
led, depended the fate of the soul
In anticipation of this Judgment the
| Egyptian priests, before their dead
were buried, held trial over them, re
hearsing, as before Osiris, the sri
tual of the Book of the Dead These
books were written by the priests
and sealed up in the coffins with
the mummied dead, where they are
| to-day found after thousands o1
years, closely rolled papyri, contain
ing the virtues of the deceased, or,
namented with a seal of cartouche al
the end, denoting his rank and fam
ily.
What will be the standard Of
Judgment? Evidently not one anC
the same for Roman, Egyptian anc
Christian. This would be manifest
ly unfair, and the judgment OF reok
oning to which all these look forward
must be fair. st. Paul gives US light
on this point: For as many as have
sinned outside the law shall be
judged outside the law Clearly
then, the Hebrew shall be
Judged by one law, the Pagan by
another, the Christian by another.
But what constitutes man amen
able to the Christian standard o.
Judgment? It is quite evident thai
many in Christian age and Chris
tian land do not consider themselves
under OF inside the law of Christian
ity at all as concerning judgment
There are many who are like the
man in the parable who received the
one talent, and went and digged il
the earth and hid his Lords money
and then made for his excuse: 81
knew thee that thou vast an hare
man, and / was afraid to put myself
in an accountable position to thee
These men are in every community
They will not undertake, they say
the obligations of baptism, churcl
membership, etc, because the du
ties are too onerous, the responsi
bility too heavy, and it is quite cleal
that they do not consider themselves
liable to the Christian standard O.
Judgment.
| And this because they prefers diff
! ferent and lower standard.
| But in order to determine wha
constitutes mans liability t.
Christian Judgment, we must see tn,
principle by which judgments ar
arrived at in secular things. This il
in the nature of law. The STANDARD
is the highest point SO far attained
This is so in the mercantile world
The fortune of an hundred year
ago would not be a fortune of to
t day, for the standard has increase,
SO far beyond that of those days
The fortune of fifty years ago woul'
not be considered fortune to day
for the same reason. It is so in learn
ing. The scholar of to-day must b
the master of at least one specis
subject, or thoroughly cognizan
with dozen, while the scholar c
days gone by was the man who coul
read and writel It is so in art. Th
paintings of centuries ago are stl
r the masterpieces of the world, b,
! cause those of present times ia
short of the standard therein sc
forth, while architecture and sculr
ture of modern times falls short fe