The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-02-16

d Shall HnlllStlne lnlQu1ty
puts a man. Yes, these Philistines
up the mines. and then they took
the spears and h swords; then they
took the blacksmiths, then they took
the grindstones, and they took every
thing but a file. oh, that is the way
sin works; it grabs everything, 1t be-
gins with robbery and ends with rob-
berry. 1t despoils this faculty and that
faculty and keeps on until the whole
nature is zone. Was the man eloquent
before, it generally thickens his tongue.
Was he fine in personal appearance.
II his yiSSage. Yves he a%ffiuent, IL
sends h sheriff to sell him out. Was
he influential. ii destroys his populari-
ty. Was he placid and genial n low
ing, 1t makes him splenetic and cross,
and so utterly is he changed that you
can see he is sarcastic and rasping and
that the Philistines have left him moth
ing but a file.
On, the way of the tr~ansgressor is
hard!" His cup is bitter. His night
is dark. His pangs are deep. His end
is %terrifs. Philistine iniquity says to
that man Now, surrender to me and
/ will give you all you want-music for
the dance, swift steeds for the race,
imperial couch to slumber on, n you
shall be refreshed with the rearest
fruits, in baskets OF golden filigree."
He lies. The music turns out to be a
groan The fruit burst the rind with
rank poison. The filigree is made I'D
of twisted reptiles. The couch is a
grave. Small allowance of rest, small
allowance of peace, small allowance of
comfort. Cold, hard, rough-nothing
but a file. So it was with Voltaire,
the most ~applauded man of his day.
The Scripture was his jestbCoA. wl-nce
he drew
Bonmots to gall the Christian and the
Jew.
An inidel when well, but what when
sick?
Oh, then a text would touch him to the
quick
Seized with hemorrhage of the lungs
in Paris, where he had gone to be
crowned as the idol of all France, he
sends a messenger to get a priest, that
he may be reconciled to the church be-
fore he dies. a great terror falls upon
him. Philistine iniquity nae promised
him all the worlds garlands, but in
the last hour of his life, when he needed
a solacing, sent tearing across his ON
science n his nerves a file, a file.
So 1t was with Lord Byron; his I'M
cleannesS in Venice, then going on to
end his brilliant misery in Missolonghi,
fretting at his nurse Fletcher, fretting
at himself, fretting at the world, fret
III q 1Ou, III lS VIII gave liz WOTlQ
'Childe Harold" and "Sardanapalus,"
and 1.-THE Prisoner of Chillon,' and
1.-The Siege of Corinth," reduced to
nothing but a file. Oh, sin has a great
facility for making promises, but it has
just as great facility for breaking
them,
ONLY CHEERFUL LIFE.
A Christian life is the only cheerful
life, while a life of wicked surrender
is remorse, ruin and death. It's paint
ed glee is sepulchral ghastliness. In
the brightest days of the Mexican en-
pire Montezuma said he felt gnawing
at his heart something like a canker.
Sin, like a monster wild beast of the
forest, sometimes ticks all over it's vic
time in order that the victim may be
more easily swallowed, but generally
sin rasps, and gals, and tears, and
upbraids, and files. Is it not so, Her.
cd? Is it not so, Hildebrand? Is it
not so, Robespierre? Aye, ayeI 1t is
so, it is so. The way of the wicked
he turneth upside down."
History tells us Inau when Rome
was founded on that day there were
II vultures flying through the air, but
when a transgressor dies the sky is
black with whole f1ocks of them. Vul-
lures, v%ultures, When 1 see sin rob-
bling so many, and 1 see them going
uONu udy ny udy anu week by week,
must give a plain warning. 1 dare
not keep it back, lest 1 risk the saliva
ton of my own o Rover, the pirate
pulled down h warning bell on Inch
cape 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 he went down with all
his cargo God declares, when l say
to the wicked thou shalt surely die,
and thou givest him not warning, thai
same man shall die in his %iniquity, but
his blood will l require at thy hands"
1 learn from this subject what a sad
thing it is when the church of God loses
its metal These Philistines saw tina
If they could only get all the metallic
weapons out of the hands of the Israel
ties, all would be well, n therefore
they took the swords and the spears.
They did not want them to have a
single metallic weapon. When the
metal of the %Israelites was gone, their
strength was gone This is the trouble
with the church Of God today. 1t is
surrendering it's courage. 1t has not
thought metal. How seldom it is that
o see a man taking his position in
pew or in pulpit or in a religious socie-
ty and holding that position against
all oppression, and all trial, and all
persecution, and all criticism. The
church of o today wants more back
bone, more defiance, more consecrated
bravery. more metal. How often you
see a man start out in some good en-
terprise, and at the first blast of OPP
position he has collapsed, and all his
courage gone, forgetting the fact that
If a man be right all the opposition of
the earth pounding away at him can
not do him any permanent damage.
1t is only when a man is wrong tina
he can be damaged. Why, God is 60
ing to vindicate his truth, and he is
going to stand by you, my friends, in
every effort you make for Christ's
and h salvation Of men.
DO YOUR WHOLE DUTY.
Go forth in the service If Christ and
do your whole duty. You have one
sphere. L have another sphere. THE
Lord of Hosts is with us, and the God
OF Jacob is our refuge. Seiah." We
want more of the determination of
Jonathan. l 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 he
hewSd down the PhiliStineS and q MAN