The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1899-12-27
TIE DIVINE SYMBOL.
Pillars of smoke Typify Gods
Power and Mercy
DR. TaLMAGE SPEAKS
OF Trials Through Which Truth
Has Trjurophaa$iy StFug-
gled. he.church to b
krhiter & Nations

TIE trials through wbirh The truth
has struggl,d d By Dr. Ta!mage kere
set forth uu6sr a Bible syubo! ct
great sug1es,ilc:ess and power; text,
Solomon Sony, 'Wbo Is this thai
come5h cut Of tie wilderness like rlI-
lars Of smoke
The ay,!.irecfore OF the swoke is
wopdrors, whether Ged with bis bnger
curves il into cloud ovrouuds 1t into
6ome, or . oiots It IN spire, II spread
ivin a wig, or, as III the text, ho!sts It
in a Diliar. Watch Il wiu&irg up from
the country farm house in the early
morning, showing tAat tie p&s;or2! IL
dustries have begun, or see 1t ascend
ing from the chimneys Of the city, tell.
ing of the homes fed, the factories
turning out valuable fabrics, the print
ing presses preparing book and news
paper. and ali the ten thousand wheels
Of work IN motion. Ga clearday tAlS
vapor spoken of mounts With sach
buoyancy and spreads such delicate
veil across the sky and traces such
graceful lines of circle and semiclIcie
and waves aud tos>es and sinks aad
sosrs and scatters with such afiaence
Of shape and color and sugsestiveneSs
that if you have never noticed 1t you
are like mau who has ali hls llfe lived
in Paris and yet never seen the LuXem
bourg, or all his life in Rome and never
seen the Vatican, or all his life at
Lockport AID never seen Niagara.
Forty four times the Bible speaks OF
the smoke, aud It is about time that
somebody preached a sermon recogn'z
ing this strange. weird, beautiful, elias
tic, charming, terrific aud fascinating
7aoor. Across the Bible sky flats the
smoke of Sinai, the smoke Of Sodom,
the smoke Of Al, the smoke Of the pit,
the smoke of the volcanic hills when
God touches them, and in NY text the
glorious church of God coming up out
Of the wliG r4c>S like pillars Of smoke
In the first place, these pillars OF
smoke IN my text Indicate the suffering
the church Of God has endured. What
do mean by the church? | mean not
a building, not sect, but those who IN
all ages and all lands and of all beliefs
love God and are trying to do right
For many centuries the heavens have
been black with the smoke Of MARTYR
dom. If set side by side, you could
sirdle the earth with the fires Of perse
cusion Rowland Taylor burned st
Radleigh, Latimer burned st Oxford,
John Rogers burned at Smithheld,
Johu Hooper burned at Gloucester,
John Huss burned at Constance, Law
renee S4uu3ers burned at Coventry,
Joan of Arc ourn at Reuen.
Witness the sufferiags Of the Wal
denses, Of the Aloigenses, of the Nes-
torians. Witness St Bartholomew mas
sacre. Witness the Duke of AIva drlV-
ing out of life $4,000 Christians. Wit
ness Herod a16 Nero and Decius and
HildebraDd and ToIQuelnada aid lar!
of Montfort and Lord ClaVerhoUSe,
who, when told that he must give &C.
count for his cruelties, said, L have
no need to account to man, ano, as for
God, l will take him in my own hands.
A red hoe runs through the church
history of 900 years, . line Of blood.
Not by the hundreds Of thousands, but
by the millions must we uot those
slain for Christ's sake No wonder
:ohn Milton put the sroans Of tee
martyrs 10 an immortal tune. Writing:
A7eDge, O Lord thy slaughtered saints,
whose bones
Lie scattered On the Alpine mountains,
colo.
The smoke Of martyrs homes and
martyrs bodies if rolling up all at
once would have eciipsed the nooaSay
sun and sc-ned the brightest Gay tie
world e7er saw into a nidoight. VINO
is this that cometh up cutof the wider
ness like pillars Of smoke?
Has p, r.e,atioG ceased? Ask that
young msn VITO IS trying to be { Chris
tian in store or factory, where from
morning TO qiyi., A. is The butt Of all
tie mean wi,sici>ms Of " believing en-
ployees Ask lla; ~; S:.9-e hU>nard
makes her foodness for the hosse Of
God and even her kncelipg psa.:er ty
the bedside derision and is no more
fit for h.r holy companiooship than
filthy crow would be fit companion Tor
a robin or golden oricle. Compromise
with the world and surrender to its
conventionalities and 1t nay let yoO
alone, but all who will 1--we god'y ia
Christ Jesus must suffer persecution.
Be a theater going, card PLAY Ing, wine
drinking, round dancing Chris,ian, and
you may escape criticism and social
pressure. But be an up and down,
out and out follower Of Christ, and
wording vii! wink to worldiing as he
speaks your name, aud you Will re put
in many doggered and snubbed by
those not worthy to olacken your 0;Qe>t
shoes. When the bridge at AShtabuia
broke and let down the most Of the car
load Of passengers TO instant death,
Mr.. P. P. Bliss was seated on ore side
Of the aisle Of the car writing down
Christian song which he was composing
and on the other side group Of meu
were playing cards Whose landing
place IN eternity woulG you prefer
that of P. ? Bliss, the gospel singer,
or of the card players?
A great complaint comes from the
theaters about the ladies' high hats De
cause they construc; the view Of the
stage, and a lady reporter asked ne
what l thought about it, aud told her
thatif che Indecent pictures Of actresses
in the show windows were accurate pic
lures of what goes on IL many Of the
theaters night by night then 1t would
be well if the ladies hats were mile
high, so as to completely Distract the
vision. If prcfes<ed Christians go 20