The Penn's Grove record., 1900-09-21
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject: Nations Are J~ndsed-God Re-
wards and Furnishes Them on Earth
Gods Judgments Likened to the Swift
Sweep of q Razor.

Subject: Nations Are Jndged-God Re-
wards and Furnishes Them on Earth
God's Judgments Likened to the Swift
Sweep Of q Razor.
Copyright 1901
WASHINGTON, D. Cdr. Talmage, in
his journey westward through Europe, has
recently visited scenes of thrilling his
toric events. He sends this sermon, in
which he shows that nations are judged
in this world, and that God rewards them
for their virtues and Furnishes them for
their crimes. The text is Isaiah vii, 20,
I'm the same day shall the Lord shave
with a razor that is hired, namely, by
them beyond the river, by the king Of
Assyria."
The Bible is the oldest book ever writ
ten. There are no similitudes in Ossian
or the Had or the Odyssey so daring. Its
imagery sometimes seems on the verge of
the reckless, but only seems so. The fact
is that God would startle and arouse and
pI?ropel men and nations. A tame and
plish the object. While there are times
when He employs in the Bible the gentle
dew, and the morning cloud, and the dove
and the daybreak in the presentation. Of
truth, we often find the iron chariot, the
lightning, the earthquake, the spray, the
sword and in my text the razor. This
keen bladed instrument has advanced in
usefulness with the ages. In Bible times
and lands the beard remained uncut save
in the seasons of mourning and humilia-
ton, but the razor was always a sugges-
tive symbol; David said Of Doeg, his an
tagonist, Thy tongue. is q sharp razor
working deceitfully"-that is, it pretends
to clear the face, but is really used for
deadly incision,
In this striking text this weapon Of the
toilet appears under the following cir
cumstances. Judea needed to have some
OF it's properties cut off. and God sends
against it three Assyrian kings-frst SEN
naeherib, then Esarhaddon and afterward
Nebuchadnezzar.. These three sharp inva-
sions that cut down the glory of Judea
are compared to SO many sweeps Of the
razor across the face Of the land. And
these devastations were called a hired
razor because God took the kings Of As
syria, with whom He had no sympathy, to
do the work, and paid them in palaces
and spoils and annexations. These kings
were hired to execute the divine behests.
And now the text, which on its first read
ing may have seemed trivial or inapt, is
charged with m~omentous import, In the
that is hired, namely, by them beyond
the river, by the ling of Assyria."
Well. if Gods judgments are razors,
we 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
reach them, Such instruments must be
carefully handled or not handled at all.
But how recklessly some people WELD the
judgment of God! If a man meets with
hrGInaac misfortune hour roonxy %kara -
ready to cry out: s'That is a Judgment of
God upon him because he was unscrupu-
lous or arrogant or over-reaching or mis-
erly. | thought he would get cut down!
What a clean sweep of everything! His
city house and country house gone. His
stables emptied of all the fine bays and
sorrels and grays that used to prance by
his door. All his resources overthrow,
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.
Some OF the most wicked business men
succeed, and they live and die in pros
perity, and some Of the most honest and
conscientious are driven into bankruptcy.
Perhaps the unsuccessful mans manner
was 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.
perial are humble as a child, while many
q man in seedy coat and SLOUGH hat and
nnblackened shoes is as proud as Lucifer.
You cannot tell by a mans look. Per-
haps he was not interruptions in business,
Tor there are two sides to every story, and
everybody that accomplishes anything for
himself or others gets industriously lied
about. Perhaps his business misfortune
was not a punishment, but the fatherly
dlsclpllne 70 prepare him for heaven, and
God may love him far more than He loves
you, who can pay dollar for dollar and are
put Town in the commercial catalogue as
Al" Whom the Lord loveth He gives
100000 and let's die on embroidered pill
lows? No; whom the Lord loveth He
:hasteneth. Better keep your hand off
the 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
very careful how you put the sharp edge
on others. How l do dislike the behavior
of those persons who, when people are
unfortunate, say, Il told you so; getting
punished; served him right" If those |
told you SOS got their desert they would
long ago have been pitched over the bat
Elements. The mote in their neighbours
eyes, SO small that it takes a microscope
to find it, gives them more trouble than
the beam which obscures their own optics.
With air sometimes supercilious and some
times pharisaical and always blasphemous
they take the razor of divine judgment and
sharpen it on the bone Of their own hard
hearts, and then 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.
of nc ho oorof,.v lo-, ,-o ln.l - AZ
ers. lest we take down the wrong ne,
remembering the servant of King William
Rufus who shot at a deer, but the arrow
glanced against a tree and killed the king.
Instead of going out with shafts to pierce
and razorS to cut, we had better initiate
the friend of Richard Occur de Lion.
Richard, in the var 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
Lion had taught him in other days. And
one 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
whereabouts were discovered, and a sue
:essful movement was at once made for
lis iiDeIdtIOH. 90 let us go up and down
the world with the music of kind words
and sympathetic hearts, s~erenading the
unfortunate and trying to get out of
trouble men who had noble natures, but
by unforeseen circumstances lave been
incarcerated, thus liberating kings. More
hymn-book and less razor.
Especially ought we to be apologize
and merciful toward those who while they
have great faults nave also great virtues.
Some people are barren of virtues; no
weeds verify, but no flowers. I must not
be too much enraged at a nettle along the
fence if it be in a field containing forty
acres of ripe Michigan wheat. Some time
ago naturalists told us there was on the
sun a spot 10000 miles long, but from the
brightness and warmth [ concluded it was
a good deal of a sun still. The sun can
afford to have a very large spot upon it,
though it be 10000 miles long, and I am
very apologize for those men who have
great faults while at the same time they
have magnificent virtues.
Again, when | read in my text that the
Lord slaves with the hired razor of Assy-
ria the land of Judea l think myself OF
the precision of Gods providence. A ra-
zor swung the tenth part of an inch out
Of the right line means either failure OF
laceration, but Gods dealings never slip,
and they do not miss by the thousandth
part of an inch the right direction. PEG.
| pie talk as though things in this world
were at loose ends. Cholera swoans ao1.ocs