The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-12-23

could give him-why. all the business
men in the counting room "G0Odt
Now, that 10 religion!>A And the clerks
get hold Of story and talk It over,
so that the weigher n cooper and
hackman standing on tie doorstep say:
THAT Is splendid! Now. that Is what
I call religion!"
EFFECTIVE SERMONS.
1t in a good thing ITO preach IN a
Sunday morning, the people assembled
in most respectable attire and seated
on soft cushions, the preacher stand
ing in neatly upholstered pulpit sur
rounded by persoal friends, and after
an inspiring hymn has been and
that se1non IL preached in faith will
do good, but the most elective sermon
Is preached by one seated in dressing
gown in an arm chair a which the
invalid has with mueh care been lift
ed, the surrounding shelves filled with
medicine bottles, some TO produce
sleep, some for b relief or sudden
some for null some
for tonic, some for anodyne and some
for febrifuge, the pale preacher quot
ing promises of the gospel, telling Of
the glories Of a sympathetic Christ
\ assuring the one or W. Or three per-
sons who near It Of the mighty re-en-
forcements Of religion. You say that
to such a sermon there are only one
or two or three hearers. Aye! But the
visitor calling at that ROOM, then clos
ing the doo softly and going away,
tells the story, and the whole neigh
borhood hears it, and it will take all
eternity to realize the grand and up
lifting influence Of that sermon about
God and the soul, though preached to
an audience of only n man or one
woman. The Lord has ordained all
80 ;1xy.sIr fo~ a cfufo ~ rrGofrr1no00
which athletics n men Of 200 healthy
avoirdupois annot affect. 1t was not
an enemy that fastened you in that
room or sent you on crutcheS, the
longest journey you have made for
many weeks being from bed to sofa
and from sofa to looking glass, where
you are shocked at the pallOr of your
own cheek and the pinchedness of your
features, then back again from mirror
to sofa, and sofa to bed, with a long
sigh saying, How good it feelsto get
back again to my old place on the pill
low" Remember who it is that ap-
pointed the day when for the first
time in many years o could not 90
to business, and who has kept a rec
ord of all the weary days and all the
sleepless nights of your exile from the
world. Oh, weary man! Oh, feeble wO-
man! 1t was the Lord who shut you
in. Do you remember that some Of
lie UOUIGSl LII OcSl u IlCh IdtC pCC1
prisoners? Ezekiel a prisoner, Jeremiah
a prisoner, Paul a prisoner, st. John
a prisoner, John Bunyan a prisoner.
Though human hate seemed to have
all to do with them, really the Lord
shut them in.
NOAH'S VOYAGE.
No doubt while on that voyage Noah
and his three sons and all the four
ladies Of the a~ntediluvian world often
thought Of the bright hillsides and the
green fields where they had walked
and of the homes where they had liv-
ed. They had had many years of expe-
iences. NOAH was 600 years old at the
time Of this CONFUSION Of nature. He
had seen 600 springtimes, 600 summers
600 autumns, 600 winters. We are not
told how Did his wife was at this
wreck Of earth and sky. The Bible tells
US the g of a great many men, but
only once gives a woman's age. At one
time it gives Adams age as 100 years
and Jared's age as 1872 years and
Enoch's g as 165 years, and all up
and down the Bible it gives the age of
men, but does not give the age of wo-
men. Why? Because, I suppose, a
woman's age is lone of our business.
But all the men and women that toss
ed in that oriental craft had lived long
enough to remember a great many of
the mercies and kindnesses Of God,
and they could not blot out, and I think
they had no disposition to blot out the
memory of those brightnesses, though
now they were shut in. Neither should
the shut in of our /. time forget the
blessings of the past. Have you been
blind for ten years? Thank God for
the time when you saw as clearly as
any of us can see and let the pageant
Of all the radient landscapes and illum-
ined skies which you ever looked upon
kindle your rapturous gratitude. 1 do
not see Raphaels Madonna di San
Sisto' in the picture gallery of Dresden
nor Rubens' Descent From the Cross"
at Antwerp, nor Michael Angeles
Last Judgment" on the ceiling of the
nor St. Sophia at Constantine |
pie, nor the Parthenon on the Acropo- !
lis, nor the Tai Mahal of India, but
shall I not thank God that / have seen
Is it possible that such mid
night darkness shall ever blast my Wis
that I cannot call them up again?
Perhaps you are so deaf that you can |
not hear the chirp of bird or solo of
.cantatrice OF ever organ in full diapa- |
son, though you feel the foundations |
tremble under its majestic roll, or even
the thunderstorm that makes Mount |
echo But are you not |
grateful that once o could hear tri1l |
and han and carol doxology? I can
NAAS Ao0A AN@A SAh AAAiN sins L
Coming Through the Rye" or Ole
Bulls enchanted viol, or Parepa Ro-
triumphant voice over man, thou |
sands Of voices n many thousands
Of instruments in the national peace
of 33 years ago, all these sounds |
by the ringing of bells |
them? Are you chained to your room |
will not remember that I did hea
can I ever have my ears so silent that
and the gun on Boston Common, but |
now, your powers of locomotion all
gone, or if coming to the house of God
step is a torture?
Do you forget when, in childhood, |
you danced and skipped because you
were so full Of life you had not patti
to walk, and in after years you
the mountains of Switzerland, |
you alpesteck high up on gla-
ciers which few others ever dared and
long reaches in competition |
and after a walk of ten miles you came
in jocund as the morning? o you shut
thank God for a vivid emo of