Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1900-02-12

hNs BiNeu uSs ray SlCui euerEy Ousut
to be type Of moral power. We ought
to have as good digestion Of truth az
we have capacity to assimilate food.
Our spiritual hearing ought to be as
good as our physical hearing. Our
spiritual taste ought to be as clear as
our tongue. Samsons In body, we
ought to be giants In moral power.
But while you flnd great many men
who realize that they ought to use
their money Alright and use their intel
iigence Alright, how few men you end
aware of the fact that they ought to
use their physical organism Alright!
With every thump of the heart there
is something saying: Work. Work.
And lest we should complain that we
have no tools to work with, God gives
us our hands and feet with every
knuckle' and with every joint and with
every muscle saying to us, Lay hold
and do something"
But how often IL is that men with
physical strength do not serve Christi
They are like ship full manned and
full rigged, capable of vast tonnage
able to endure all stress of weather,
yet swinging idly ut the docks when
these men ought to be crossing and re-
crossing the great ocean of human suf-
fering aud sin with Gods supplies Of
mercy. How often 1t is that physical
strength is used In doing positive dam
age or in luxurious ease, when, with
sleeves rolled UP and bronzed bosom,
fearless Of the shafts Of opposition, it
ought to be laying hold with all its
might and tugging away to lift up this
sunken wreck Of n world.
1t Is a most shameful fact that much
of the business of the church and of
the world must be done by those COM
paratively invalid. Richard Baxter,
by reason of his diseases, all his days
sitting in the door of the tomb, yet
writing more than 100 volumes and
sending out an influence for God that
will endure MS long as "The Saints Ev-
erlasting Rest" Edward Payson, never
knowing well day, yet how he preach,
cd and how he wrote, helping thou-
sands of dying souls like himself to
swim In a sea Of glory! And Robert
McCheyne. n walking skeleton, yet
you know what he did in Dundee and
how he shook Scotland with zeal for
God Philip Doddridge, advised by his
friends, because Of his illness, not to
enter the ministry, yet you know what
he did for the rise and Progress of
Religion" In the church and in the
world.
Giants In All Things.
Wilberforce was told by his doctors
that he could not live fortnight, yet
at that very time entering upon philan-
thropic enterprises that demanded the
greatest endurance and persistence;
Robert Hall, suffering excruciations,
so that often in the pulpit while preach.
ing he would stop and lie down on a
sofa, then getting UP again to preach
celestial city dropped on the multitude,
doing more work, perhaps, than almost
any we'll man in his day.
Oh, how often it Is that men with
great physical endurance are not rs
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 endurance
l call upon men of health, men of mus
Gle, men of nerve, men Of physical pow
er. to devote themselves to the Lord
Giants in body, you ought to be giants
In soul
Behold also, In the story of my text
illustration of the fact of the damage
that strength can do IL it be misguided
1t seems to me that this man spent a
great deal of his tim in doing evil
this Samson Of my text. TO pay bel
which he had lost by the guessing OF
his riddle lie robs and kills 30 people
He was not only gigantic in strength
but gigantic In mischief, and type OF
those men In all ages of the world who
powerful In body or mind or any facul,
ty Of social position or wealth, have
used their strength for iniquitous pur.
poses.
1t Is not the small weak men of the
day who do the damage. These small
men who 60 swearing and loailng abou,
your stores and shops and banking
houses, assailng Christ and the Bible
and the. .churcb--they do not do the
damage. They have no influence
They are. yerIpin that you crush with
your foot. But 1t Is the giants of the
day, the misguided giants. giants in
physical power, or giants In mental
acumen, or glnnts in social position. OF
giants In wealth, who do the damage
The men with sharp pens that stab re-
llgion and throw poison all through
our literature, the men who use the
power OF wealth to sanction iniouity
and bribe justico and make truth and
honor bow to their golden scepter. Mis-
guided glants--look out for them! 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 blasphem
ed the name of the Almighty, but they
did but little mlschief--they were small
giants In those days. Who can calcu
lnte the soul havoc Of n Rousseau, go
ing on with very enthusiasm of In
iquity, with fiery Imagination seizlnr
upon all tho impulsive natures of his
day1 Or David Hume, who employe,
his life as q spider employs Its sum
mer, In spinning out silken webs tC
trap the upwary? Or Voltnire, tn,
most learned man of his day, marshal
Ing great host Of skeptics and leading
them out In the dark land OF infidelity
Or Gibbon, who showed an uncontrol
In hIa 0rudoa n on In ar reliuion ", bis lic