The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-02-23

as a smallpox hospital. There are to-
day influences abroad which IL unre-
sisted by the pulpit n the printing
press will turn our modern cities into
storm Of fire and birthstone that WHEEL
med the cities of the plain
You who are seated in your Chris
tan homes, comprised by moral and
religious restraints, do not realize the
gulf of mighty that bounds you on the
north and the south and h east and
the west. While l speak there are tens
of thousands Of men n women going
over the awful plunge OF an impure
life. and while 1 cry to God for mercy
upon their souls / cry to you TO mar
shall In the defense of your homes,
your church and your nation There
is a banquesting hall that you have
never heard described. You know all
about the feast of Ashasuerus, where
1000 lords sat. You know all about
Belshazzar's ~carousal, where the blood
of the murdered king spurted into the
faces of the banQueters. You may
know of the scene of riot and wassail
where there was set before AesopuS
one dish of food that cost $400, 900.
But / speak now of a different ban
quoting hall. It's roof is fretted with
fire. Its floor is tessellated with fire.
Its chalices are chased with fire. Its
song is a song of fire. Its walls are
DullTeSSeS OIL IRE. SOIOIIlOh EtlSTS 10
it when he says, Her guests are in the
depths of hell"
INNUMERABLE HOMES BLIGHTED
Our American communities are suf-
fering from the gospel Of free lovism
which 80 years ago was preached on
the platform and in some of the
churches of this country. / charge
upon free lovish that it has blighted
innumerable homes and that it has sen
innumerable souls to ruin. Free Low
ism is bestial; it is worse-it is infer
nall It has furnished this land with
many thousands of divorces annually.
In one county in the state of Indiana
it furnished IL divorces in one day be-
fore dinner. 1t a reused up elope-
ments north, south, east n west.
You can hardly take up a paper but
you read of an elopement. AS far as
1 can understand the doctrine of free
loveism, it is this-that every man
and every wife somebody else's
wife and every wife somebody elSe's
husband. They do not like our Chris
tan organization of society, and I
wish they would all elope, the wretch
es of one sex taking the wretches Of
the other, n start tomorrow morning
for the great Sahara desert until the
Simoom shall sweep seven feet of sand
all over them and not n passing car
AVIAN for the e 500 years bring back
one mlSerdDl6 DOH0 OIL InSlT CdTCdSSSS.
Free lovism! 1t is the double distilled
extract of nux vomica, ratsbane and
adder's tongue. Never until society
goes back to the old Bible and hears it's
eulogy of purity and it's anathema of
uncleannesS-never until then will this
evil be extirpated.
Behold also in this giant of the text
and in the giant of our w century
tina great physical power must crum-
h1o on6 nvniro Tho &c m of the
text long ago went away. He fought
the lion. He fought the Philistines.
He could fight anything, but death was
too much for him. He may have re-
Quired a longer grave and a broader
grave, but the tomb nevertheless was
his terminus.
PARTING OF BODY AND SOUL.
If, then, we are to be compelled to
go out of this world, where are we to
go to-? This body and soul must soon
part. What shall be the destiny of the
former 1 know-dust to dust. But
what shall be the destiny of the latter?
Shall it rise into the companionship of
the white robed, whose sins Christ has
slain, or will it go down among the un-
believing, who tried to gain the world
and save their souls, but we're swindled
out of both? Blessed be God, we have
a Championi He is so styled in the
Bible. A Champion who conquer
ed death n hell, n he is ready to
fight all our battles, from the first to
the last. "Who is his that cometh up
from Edom with dyed garments from
Bozrah, mighty to ave." If we follow
in the wake of that Champion, death
has no power and the grave no victory.
The worst man trusting in him shall
have his dying pangs alleviated and
his future illumined.
In the light of his subject 1 want to
call yDrI~ ofanffOn fn foot ~yhInh
may not have been rightly considered.
and that is the fact that we be brought
into judgment for the employment of
our physical organism. Shoulder, brain
hand foot-we answer in judg-
ment for the use We have made of
them. a they been used for the
elevation Of society or for it's depres-
sion? In proportion as u arm is
strong and our step elastic will u ac-
oun at last be intensified. Thousands
Of sermOnS 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 20
pounds. They could not walk half a
mile without sitting down to rest. Yet
how much many of them accomplish.
Rising UP in judgment, standing beside