The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-11-09

er, and the wholesale dealer wants his
money, and he rushcs upon the r.rail- /
er, and the retailer wants his money
and he rushes on the customer, and we
all 90 down together. There is many |
a man in this day who rides in a car
riage and owes the blacksmith sor the
tire and the wheelwright for the
wheel and the trimmer for curtain
and the driver for unpaid wages and
the harness maker foT the bri lie and
the furrier for the robe while from the
tip of the carriage tongue clear back
to the tip of the camel's hair shawl
fiuttering out of the back Of the vehi-
Gle everything is paid for by notes that
have been three times renewed.
1 tell you that in this country we
shall never get things right until we
stop borrowing and pay as We go. II is
this temptation to borrow that keeps
the people everlastingly praying to the
golden calf for help. and just at the
minute they expect the help the golden
calf treadS on them. The judgments
of God, like Moses in the text, will rush
in and break UP this worship, and /
say let the work go on until every man
shall learn to speak truth with his
neighbor, those who make engage
ments shall feel themselves bound TO
keep them, and when a man who will
not repent of his business iniquity, but
goes on wishing to satiate his cannibal
appetite by devouring dow houses,
shall, by the law of the land, be COM
PEELED to exchange the b~rownstone
front for the p~enitentiary. Let the
golden calf perish!
IDOLS DEMOLISHED.
But, if we have made this world our
god, when we come to die we shall see
our idol demolished. How much of this
world are you going to take with you
into the next? Will you have two pock-
ts-on in each side of your shroud?
Will you cushion your casket with
bonds and mortgages n certificates
of stock? All, no! The ferryboat that
crosses this Jordan takes no baggage
nothing heavier than an immaterial
spirit. You may, perhaps, take $500
with you'two or three miles in the
shape of funeral trappingS to the ceme-
terry, but you will have to leave them
there. 1t would not be safe for you to
lie down there with a gold watch or
diamond ring. 1t would be a tempta-
ton to the ~pillagers. II We ave made
this world our god, we shall see our
idol when we die ground to pieces by
our pillow, and we shall have to drink
it in bitter regrets for the wasted OPP
portunities of a lifetime. Soon we will
be gone. Where are men who tried
Warren Hastings in Westminster ha,,
Where are the pilgrim fathers, who
put out for America? Where are the
veterans who on the rourth of July,
1894, marched from New York park to
the Battery and fired a salute and then
marched back again? and the Society
Of the Cincinnati who alned that after
moor at Tontrine coffee house on Wall
street? and Grant Thoburn, who that
afternoon waited Is minutes at the
foot of Maiden lane for the Brooklyn
ferryboat, then got in and was rowed
across by two men with oars, the tide
so strong that it was an hour and ten
minutes before they landed? Where
are the veterans that fired the salute
n the men of the Cincinnati society
who that afternoon drank to the pa
triotic toast? and the OarSmen that
rowed the boat? and the people who
were transported? Gone!~ Oh, this is a
f1eeeting world! 1t is a dying world.
A man who a worshipped it all his
days in his dying momen described
himself when he said, Fool, fool, fool"
UNFAILING SECURITIES.
I want you to change temples and to
give up the worship of this unSatiSfy-
ing and cruel god for the service of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is the gold
that will never crumble. Here are the
securities that will never fail. Here are
the banks that will never break. Here
is an altar on which there has been
one sacrifice that does for all, for by
one sacrifice hath Christ perfected for
ever them that are sanctified." Here
is a God who will comfort you when
you are in trouble and soothe you when
you are sick and save you when you die.
For he has said: When thou passest
through the waters, l will be with thee,
and through the rivers they shall not
overflow thee; when thou walkest
through the fire, thou halt not be
burned, neither shall the flame kim
upon thee"
When your parents have breathed
their last and the old. wrinkled and
trembling hands can no more be put
upon your head for a blessing, he will
be to you a father and mother both
giving you the defense of one n the
comfort of the other. For have we not
Paul's blessed hope hat as Jesus died
and rose again, "even so them also
which sleep in Jesus shall God bring
with him." And when your children
go away from you, the sweet darlings,
you will not kiss them and say goodby
forever. He only wants to hold them
for you a little while. He will give
e back to you again, and he will
have them all waiting for you at the
gates of eternal welcome. Oh, what a
God he isl He will allow you to come
so close that you can put yours arms
around his neck, while he in respons
will put his arms around your neck,
and all the windows of heaven will be
hoisted to let the redeemed look out
and see the spectacle of a rejoicing
father and a returned prodigal locked
in that glorious embrace. Quit worship
ing the golden calf and bow this day
before him in whose presence We must
all appear when the world has turned
to ashes.
When shriveling like a parched scroll,
The flaming heavens together roll,
When louder yet and yet more dread
Swells the high tramp that wakes the
dead.
Copyright, 1900. Louis Klopsch, n. "
Stevenson at the Polls.
Bloomington, ILL.,, November 6-Adlai