Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1900-08-15
NO. SO


.ie Lord said unto me, Amos. what seest
thou? And | said A plumb line"
In the same way we need TO rectlfy our
theologies. All sorts of religions are put
ting forth their pretension. Some have q
spiritualistic religion, and their chief work
Is with ghosts, and others religion of
political economy, proposing to put an end
to human misery by new style of taxa
ton, and there is a humanitarian religion
that looks after the bodies of men and
lets the soul look after itself. and there is
legislative religion that proposes TO rec
tIfy all wrongs by enactment of better
laws, and there Is an aesthetic religion
that by rules of exquisite taste would lift
the heart out of its deformities, and reli-
gions of all sorts, religions by the peck, re-
hgions by the square foot and religions bv
the ton, all of them devices of the devil
only religion that will ever effect anything
for me 1 man race, and that is the
straight up and down religion written in
the book which begins with Genesis and
ends with Revelation, the religion of the
skies, the old religion, the God given rel-
gion, the everlasting religion, which says,
Love GOD above all and YOUR neighbcr as
yourself" All religions but one begin at
the wrong end and in the wrong place.
get right with God. 1t begins at the top
and measures down, while the other reli-
gions begin at the bottom and try to
measure up.
l want you to notice this fact. that
when a man gives up the straight up and
down religion of the Bible for any new
tangled religion it is generally to suit his
sins. You first hear of his change of reli-
gion. and then YOU hear of some swindle
he has practiced in a special mining stock,
telling some one II he Will put IN $4,000
he can take out 100000, or he has sacri-
4 ,,.I
liable worldliness. His sins are so broad
he has to broaden his religion, and he be
comes as broad as temptation, as broad as
the souls darkness. as broad as hell. They
want a religion that will allow them to
keep their sins and then at death say to
them, We'll done, good and faithful ser
want" and that tells them, 'All is well.
for there is no hell" What glorious
heaven they hold before us Come, let us
go in and see it. There are Herod and all
the babes he massacred. There are
Charles Gliteau and Robespierrc, the
feeder of the French guilotine and all the
liars, thieves, house burners. garroters.
and lbertines of all the centu,
ries. They have all got crowns and
thrones and harps and scepters, and when
they chant they sing, Thanksgiving and
.-onor and glory and power to the broad
religion that lets us all into heaven with
out repentance and without faith in those
fogyism.
Ny text gives me a grand opportunity
of saving a useful word to all young men
who are now forming habits for a lifetime.
Of what use to a stonemason or n brick
laver is a plumb llney Why not build the
wall by the unaided eye and hand? Be-
cause they insufficient, because If there
be DETECTION in the wall 1t cannot fur
ther on be corrected. Because, by the
law of gravitation, wall must be straight
III order to be symmetrical and safe. \
young man is in danger of getting defect
i'll his wall OF character that may never be
Hear IL, men and boys, women and girls,
all the fun is on the side OF right. Sin may
seem attractive, but it is deathful, and like
the manchineel, tree whose dews are
poisonous The only genuine happiness is
in Christian life.
There they go, two brothers The one
was converted a year ago in church one
Sunday morning during prayer or sermon
or hvmn. No one knew it at the time.
The persons on either side of Inn sus-
pected nothing, but in that young
mans soul this process went on: Lord,
here | am. young man amid the tempta-
tions of city life, and | am afraid to risk
them alone. Come and be my pardon and
my help. Save me from making the ms
take some of my comrades are making, and
save me now" And quicker than a flash
just jolly as he used to be, is just as
brilliant as he used to be. He strike
3 ball or catch one as easily as before he
was converted. With gun or fishing rod in
this summer vacation he is just is skIllful
as before. The world is brighter to him
than ever. He appreciates pictures, music,
hlarity, social life, good Jokes
and has plenty OF fun, glorious fun But
his brother is going down hill. In the
his head aches from the cham
pagne debauch. Everybody sees he is in
rapid descent. What cares he for right
or decency or the honor of his family
name? Turned out of employment, de
pleted in health, cast down in spirits, the
typhoid fever strikes him in the smallest
room on the fourth story OF tlfth-rate
boarding house, cursing God and calling
for his mother and fighting back demons
from his dying pillow, which is besweated
and torn to rags. He plunges out of this
world, with the shrek of a destroyed
spirit.
God is now throwing that plumb line
over this republic, and it is a solemn time
with this nation, and whether we keep
His Sabbaths or dIshonor them, whether
righteousness or iniquity dominate, whether
we are Christian or inhdel, whether we
fulfill our mission or refuse, whether we
are for God or against Him, Will decide
whether we shall as a nation go on in
higher and higher career or go down IN the
same grave Wheft BABYLON ana NlneNen
and Thebes are sepulchered.
But" say you, IF there be nothing but
a plumb line, what can any of us do, for
there is an old proverb which truthfuily
declares, III the best mans faults were
written on his forehead, it would make
him pull his hat over his eyes. What shall
we do when, according to Isaiah, God
shall lay Judgment to the line and right
eousness the plummet?' "
All. here il where the gospel comes in
with Saviour S Righteousness to make up
for our deficits. And while | see hanging
on the wall plumb line, | see also hang
lug there a cross. And while the one con
demns us, the other saves us, II only we
will hold to it.
And here and now you may be set Tree
with a more glorious liberty than Hamp-
den or Sidney or Kosciusko ever fought
for Not out yonder or down there or u"
here, but just where you are you may get
it,
The invalid proprietress OF a wealthy
estate IN Scotland visited the continent OF
Europe to get rid of her maladies, and
she went to Baden-Baden, and tried those
waters and went to Carlsbad and tried
those waters, and went to Homburg and
tried those waters, and instead OF getting
better, she got worse, and IN despair she
His reply was: Medicine can do nothing
for you. You have only one chance, and
that is the waters of Pit Keathly, Scot
land" ''Is it possible she replied.
why, those waters are on my own
tate" She returned and drank OF the
fountain at her own gate, and in two
months completely recovered. Oh, sick
and diseased and SHINING and dying. why
20 trudging all the world over and seek
inc her and there relief for your dIscour-
aged spirit when close by and at your very
feet and at the door of your heart, aye,
within the very estate of your own CON
sciousness, the healing waters of eternal
life may be had and had this very hour,
this very minute! Blessed be God that
,yer against the plumb line that Amos
saw is the cross, through the emancipatng
power of which you and l may live and
live forever
A Woman Question.
II see," he remarked as he looked up