Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1900-03-15

lid. Richard Baxter, by reason OF his dis.
eases, all his days sitting in the door OF the
| tomb, yet writing more than one hundred
volumes and sending out ar influence for
God that will endure as long rs "The
Saints Everlasting Rest" Edward Payson,
| never knowing we'll day, yet how he
preached and how he wrote, helping thou
ands OF dying souls like himself to swim in
| a sea OF glory. And Robert McCheyne, u
| walking skeleton. yet you know what he
did in Dundee and how he shook Scotland
with zeal tor God; Philip Doddridge, ad.
vised 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.
Wilberforce was told by his doctors that
he could not live fortnight, yet at that
very time entering upon pnilanthropic en-
| terprises that demanded the greatest en-
durance and persistence; Robert Hall, suf-
fering excruciations, SO that often in the
pulpit while preaching he would stop and
| lie down on sofa, then getting up again
| to preach about heaven until the glories of
the celestial city dropped on the multi
tude, doing more work. perhaps, than al
most any we'll man in his day.
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 physical
power, to devote themselves to the Lord.
Behold also, In the story Of my text, H.
lustration OF the fact of the damage that
strength can do II 1t be misguided. 1t
seems to me that this man spent great
| deal OF his time in doing evil, this Samson
| OF my text. To pay a bet which he had
lost by the guessing of his riddle he robs
gigantic in strength, but gigantic in mis-
chief, and q 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.
1t is not the small, weak mon of the day
| who do the damage. These small men who
| go 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 in
| fuence. They are vermin that you crush
with your foot. But 1t is the giants of tho
| 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 bribe
justice and make truth and honor bow to
their golden scepter. Misguided giants
| look out for them! In the middle and lat
| ter part OF the last century no doubt there
were thousands of men in Paris and Edin-
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
were giants in those days. Who can cal
culate the soul havoc of n Rousseau, 60
| ing on with very enthusiasm of in
iquity, with fiery Imagination seizing
upon all the impulsive natures of his
day? Or David Hume, who employed
ia No nj nj tic
mer, in spinning out siiken webs to trap
the unwary? Or Votaire, the most learned
man of his day, marshaliDg great host Of
skeptics and leading them out in the dark
land OF infldelity? 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
I'D ecline and Fall Of the Roman Empire"
III book in which, with all the splendors
| of his genius, he magnified the errors of
| 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 l
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-
cd, 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 iudg-
men and money bags and judicial crime
and royal robe shall be riven with the
lightnings.
Behold also how giant may be slain of
| q woman. Delilah started the train OF cir
cumstances that pulled down the temple OF
Dagon about Samson's cars. And tens OF
| thousuni Is of giants have gone down to
death and hell through the same fascina-
| tions. 1t seems to me that it Is high time
that pulpit and platform and printing
press speak out against the impurities of
| uodern society. Fastidiousness and prud-
cry say, "Better not speak; you will rouse
up adverse criticism; you will make worse
| what you want to make better; better deal
in glittering generalities; 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
1t up with the graces OF bellies lettres, so
that the crime is made attractive instead
OF repulsfve. Lord Byron, In Don Juan,
adorns this crime until 1t smiles like n May
queen. Michelet, the great French writer,
1t glows like the rising sun, when 1t ought
to be mads loathsome as Il smallpox hos
pital. There are to-day influences abroad
which, II unresisted 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 so to?
This body and soul mus svon part. What
shalt be the destiny c. the former know
dust to dust. But what shall be the des-
tiny OF the latter? Shall it rise into the
companionshlp OF the white robbed, whose
sins Christ has slain, or will 1t go down
among the unbelieving, who tried to gain
the world and save their souls, but were
swindled out OF both? Blessed be Godl
We have Championl He is SO styled in
the Bible: 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"