Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1905-02-22
ing drawn away

y WuOm the SOuS Oh
God were fast be-
Ing drawn away a reckless. wanton
company OF merry makers had returned
with him. bringing their music, and
their liquors with them. Feasting and
dancing and all manner of excuses
marked these occasions. The desires of
the flesh ruled supreme and no bounds
were placed upon the qualification there
OF. Might not right decided issues and
won its desired ends Violence and pas
sion were unrestrained. God was for
gotten.
Such scene was Javan's festival.
and while the wild frolicing was at its
height, there suddenly strobe into the
midst or the company a man of COM
manding figure. All eyes were turned
upon the intruder, but he never finched
before the unfriendly looks. and fall
tered not until he stood before Javan.
painful pause marked the coming of
the stranger. The look of recognition
which Javan flashed at him was full OF
hatred, but he waited for the other to-
speak
Javan, what meaneth this wicked
revelry? Why these ribald compan-
ions. these goddess sons of Cain? Hast
thou, too, forgotten the admonitions of
thy fathers? Hast thou altogether
given myself over to thy feshy appetites
and passions? Fearest thou not God =?
He who has made us. Who rules in
Heaven, Who sees us at this moment.
VIII surely bring thee and this people.
VINO are turning altogether away from
God, into judgment. In the name of the
LORD, whom 1 serve. I command that
this reyelry cease, and that thou send
TINS woman and her baseless compan-
ions back to the land from whence they
camel"
Thus spake Noah. the preacher and
thus had he spoken again and again all
through the land as he rebuked the ris-
Ing tide OF sin. Evil must be rebuked. The
souless must be told of God, so that
they might be without excuse before
Him. But evil persisted in and Rugged
to the heart becomes dearer. and each
rebuke administered becomes more dis
tasteful, until at last unrestrained an
ger blazes forth upon the one who dares
to interfere or rebuke the evil.
So 1t was upon this occasion of .Jayan's
merry making. The wicked fellows
with him were only too willing to fall
upon the defenseless servant of God
and, dragging him forth and beating
him at every step, they left him for dead
under a clump of trees at some dis
lance from the house, and then re-
turned to renew the wild orgy with
more reckless abandon than before.
How long he lay there Noah never
knew hut with no rott -
ness II seemed as though he was lifted
up, up, up The wild music and the noise
OF revelry seemed TO fade i'm the dis
lance and then was gone, and in its
place the sweetest strains of Celestial
music fell upon his ears and soothed tn
throbbing senses to calm and rest
Then. although he saw no one. il seemed
as though gentle hands were laid upon
his fevered brow and aching head and
the pain was forgotten.
Expectantly he waited, seeing naugbt
and knowing not where he was. and vet
his brain and every sense were quick
ened and on the alert. Clear and dis
tinct and authoritative came a voice he
knew to be none other than the voice of
God saying:
Nc: for the earth is filed with violence
through them; and behold will destroy
them with the earth"
The voice ceased. and a sob burst from
the lips Of the heart broken preacher
Was this. then, to be the end of all his
struggle against SIM
How faithful Noah had been. The
900 years Of his life thus far had been
lived faithfully for God His earliest
years had felt the influence Of the re-
yival OF religion which had followed the
translation Of Enoch. He had heard
the wonderful story from his grand
fathe.. Methuselahs lips. and the i'm
pressions Of those early years had deep
ened as he had grown to manhood and
felt the mission of God resting upon him
20 preach faith in and obedience to
Him. One after another he had seen
the patriarchs pass away. and more and
more he had found the rising genera
tons turning from God and corrupting
their ways upon the earth, until. as we
have scoh, Noah's rebukes are met by
unyielding stubbornness end violence.
Ard now as far rs Noah knew there was