The Afro-American advance., 1900-11-17
REV. DR.. TAlMACE.
EHE EMINENT DIvINEs SUNDAY
DISCOURSE.
Subject: Nations Are Judged-God Re.
wards and Furnishes Them on fartF--
Code judgments Iikened to the swift
sweep or a Razor.
FCopyrigkt isa0. /

TCopyrigkf isae.l
WASHINGTON, ID. CDR. Talmare IN
his journey westward through Eurone. has
7ectstly visited scenes of thrilling his
fore event. He sends this sermon, IN
efnIch ne shows that nations are Judged
tn this world and that God rewards them
for their virtses and Furnishes them for
fheir crimes. fade &ext IS Isaiah viii 20,
In the same day shall the Lord shave
with razor that Is hired. namely. bv
them beyond the Tver, by the king Of
AssyriaS
The Bible il the kaest book ever writ
Cen. There are an Aimiltudes in Ossian
or the HAD or the Odyssey so daring. Its
sraageTy Sometimes seems on the verge of
9ebe reckless, but only seems So The fact
se thai God would startle and arouse and.
propei men and nations. A tame and
fimpfng similitudc would fail to accom-
f1lish the object. While there are times
when He employs n the Bible the gentle
dew, and the m5r1.fng cloud, and the dove
and the daybcak IN the presentation of
strnth, we often find the mon chariot, the
sightnlng, the earthquake. tfs spray, the
sword and in my text che razor. This
keen hladed instrument has advanced in
usefulness with the ages. In Bible times
and lands the besrd remained uncut save
IN the seasons bf mourning and hunllla.
tlon, but the razor was always n sugges-
tive symbol. David said of Doeg, his an
tagonist, "Thy tongue is sharp razor
working deceitfully that is, it pretends
10 clear the face, but is really used for
deEdly incision.
In this striking text this weapon of the
Aoilet appears under the following cir
substances: Judea needed to have some
Nf its properties cut off and God sends
against it three Assyrian kings--first Sen.
nacherIb, then Esarhaddon and afterward
Nebuchadt Azzar. These three sharp inva-
sions thatScut down the glory of Judea
razor across the face of the land. And
these devastations were called hired
razor because God took the kings of As
syria, with whom He had no sympathy, to
do the work ed nald them in palaces
and spols snnexations. These kings
were hired ecute the divine behests.
Mad now (which on its first read
charged with momeftous import, I'm the
same day shall the Lord shave with q razor
that is hired, namely by them beyond
the river, by the King of Assyria.
Well, If Gods judgments are razors,
Awe had better be careful how we use
them on other people. In careful sheath
these domestic weapons are put away,
where no one by accident may touch them
and where the hands of children may not
carefully handled or not handled at all.
But how recklessly some people WELD the
judgment of Godl liz a man meets with
business misfortune, how many there are
ready to cry out: THAT is judgment of
Tod upon him because he was unserupu-
lous or arrogant or over-reaching or mis-
erly. ! thought he would get cut down!
What clean sweep OF everything. His
s-lty house and country house gone. His
stables emptIed Of all the fine bays and
Eorrels and Srays that used to prance by
his door. All his resources overthrown,
and all that he prided himself on tumbled
into. demolition. Good for him!" Stop,
my brother. Don't sling around too freely
the Judgments of God, for they are razors
fySome of the most wicked business men
succeed, and they live and die in pros
perity, and some of the most honest and
9 CONSCIENTIOUS afe driven into bankruptcy.
Perhaps the unsuccessful mans manner
auas unfortunate and he was not really as
proud as he looked to be- Some of those
who carry their heads erect and look i'm
perlai are humble as a child, while many
q man in seedy coat and slouch hat and
unblackened shoes is as proud as Lucifer.
You cannot tell by a mans look Per-
haps he was not unscrupulous in business,
for there are two sides to every story, and
everybody that accomphshes anything for
himself or others gets industriously he'd
about. Perhaps his business misfortune
was not punishment, but the fatherly
discipline TO prepare him for heaven, and
aiod may love him far more than He loves
you, who can pay dollar for dollar and are
put down in the commercial catalogue as
al Whom the Lord loyeth He gives
k40000 and lets die on embroidered pill
lows! No; whom the Lord loveth He
Rhasteneth. Better keep your hand off
che Lords razors lest they cut and wound
people that do not deserve it. If you
want to shave off some of the bristling
pride OF your own heart, do so, but be
fery careful how You put the sharp edge
on Others. How do dislike the behavior
of those persons who, when people are
unfortunate, say s'f told vou so; getting
punished; served him right" If those /
told you SOS got their desert they would
long ago have been pitched over the bat
tier kc- The mote in their neighbor's
$500 slAall that it takes microscope
TO ind 1T, gives them more trouble than
the beam which obscures their own optics.
With air sometimes supereilious and some
times pharlsaical and always blasphemous
they take the razor of divine judgment and
sharpen it on the bone of their own hard
hearts. and tken go to work on men
sprawled out at full length under disaster,
cutting mercilessly. They begin by soft
expressions of sympathy and pity, and
half praise and lather the victim all over
before they put on the sharp edge.
Let us be careful how we shoot at 9th
ers, lest we take down the wrong one,
remembering the servant of King William
Rufus who shot at a deer, but the arrow
glanced against tree and killed the king.
Instead of going out with shafts to pierce
and razors to cut, we had better initiate
Che friend of Richard Occur de Lion.
Richard; in the war of the Crusades, was
captured and imprisoned, but none of his
friends knew where, so his loyal friend
went around the land from stronghold to
stronghold and sang at each window a
snatch of song that Richard Occur de
Lion had taught him in other days. And
ono day coming before a Jail where he
suspected his king might be incarcer-
ated he sang two lines of song and imme-
diately King Richard responded from his
cell with the other two lines, and so his
shereabouts were discovered, and a sue
Iessful movement was at once made for
i bis liberation. So let us go up and down
4 Che world with the music of kind words
and sympathetic hearts, serenading the
unfortunate and trying to get out of
trouble men who had noble natures, but
by unforeseen circumstances have been
Incarcerated, thus liberating kings. More
hymn-b0ok and less razor,
Especially ought we to be apologize
Nnd mercifuI toward those who while they
va great fesfAs h.e1e also great virtues
seople are barren of virtues; no
verify, but no flowers. / must not
100 much enraged alta nettle along the