Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1900-02-08

them to turn the crank while we bear
down with all orr might on the swift re-
volvnr wheel, until all our energies and
faculties shah he brought ny to a bright,
keen, sharp, glittering edge.
rni on Small Allowance.
Again. my subject teaches us on what
small allowance philistne iniquity puts
Il man. Yes, these Philistncs shut up the
mines and then they took the spears and
the swords; then they took the black
smiths, then they took the eriudstoncs,
and they took everything hut a flo. Oh,
that is the way sin works; it grabs every
thing. II begins with robbery and ends
with robbery. It dcspos this faculty
and tlut faculty and keeps on until the
whole nature is gone Was the man elo-
puent before, it generally thickens his
tongue. Was he fine in personal appear
ance, it mars his ysngc. Was he aiIlu-
ct, it sends the sheriff to sell him out.
Was he influential, it destroys his popu-
larity. Was he placid and genial and
loving, it makes him spicnctic and cross,
and so utterly is he changed that you
can see he i sarcastic and rasping and
that the Philistines have left him moth
ing but file.
Oh, "the way Of the transCressor is
hard" His cup is bitter, His night is
dark His pangs are deep. His end is
terrific PhliStine iuiquty says to that
man; Now, surrender to me and ! will
give you all you want-musc for the
dance. swift stccds for the race, imperial
couch to slumber on, and you shall be re-
freshcd with the rarcst fruits, in baskets
of golden iligree" He lies. The music
turns out to be a Groan. The fruits burst
the rind with rank poison. The filigree is
made up of twisted reptiles. The couch is
a grave. Small allowance of rest, small
ALLOW ance of peace, small allowance of
comfort. Cold, hard rough-nothing but
n file SO it was with Noltaire, the most
applaudcd man of his day.
The Scripture was his textbook whence he drew
Bunmots, to gall the Christian and the jew.
An inddcl when we'll, but what when sick?
Oh, then n text would touch him to the quickl
Seized with hemorrhagc Of the lungs in
Paris, where he had gone to be crowned
as the IDOL of all France, he sends a mes
senger TO get priest that he may be
reconcicd to the church before he dies.
A great terror falls upon him. Philistinc
iniquity had promised him all the worlds
garlands, but i'll the last hour Of his life,
when he needed solacng, sent tearing
across his conscience and his nerves a file,
a file So it was with Lord Byron his
uncleanness in England only surpassed by
his unclcanness in Venice, then going on
to end his brilliant misery in Missoonghi
frotting at his nurse Fletcher fretting at
himself, fretting at the world, fretting at
God, and he who gave the world "Chide
Harold and "Sardanapalus." and The
Prisoner of Chillon," and The Siege OF
Corinth," reduced to nothing but a file.
Oh, sin has great facility for making
promises, but it has just as great facility
for breaking theml
Only Cheerful Life.
a Christian life is the only cheerful life,
while a life Of wicked surrender is re-
morse ruin and death. Its painted glce is
sepulchral ghastliness. In the brightest
days of the Mexican empire Montezuma
said he felt gnawing at his heart some
thing like a canker. Sin, like monster
wild beast of the forest, sometimes ticks
all over its victim in order that the vic
tim may be more easily swallowed, but
generally sin rasps, and gals, and tears,
and upbraids, and files. Is it not so,
Herod? Is it not so, lIildebrand? Is it
not so, Robespierre? Aye, aye. 1t is so,
1t is so. The way Of the wicked he turn
eth upside down.
History tells us that when Rome was
founded on that day there were y vu-
lures flying through the air, but when a
tranSgressor dies the sky is black with
whole hoclis Of them. Nultures! vultures!
When | see sin robbing so many, and |
see them going down day by day and
week by week, must give plain warn
ing. | dare not keep ii back, lest | risk
the salvation of nay own soul Rover, the
pirate pulled down the warning bell on
lnchcape rock, thinking that he would
have a chance to despoil vessels that were
crushed on the rocks, but one night
his own ship crashed down on this very
rock, and be went down with all his
cargo God declares. when | say to the
wicked thou shalt surely die, and thou
giYest him not warning that same man
shall die in his inquity, but his blood will
l require at thy hands"
| learn from this subject what sad
thing ii is when the church of God loses
its metal Those philistines saw that if
they could only get all the metallic weap-
ons out Of the hands of the Israclites, all
would be well, and therefore they took
the swords and the spears. They did not
want them to have IA single metallic
was gone, their strength was gone. This
is the trouble with the church of God to-
day. 1t is surrenderng its courage 1t
has not enough metal. How seldom it is
that you see a man taking his position in
pew or in pulpit or in Il religious society
ana holding that position against all op-
preston, and all trial. and all persecu-
ton, and all criticism. The church of God
today wants more back bone, more def;
nnce, more consecrated bravery, more
metal. How often you see a man start
out in some good enterprise. and at the
ii st blast Of opposition he has collapsed,
and all his courage gone, forgetting the
fact that if man be right all the oppo-
sition of the earth pounding away at him
cannot do him any permanent damage 1t
is only when a man is wrong that he can
be damaged. Why, God is going to vindi.
cate his truth, and he is going to stand
by you, my friends, in every effort you
make for Christ's cause and the salvation
of men.
DO Your Whole Duty.
Go forth in the service of Christ and do
your whole duty. You have one sphere.
| have another sphere 1.-THE Lord of
Hosts is with us, and the God of Jacob is
our refuge, Selah." We want more of
the determination of Jonathan. ! do not
suppose he was a very wonderful man,
but he got on his knees and clambered up
the rock, and with the help of his armor
bearer be hewed down the Philistines