The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1900-04-14

volumes and sending out ar influence for
God that will endure as long as 1.-THE
Saints Everlasting Rest;" E lward Payson,
never knowing well day, yet how he
preached and how he wrote. helping thou.
ands OF dying souls like himself to swim In
a sea OF glory. And Robert McCheyne,
walking skeleton. yet You know what he
did in Dundee and how he shook Scotland
with zeal tor God; Philip Doddridge, adj
vised by his friends. because OF his illness,
not to enter the ministry, yet you know
what he did for the "Rise and Progress OF
Religion" in the church and in the world.
Wtberforce was told by bis doctors that
he could not live fortnight, yet at that
very time entering upon phiianthroptc en-
terprises that demanded the greatest en-
durance and persistence; Robert Hall, SUI
fering excruciations, so that often In the
pulpit while preaching no would stop and
lie down on a sofa, then getting up again
to preach about heaven until the glories OF
the celestial city dropped on the multi
tude, doing more work. perhaps, than al
most any we'll man In his day.
Oh, how often fs 1t that pen with great
physical endurance are hot as great In
moral and spiritual staturei While there
are achievements for those who are bent
all their days with sickness achievements
OF patience, achievements OF Christian en-
durance-I call upon men OF health, men
OF muscle, men OF nerve, men OF physical
power, to devote themselves to the Lord.
Behold also, In the story OF my text, IL
lustration OF the fact Of the damage that
strength can do ii 1t be misguided. 1t
seems to ne tint this man spent great
deal OF his time In doing evil, this Samson
OF my text. To pay bet which he had
lost by the guessing OF his riddle be robs
and kills thirty people. He was not only
gigantic In strength, but gigantic In mis-
chief, and type OF those men In all ages
~ ka xub m
or any faculty OF social position or wealth,
have used thelr strength for Ubiquitous
purposes.
It Is not tho small, weak men Of the day
who do the damage. These small men who
go swearing and loallng about your stores
and shops and banking houses, assailing
Christ and tho Bible aud the church-they
do not do the damage. They have no In
fuence. They are vermin that you crush
with your foot. But 1t is tho giants OF the
day, the misguided giants, giants in phys
zeal power, or giants In mental acumen,
or giants in social position, or giants
in wealth, who do the damage. The
men with sharp pens that stab re-
ligion and throw poison all through
our literature, the men who use the power
of wealth to sanction iniquity and bride
Justice and make truth and honor bow to
their golden scepter. Misguided giants
look out for themi In the middle and lat.
Ter part OF Tic lSSt century HO uOuuI lucIc
were thousands OF men In Paris and Edin-
burg.l and London who hated God and
bias pheined the name OF the Almighty, but
they did but little Unsatisfactory were
small men, Insignificant rien. Yet there
were giants in those days. Who can cal
cuIate the soul havoc of Rousseau, go
| ing on with a very enthusiasm of IN
upon all the impulsive natures OF his
| day? Or David Hume, who employed
| his life as q spider employs its sum-
| mer, In spinning out 81 ken webs to trap
| the unwary? Or Voltaire, the most learned
man OF his day, marshaling great host Of
| land ofinlldelity? Or Gibbon, who showed
an uncomfortable grudge against religion
in his history OF one of the most fascinat-
| ing periods OF the worlds existence-the
sd ecline and Fall OF the Roman Empire"
IA book In which, with all the splendors
of his genius, he magnifed tho errors Of
| Christian disciples, while with sparse
ness Of notice that never can be forgiven
he treated of the Christian heroes OF whom
| the world was not worthy?
Oh, men OF stout physical health. men Of
| great mental stature, men OF high social
position, men OF great power OF any sort,
want you to understand your power and I
want you to know that that power devoted
| to God will be a crown on earth, to you
L
| ed, bedraggied In sin, administrative of
| evil, God will thunder against you with His
! condemnation in the day when millionaire
and pauper, master aud slave. king and
subject shall stand side by side In the judg-
men and money bags and Judicial crime
and royal robe shall be riven with the
! lightnings.
Behold also how a giant may be slain OF
! 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 he'll through the same fascina-
lions. 1t seems to me that 1t Is high time
that pulpit and platform and printing
press speak out against the impurities OF
| MODERN society. Fastidiousness 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 g,ittering generalities; the subject Is too
delicate for polite ears" But there comes
| voice from heaven overpowering the
mincing sentimentaiities OF the day. say
| ing, "Cry aloud, spare nor, lift up thy voice
| like a trumpet, and show My people their
| transgressions and the house Of Jacob their
sins.''
The trouble is that when people write or
| speak upon this theme they are apt to cover
| 1t up with the graces OF bellies lettres, SO
| that the crime is made attractive instead
l
adorns this crime until 1t smiles like May
queen. Michelet, the great French writer,
covers ii up with bewitching rhetoric until
| 1t CLOVIS like the rising sun, when 1t ought
TO be mads loathsome as smallpox hos
pital. There are to-day influences abroad
which, II unresisted by the pulpit a1d the
| printing press, will turn our modern cities
| into Sodoms and Gomorrahs, fit only for
| the storm OF fire and birthstone that
whelmed the cities OF the plain.
II, then, we are to be compelled to go
| out OF the world, where are we to go to?
This body and soul must soon part. What
| shall be the destiny OF the former know
| dust to dust But what shall be the des-
| tiny OF the latterf Shall 1t rise into the
companionship of the white robbed, whose
| sins Christ has slain, or will 1t go down
among the unbelieving, who tried to gain
| the world and save their souls, but were
swindled out OF both? Blessed be Godl
| We have Championl He is so styled In
the Bible: A Champion who has conquered
death and hell, and He Is ready to fight all
our battles from the first to the last.
"Who is this that cometh up from Edom
| with dyed garments from Bozrah, mighty
TO saver"
In the light OF this subject want to cal
YOUR attention to a fact which may not
have been rightly considered, and that Is
the fact that we must be brought into
Judgment for the employment OF our physi-
cal organism. Shoulder, brain, hand, foot
we must answer In judgment for the use
we have made OF them. Have they been
used for the elevation OF society or Tor It's
depression? Iu proportion as our arm Is
| strong and our step elastic will our account