The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1900-04-20

How often il is that you do not find
physical energy indicative of spiritual
power! If a clear head is worth more
than one dizzy with perpetual vertigo,
If muscles with the play Of health in
them are worth more than those drawn
up in chronic "rheumatics," If an eve
quick to catch passing objects is better
than one with vision DIN and uncertain,
then God will require of us efficiency
just in proportion TO what He has given
us. Physical energy ought TO be
type of moral power. We ought TO have
as good digestion OF truth as we have
capacity TO assimilate food. Our spir-
itual hearing ought TO be as good as
our physical hvaring. Our spiritual
taste ought tc be as clear as our tongue.
Samsons in body. we ought to be giants
in moral power.
II is a most shameful fact that much
Of the business OF the church and of the
world must be done by those compare
lively invalid. Richard Baxter, by rea-
son of his diseases, all his days sitting
in the door OF his tomb, yet writing
more than 100 volumes and sending out
an influence for God that will endure
aslong as the Saints Everlasting Rest"
Edward Payson, never knowing a well
day, yet how he preached and how he
wrote. helping thousands of dying
souls like himself to swim in the sea Of
glory. And Robert McCheyne, a walk
ing skeleton. yet you know what he did
I'm Dundee and how he shook Scotland
with zeal for God. Philip Doddridge,
advised by his friends because Of his i'll
ness not TO enter the ministry, yet you
know what he did for the Rise and
Progress of Religion" in the church of
the world.
II is not the small. weak men OF the
day who do the damage. These small
men who 90 swearing and loafng about
your stores and shops and banking
houses. assailing Christ and the Bible
and the church-they do not do the
damage. They have no influence. They
are vermin that you crush with your
foot But II is the giants Of the day,
the misguided giants, giants in physic-
al 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 religion and
throw their poison all through our lit
erature, the men who use the power Of
wealth 10 sanction iniquity and bribe
Justice. and make truth and honor bow
70 their golden scepter. Misguided gi-
ants-look out for theml In the middle
and latter part Of the last century no
doubt there were thousands OF men in
Paris and Edinburgh and London who
hated God and blasphemed the name OF
the Almighty; but they did but little
mischief-they were small men. insig-
nifcant men. Yet there were giants in
those davs. Who can calculate the soul
havoc Of Rousseau. going on with
very enthusiasm Of iniquity, with fiery
Imagination seizing upon all the impul-
sive natures Of his day. or David Hume,
who employed his life as a spider en-
ploys its summer, in spinning out silk
en- webs to trap the unwary. or Noltaire,
the most learned man Of his day. mar
shaling a great host OF skeptics and
leading them out IN the dark land Of In
fidelity. or Gibbon. who showed m un-
comfortable 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
splendor Of his genius. be magnified the
errors OF Christian disciples, while with
q sparseness Of notice that never can be
forgiven he treated Of the Christian he
roes 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 pow
er Of any sort, want you to under
stand your power, and l want you to
know that that power devoted to God
will be a crown on earth, to you typical
of a crown in Heaven. but misguided,
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 the judgment and
money bags and judicial ermine and
royal robe shall be riyen with the light
nings.
You who are seated in your Christian
homes, compassed by moral and reh-
gious restraints, do not realize the
gulf Of iniquity that bounds you on the
north and the south and the east and
the west. While / speak there are
tens of thousands of men and wom-
en- going over the awful plunge Of an
impure life. and while l cry to God for
mercy upon their souls cry to you to
marshal in the defense Of your homes,
your church and your nation. There is
a banqueting hall that you have never
heard described. Youknow all about the
feast Of Ahasuerus, where LOCO lords
sat. You know all about Belshazzar's
carousal. where the blood of the mur-
dered king spurted into the faces OF
the banqueters. You 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 tessd-
/ lated with fire. It's chalices are chased
with fire. It's song is a song Of fire.
Its walls are buttresses of fire. Solo
mon refers to il when he says: Her
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