The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1900-08-16

houses to keep alive under the overshadow-
ing pressure of great houses will continue.
Therefore, taking things as they are, you
will be wise to preserve your equilibrium
and your honesty and your faith and throw
over all the counters and shelves and casks
the measuring line of divine right. And
TIE Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest
thou? And | said, A plumb line"
In the same way we need to rectiiy our
theologes. All sorts of religions are put
ting forth their pretension; Some have q
spiritualistic religion. and their Chief work
is with ghosts, and others religion OF
political economy, proposing to put an end
to human misery by a new style of taxa
ton, and there is a humanitarian rellglon
that looks after the bodies OF men ana
lets the soul look after itself, and there Is
a legislative religion that proposes to rec
tify all WRONGS by enactment OF better
laws, and there is an aesthetic rehgIon
that by rules of exquisite taste would lit
the heart out of its deformities and reli-
gions of all sorts, religions by the peck, re-
ligions by the square foot and religions by
the ton, all of them devices OF the deyll
that would take the heart away from the
only religion that will ever effect anything
for the / man race, and that is tHe
straight up and down religion written IN
the book which begins with Genesis and
ends with Revelation, the religion OF the
skies the old religion, the God gwen rell-
gion the everlasting religion, which says
Love God above all and your nelghbor as
yourself" All religions but one begin at
the wrong end and in the wrong place.
get right with God. 1t begins at the top
and measures down, while the other rell-
pions begin at the bottom and try to
measure up. ,
want you to notice this fact. that
when man gives up the straight up ana
down religion of the Bible for any new
tangled religion it is generally to suit ms
sins. You first hear Of his change of reli-
gion, and then you hear of some swlndie
he has practiced in a special mining stock
telling some one if he will put in Sl0,o0o
he can take out 100000, or he has sacr,-
feed his integrity or plunged into lrremed,
liable worldliness. His sins are SO broad
he has to broaden his religion, and he be-
comes az broad as temptation, as broad as
the souls darkness, as broad as hell: 1hey
want religion that will allow them to
keep their sins and then at death say to
them. well done, good and faithful ser ser
want" and that tells them: "All is well,
| for there r. no hell" What glorious
heayen they hold before us! Come, let Us IS
the babes he massqcrSd, There are
Charles Gliteau and Robespierre,, the tn
feeder of the French guillotine, and all the
| liars, thieves, house burners. garroters'
pickpockets and llbertines OF all the centu,
ries They have all got crowns ana
thrones and harps and scepters, and when,
they chant they sing, Thanksgiving and
..onor and glory and power to the broad
religion that lets us all into heaven with
out repentance and without faith IN those
humiliating dogmas of ecclesiastical Ola
foGvism."
Nv text gives me grand opportunity
of saving a useful word to all young men
4. L.,I Co, n fpt1
OF what use to a stCnemason or a brlck-
lavcr is a plutub line? Why not build the
wall by the unaided eye and hand? Be
cause they are insufficient, because II there
be DETECTION in the wall it cannot FUR
Their on be corrected. Because, by the
law Of gravitG ton, wall must be straight
in order to he symmetrical and safe. A
young man is in danger of getting detect
in his wall oil character that may never De
corrected.
Hear it, men and boys, women and girls,
all the fun is on the side of right. Sin may
seem attractive, out it is deathful; and like
the manchineel tree whose dews are
poisonous. The only genuine happiness Is
in a Christian life
There theg 90, two brothers. The one
was converted year ago in church one
Sunday MOI ming during prayer or sermon
or hymn. No one knew it at the time.
The persons on either side Of him sus-
pected no.ning, but in that young
mans soul this process went on: LORD
here | am, young man amid the tempta-
tions of city life, and | am afraid to risk
them alone Come and be my pardon and
nv help. Save me from making the mis-,
take some Of my comrades are making, ana
save me new" And quicker than a flash
God rolled heaven into his soul. lie IS
lust as Jolly as he used to be, is Just as
brilliant as he used to be. He can strike
a ball or catch one as easily as before, he
was converted. With gun or fishing rod IN
this summer vacation he is lust Is skliltul
as before. The world is brighter to him
than ever. He appreciates pictures, music,
innocent hilarity. social life, good Jokes
and has plenty of fun, glorious, tun but
his brothey is going down hill. In tne
morning his head aches from the cham
payne debanch. Everybody sees he is IN
rapid descent. What cares he for. right
or decency or the honor of his family
name? Turned out of employment, de-
pleted in health, cast down in spirits the
typhoid fever strikes him in the smallest
room on the fourth story Of al iift d1i1ine
for his mother and fighting back demons
from his dying pillow, which is besweeated
and torn t. rags. He plunges out OF tins
world, with the shrek of a destroyed
spirit.
God is row throwing that plumb line
over this republic, and it is solemn time
with this nation, and whether we keep
His Sabbaths or dishonor them, whether
righteousness or iniquity dominate, whether
we are Christian or infdel, whether we
fulil our mission or refuse, whether we
are for God or against Him, will decide
whether We shall as a nation so on IN
higher and higher career or go down in the
same grave where Babylon and Nlneveh
and Thebes are sepulchered.
But" say you, '''if there be nothing but
plumb ike, what can any OF us do, for
there is an old proverb which truthfully
declares, If the best mans faults were
written on his forehead, it would make
him pull his hat over his eyes. What shall
We do when, according to Isaiah, God
shall lay judgment to the line and right
eousness the plummetF
All. here is where the gospel comes IN
with a Saviour's righteousness to make up
for our deficits And while [ see hanging
on the wall plumb line, see also hang
ing there a cross. And while the one con-
demns us. the other saves US, Ii only we
will hold to it,
And here md now you may be set tree
with more glorious liberty than Hamp-
der mr. Sidney or Kosciusko ever fought