Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1900-02-16

oh. how often is it that men with great
physical endurance are not as great IN
moral and spiritual stature! 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 pnYslcai
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 IL 1t be misguided. 1t
seems to me that this man spent great
deal of his time In doing evil, this Samson
of nv text. To pay bet which he had
lost by the guessing OF his riddle bo RODS
and kills thirty people. He was not only
gigantic In strength, but gigantic In mis-
chief, and type OF those men in all ages
of the world who, powerful In body or mind
or any faculty of social position or wealth,
have used their strength for iniquitous
purposes.
It Is not the small, weak men OF the day
who do the damage. These small men who
go swearing and loahng about your stores
and shops and banking houses, assailing
Christ and the Bible and the chureh-they
do not do the damage. They have no in
fluence. They are vermin that you crush
with your foot But 1t Is the giants Of the
day, the misguided giants, giants in phys
ical 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 the last century no doubt there
do ~ In nrto nj
burgh and London who hated God and
blasphemed the name OF the Almighty, but
they did but little mischief-they were
small men, Insignificant men. Yet there
we're giants In those days. Who can cal
culate the soul havoc of Rousseau, 60
ing on with a very enthusiasm OF in
iquity, with fiery imagination Selling
upon all the impulsve natures OF his
day? Or David Hume, who employed
his life as spider employs its sum.
mer, In spinning out si;ken webs to trap
the unwary? Or Voltaire, the most learned
man of his day, marshaling great host OF
skeptics and leading them out III the dark
land ofinhdelity2 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
decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
"a book in which, with all the spleudors
of his genius, he magnif1ed the errors oil
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 ]
want you to know that that power devoted
to God Will be q crown on earth, to you
typical of crown in heaven, but misguid.
ed, bedraggled in sin, administrative OF
evil, God will thunder against you with His
condemnation in the day when millionaire
and pauper, master and slave, king and
subject shall stand side by side in theiudg-
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
a woman. Delilah 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
aeath and hell through the same fascina-
tions. 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 AID prud-
cry say, Better not speak; you will rouse
up,adverse criticism; you will make wo,se
what you want to make better; better deal
In gl!ttering generalties; the subject is too
delicate for polite ears" But there comes
voice from heaven overpowering the
mincing sentimentalities of the day, say.
ing, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice
like 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
vuif a n
that the crime Is made attractive instead
of repulsive. Lord Byron, In Don Juan,
adorns this crime until 1t smiles like q May
queen. Michelet, the great French writer,
covers 1t 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 unreslsted 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.
II, then, we are to be compelled to go
out OF the 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 des-
tiny OF the latter? Shall 1t rise into the
companionshtp Of the white robbed, whose
sins Christ has slain, or will 1t go down
among the unbelievng, who tried to gain
the world and save their souls, but were
swindled out of both? Blessed be God!
We have Championl He is so styled In
the Bibles 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 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 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 for its
depression? In proportion as our arm is
strong and our step elastic will our account
at last be intensified Thousands of SER
mons 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
a mile without sitting down to rest. Yet
how much many Of them accomplished!
Rising up in judgment, standing beside the
men and women who had only little physi-
cal energy and yet consumed that energy
In conflagration OF religious enthusiasm,
how will we feel abasbed! o 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
lay when We must answer for the use of
every talent, whether 1t where physical
energy or mental acumen or q spiritua:
power?