The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-02-28

| pulplE "ui'e preaching le WOuiu stop an0
lie down on Il sofa, then getting up again
the ceiestin! city dropped Oh the multi.
tude, doing more work perhaps, than al.
most any vel! man IN his dag.
Oh, how often Is it that men with great
physical endurance are not as great ir
moral and spiritual stature. While there
are achievements FOR those who are bent
| all their days with sickness achievements
! OF patience, achievements OF Christian en-.
duran call upon men Of health, men
OF muscle, men OF nerve, men OF physical
power, to devote themselves 20 the Lord.
Giants in body, you ought to he giants in
| SOUL
Behold also. in the story Of my text, Il.
lustra:ion OF the fact Of the damage that
strength can do il II be misguided. 1t
seems to ne that this man spent great
deul OF his time in uoinG evil, this Samson
Of my text. To pay q bet which he had
lost by the guessing OF his riddle he robs
and kills thirty people. He WAS not only
| gigantic in strength, but gigantic In mis-
J chief, and Il type of those men IN all ages
OF the world who, powerful In body or mind
o. any faculty Of social position or wealth,
| have used their strength for iniquitous
| purposes.
It Is not the small, weak men OF the day
| who do the damage. These small men who
| go swearing and Toafng' about your stores
| and shops and banking houses, assailing
Christ aud the Bible and the bureh-they
do not do the damage. They have no in
huence. They are vefmin that you crush
with your foot. = But It is the giants OF the
day, the misguided giants, giants in phys
icai power, or giants in mental acumen,
or giants In social position, or giants
in wealth. who do the idama2e. The
AiaA Tdhu - nrso a rn-
.ligfon and throw poison 3aH through
oar literature, the men who use the power
OF wealth TO sanction. tniauity and bribe
Justice and make truth aud Shonor bow to
their golden scepter. Misguided glantSs,
look out for theml In the middle and luz
ter part of the last centuryno doubt there
were thousands Of men in Paris and Edin.
burgh and London who hated God and
blasphemed the name OF the Almighty, but
they did but little mtschiei-they were
smatl men, Insignificant men. Yet there
were giants insthose days. Who can CAL
IGulateS the soul havoc Of a Rousseau, 60
| Ing on with sa very enthusiasm OF in
EQUITY, with fiery imagination SELLING
upon ssal s.the mpuIsiys nat1res Of bis
day? Or !: David Hume who employed
Hhis life as a. spider 5eInp ploys9 It's sum-
liner, In spinning out sisken webs to trap
EEtheunwnry2 Or YoIt Italre, the most learned
man OF his day inarshaling q great host OF
sekep ptics and LEAD dsnRs them out, In the dark
ffand pt ttnfideltty or Glbbon, who showed
an unc controliab able Erudge against religion
finA bic lstorY:oi one Of the most fascinat-
ttnS psrIods of tlje worlds existence-the
iSsDecti tines and Fall the Roman Empire"
IN book Inv hich. With all the splendors
jl0fs his EeIi1is he mAgniaed the errors OF
EUhrIsffHn q itscipie While with q sparse.
a1esso u moi lee THAT never Gun be forgiven
fhe,ffaSf i'd 0Efhe Ctiristian heroes OF whom
t4h6 S3FHs not worthy?
men of stout physical health, men OF
kEregf mentEt stnture, men OF high social
Es6sfsl6n mem or great power OF any sort,
{f1nt YOU tounderstand your power and I
M1ntyou to Know that that power devoted
| 10 God will be o crown on earth, to you
| typical OF a crown In heaven, but misguid.
! ed, bedraggled In sin, administrative OF
evil, God will thrn against you with His
condemnation in the day when millionaire
and pauper, master and slave, king and
subj ect shall stand side by side In the judg-
men and money bags and judicial crime
| and royal robe shali be riven with the
| lightnings.
Behold also how giant may be, slain, OF
q woman. Deilah. started the train OF cir.
cumstances that pulled down the temple OF
Dagon about Samson's ears. And tens OF
| thousands OF giants have gone down to
death and hell through the same fascino-
tions. It seems to me that 1t Is high time
that pulpit and platform and printing
| press speak out against the impurities OF
uodern society. Fas.idiousness and prud-
cry say, "Better not speak; you will rouse
up adverse criticism; you will make worse
what you want to make better; better deal
In gl!tterine Senerallties; the subject is too
delicate for polite ears" But there comes
|
mincing sentimentaIities OF the day, say
ing, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice
| like q trumpet, and show My people their
| trapsgrsssions aud the house OF Jacob their
SINS"
Tbs trouble Is that when people. write or
spenk upon this theme they are apfto cover
| 1t up with the grnces OF bellies lettres, so
| that the crime is made attractive instead
| Of repulsive. Lord Byron, In Don Juan,
| adorns this crime until 1t smiles like May
queen. Mlcheet, the grent French writer,
covers it up with bewitchtng rhetoric until
1t glows like the rising sun, when 1t ought
| to be mads lonthsome Us q smallpox hos
| pital. There are to-day influences abroad
which, II unresisted by tue pulpit ana i the
printing press, will turn our modern cities
| into Sodoms aud Gomorrabs, fit only foE
the storm OF fire md birthstone that
VIII elmed the cities OF the plain.
You who are seated In your Christian
homes, compassed by moral and religious
restraints, 70 not realize the gull OF In
iuuity th' pounds you on the north and
| the soutl md the east and the west.
While speak there are tens OF thousands
| OF men and women going over the awful
plunge OF IN Impure life, and while cry to
God for mercy upon their souls call upon
YOU to marshal In the defense OF your
homes. your church and your nation.
There ls O banqueting hall that you have
never heard described. You know nll
| about the feast Of Ahasuerus, where q
| thousand lords sat. You know all about
Bslshazzar's carousal, where the blood OIL
the murdered king spurted into tho faces
of the banqueters. You may know OF the
scene OF riot and wassail where there was
set before Esopus one dish OF food that
cost 100000. But speak now OF differ,
eat bauqueting hall. Its roof is fretted
with fire. Its floor Is tessellated with fire.
Its chaIlces are chased with fire. Its song
| is song OF fire. Its walls are huttresses OF
fire. Solomon refers 10 1t When lie says,
"Her guests are in the depths OF hell"
II, then, we are to be compelled to 80
out of the world, where are Va to go top
| This body and soul must soon16art. What
shull be the destiny OF the foId know
dust to dust. But what shall "a the des-
tiny OF the latter? Shall it rxsS into the
compauionship OF the while robbed, whose
sins Christ has slain, or Will tt1go down
aneug the unbsllsvtng, who tried to gain
the world and savs their souls: but were
swindled out Of both? Blessed be God!
We have a Chn,npion He 1850 styled In
the Bible: A Champion who has conquered
death and hell, lind He is readyato fight all
! our battles from the first to the last.
| 'sWho Is this that cometh! up from Edom
with dyed garments from Bozrah, mighty
In the light OF thisslbiect want to call
YOUR attention to afaot which may not
have been rightly sconsid sidered, and that Is
1 the fsct that wss%inust be brought Into
Judgment Tor the employment OF 9lr physl-