The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-11-05

~lstreet by the hair of the head. The gem
ltleman, outraged at this brutal conduct,
WAS about to punish the offender, when
the old man arose and said: Don't hurt
him. It's all right. Forty years ago this
morning I dragged out my father by the
hair Of his head" 1t is a circle. Other
lsins may be adjourned to the next word.
That circle is made quickly, very quickly.
oh, what a stupendous thought that the
good and the evil we start come back to
usI Do you know that the judgment day
will be only the points at which the cir
Icles join, the good and the bad we have
done coming back TO US unless divine in.
l~tervention -hinder-coming back to US
with welcome of delight or curse of con-
demnation?
Oh, / would like 10 see Paul, the inva-
lid missionary, at the moment when his
influence comes to full orb, his influence
rolling out through Antioch, through Cy-
prus, through Lystra, through Corinth.
through Athens, through Asia, through
Europe, through America, through the
first century, through five centuries,
Through twenty centuries, through earth.
Through heaven, and at last the wave of
Influence, having made full circuit,
strikes his soul. Oh, then / would like TO
see himi No one can tell the wide sweep
of the circle of Paul's influence save the
one who is seated on the circle of the
earth.
L should not like to see the countenance
of Voltaire when his influence comes to
full orb. When the fatal hemorrhage
seized him at eighty-three years Of age,
his influence did not cease. The most
brilliant man of his century, he had used
all his faculties for assaulting Christiani-
ty, his bad influence widening through
France, widening out through Germany,
widening through all Europe, widening
through America. widening through the
123 years that have gone since he died,
widening through earth, widening through
the great future, until at last the accu-
mulated influence of his baleful teachings
and dissolute life will beat against his
dismayed spirit, and at that moment it
will be enough to make the black hair of
eternal darkness turn white with the hor-
Tor. No one can tell how that BAD mans
influence girdled the earth save the one
who is seated on the circle of the earth,
the Lord Almighty.
Gods Omnipotent Mercy. .
swell, now" say some, this in some
respects is a very glad theory and in 9TH
ers a very bad one. We would like to
have the good we nave ever lone come
back to us, but the thought that all the
sins we have ever committed will come
back to US fills us with alright" My
brother, 1 nave to tell you God can break
that circle and will do so at your call. 1
can bring twenty passages Of Scripture
to prove that when God for Christ's sake
forgives a man the sins of his past life
never come back. The wheel may roll on
and on, but you take your position be-
hind fha crocS an1 tho Uhaol cfriEpS tho
cross and is shattered forever. The sins
fly off from the circle and fall at right
angles with complete oblivion. Forgiven!
Forgiven! The meanest thing a man can
do is, after some difficulty has been set
tied, to bring it up again, and God will
not do anything like that. Gods memo
ry is mighty enough to hold all the events
of the ages, but there is one thing that is
sure to slip his memory, one thing he is
sure to forget, and that is %pardoned
transgressions. How do 1 know it? l
will prove it. Their sins and their iniqui-
ties will 1 remember no MORE BLESSED
is he whose transgression is forgiven"
But do not make the mistake of think
ing that this doctrine of the circle stops
with this life. 1t rolls on through heav-
en-. You might quote in opposition to me
what st. John says about the city of
HedNeH. Ie SuyS IL lelu lOuI SuudIc.
That does seem to initiate against this
idea of a circle, but do you not know
there is many a square house that has a
family circle facing each other and in a
circle moving, and l can prove that this
is so in regard to heaven. st. John says,
81 heard the voice of many angels round
about the throne and the beasts and the
elders" And again he says, Il saw round
about the throne four and twenty seats"
And again he says, "There was a rain
bow round about the throne
The two former imply a circle, the last
either a circle or a semicircle, the seats
facing each other, the angels facing each
other, the men facing each other, heaven
an amphitheater of glory, circumference
of patriarch and prophet Inc apostle, cir
conference Of Scotch c~ovenanters and
Theban legion and Albigenses, circum-
ference of the good Of all ages, periphery
of splendor unimagined and indescriba-
BILE, a circle, a circle!
But every circumference must have q
center, and what is the center Of this
heavenly circumference? Christ-his all
the glory, his all the praise, his all the
crowns. all heaven wreathed into a gar
land round about him.. Take off the i'm
perial sandal from his foot and behold
the scar of the spike. Lift the coronet of
dominion from his brow and see where
was the laceration of the briers. Come
closer, all heaven. Narrow the circle
around his great heart. 0 Christ, the
Saviour, o Christ, the man, 0 Christ, the
God, keep thy throne forever, seated on
the circle of the earth, seated on the cir
Gle Of heaven!
On Christ, the solid rock, / stand;