The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1900-02-14


resisted by the pulpit and 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.
You who are seated in your Christian
homes, compassed by moral and religious
restraints, do not realize the gulf of in
EQUITY that bounds you on the north and
the south and the east and the west.
While [ speak there are tens of thou
sands of men and women going over the
awful plunge Of an impure life, and while
cry to God for mercy upon their souls
cry to you to marshal in the defense of
your homes, your church and your ma
ton. There is banqueting hall that you
have never heard described. You know
all about the feast of Ahasuerus, where
1000 lords sat. You know all about Bel
shazzar's carousal, where the blood of the
murdered king spurted into the faces of
the banqueters. You may know of the
scene of riot and wassail where there
was set before Aesopus one dish Of food
that cost 100000. But | speak now of a
different banqueting hall It's roof is
fretted with fire. It's floor is tesselated
with fire. It's chaices are chased with
Ill., 1tS sung Is Il SOIlS VI HIc LIS vans
are buttresses of fire. Solomon refers to
it when he says, Her guests are in the
depths of hell"
Innumerab1e Homes B1ighted.
| Our American communities are suffer
| ing from the gospel of free lovism which
thirty years ago was preached on the
platform and in some of the churches Of
| this country. / charge upon free lovism
that it has blighted innumerable homes
and that it has sent innumerable souls to
ruin. Free lovism is bestial; it is worse
it is infernal 1t has furnished this land
with many thousands of divorces annu-
ally. In one county in the State of In
diana it furnished eleven divorces in one
day before dinner. 1t has reused up
opponents north, south, east and west
You can hardly take up paper but you
read of an eiopement. AS far as l can
understand the doctrine of free lovism,
it IS this--that every man ought to have
somebody else's wife and every wife
somebody else's husband. They do not
like our Christian organization of So
ciety, and | wish they would all elOpe,
the wretches of one sex taking the
wretches of the other, and start to-mor-
row morning for the great Sahara desert
until the simeon shall sweep seven feet
of sand all over them and not one passing
caravan for the next 600 years bring
back one miserable bone of their car
casses! Free lovism! 1t is the double
distilled extract of nux vomica, rats
bane and adders tongue. Never until
society goes back to the old Bible and
hears it's eulogy of purity and it's anath-
Of +bo,, will
this evil be extirpated.
Behold also in this giant of the text
and in the giant of our own century that
great physical power must crumble and
expire. The Samson of the text long ago
went away. He fought the lion. He
fought the Philistines. He could fight
| anything, but death was too much for
him. He may have required a longer
grave and broader grave but the tomb
nevertheless was his terminus.
Parting of Body and Soul.
IT, then, we are to be compelled to go
out of this world, where are we to 60 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
destiny of the latter? Shall it rise into
the c0mpanionship of the white robed,
whose sins Christ has slain, or will it go
down among the Jnbelieying, who tried
to gain the world and save their souls,
but were swindled out of both? Blessed
be God, we have a Champion. 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 saveT' If we follow
in the wake of that Champion, death has
no power and the grave no victory. The
worst man trusting in him shall have his
dying pangs alleviated and his future il
lumined.
In the light OF this subject | want to
call your attention to 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
physical 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 So
ciety or for it's depression? In proper
ton as our arm is strong and our step
elastic will our account at last be intensi-
fed. Thousands of sermons are preached
to invalids. | preach this sermon to
stout men and healthful women. We must
give to God an account for the right use
of this physical organism. These invalids
have comparatively little to account for
perhaps. They could not lift twenty
pounds. They could not walk half
mile without sitting down to rest. Yet
how much many of them accomplish. Ris-
ing up in judgment, standing beside the
men and women who had only little ply
steal energy, and yet consumed that en-
ergy in a confagration of religious enthu-
siasm, how will we feel abashed. Oh,
men of the strong arm and the stout
heart, what use are you making of your
physical forces? Will you be able to stand
the test Of that day when we must an
swer for the use of every talent, whether
it were a physical energy or a mental
acumen, or Il spiritual power?
The Approval of Christ.
The day approaches, and I see one who
in this world was an invalid, and as she
stands before the throne of God to an
swer she says Il was sick all my days.
| had but very little strength, but | did
xyaI ac T oould in bainw bind +o those