The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-01-12

you will be put in many a doggerel and
snubbed by those not worthy to black
en- your oldest shoes. When the bridge
at Ashtabula broke and let down the
most of the carload Of passengers to in
slant death, Mr.. p. p. Bliss was seated
on one side OF the aisle of the car writ
ing down a Christmas song which he
was composing. and o. the other side
a group OF men were playing cards.
Whose landing place in eternity would
you prefer-that of p. p. Bliss, the gos-
pei singer, or of the ard players7
A great complaint comes from the
theatres about the ladies' high hats
because they obstruct the view of the
stage, and a lady reporter asked me
what ] thought about il, and / told her
that il the indecent pictures Of ac-
tresses in the show windows were ac-
curate pictures OF what goes on in
many of the theatres night by night
then il would be well IL the ladies' hats
were a mile high, so as 10 completely
obstruct h vision If professed Chris
tians go to such places during the
week, no one will yer prosecute them
for their religion, for they have none,
and they are the joke Of hell. But let
them live a consecrated n Christian
life n they will Don run against
sneering opposition.
BAND TOGETHER.
For a compromise Christian charac-
ter an easy time now, but for use
Grated behavior, grimace and carica-
ture. For the body, thanks to the God
of free America, there are now no
swords or fiery stakes, put for the
souls Of thousands of the good, in a
fgurative sense. rack and gibbet and
Torquemada. The symbol of the do
nestle and social and private and pub
lie suffering of a great multitude of
y 49,
What an exciting scene in India when,
during the sepoy rebellion, a regiment
of highlanders came up n found the
dead body of one of General Wheeler's
daughters, who had been insulted and
mauled and slain by the sepoys. So
great was the wrath against these
murderers hat the Scotch regiment sat
down, and, cutting off the hair of this
lead daughter of General Wheeler,
they divided it among them, and each
n counted the number of hairs given
him. and each took an oath, which was
executed, that for each hair of the
murdered daughter they would dash
out the life Of a bestial sepoy. But as
we look over the story Of those who in
all ages have suffered for the truth,
while we leave vengeance to the Lord,
Let IS band together in one solemn
VOW, one tremendous oath, after hav-
ing counted the lost of the martyrs,
that for each one of those glorious
men n women who disd for the truth
an immortal shall live, live with God
and live forever.
But, as I already limited in the first
sentence of this sermon, nothing can
be more beautiful han the figures of
smoke on a clear sky You can see
what you will in the contour of this
vapor, now enchanted castles,
now troops of horsemen, now banner-
ed procession, now winged couriers,
now a black angel Of wrath under a
spear of the sunshine turne % an an
gel of light, and now from 4orizon to
horizon THE air is a picture gallery
filled with masterpieces of which God
is the artist, burning clouds of smoke
born in the sunrise and evening clouds
of smoke laid in the FURNISHED sep
ulchers of. the sunset.
The beauty Of the TRANSPORTED smoke
is a divine symbol of the beauty of the
church The fairest of all the fair is
h Do not call those prosecutors of
whom 1 spoke the church. They are
church itself. Her mission is to cover \
the. earth with a supernatural glad
to open all the prison doors, to
balsam all the wounds, to moss all the
ito burn up the night in the
fireplace of a great morning, to change
lTOu HduucullS lnlO UldI1OUQeQ WrlSl- |
lets, to turn the Whole race around and
it faced death, commanding |
it, Right abou face for heaveni" Ac-
cording to the number of the spires of
the churches in all our cities, towns
and neighborhoods are the good homes, !
the worldly properties and the pure
morals and the happy souls.
CRIME AND CHURCHES.
Meet me at any depot the world over
with my eyes closed take me by
he han and lead me so that my feet
will not stumble, and without my once
down or looking on the level
take me to some high roof or tower
let me see the tops Of the church.
IS, and 1 will tell % the proportion of
of arsons, of MURDERS, of
According as the churches are
are the crimes few. Ac-
as are the churches few the
crimes are numerous. The most beau
.iful organization the world ever saw
,r ever will see is the much maligned
the friend of all good, the foe
If all evil, fair as the moon and clear
Ia the sun" Beautiful in her Author,
beautiful in her mission, the heroine
II the centuries. the bride Of Christ,
he queen Of the nations!
Men may desecrate it, as Cromwell,