The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-06-18

CalmaQe
sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talrnaee, D. D.

sermon the preacher shows the evil OF
official corruption and wickedness in
high places, a lesson which has a pc
culiar application. to governors and
judges in our own day. The text is
Acts xiv, %, $50 thy --3.y for this
time; when l have a convel:s.lt season
l will call for thee"
what is change of venue?" asked
a lawyer friend. "a venue" he an
swered, "is merely the legal name for
the place of trial. Now, the place of
venue is sometimes changed for the
convenience of witnesses. Sometimes
it is due to the fact of county judge
being an interested party in civil suit.
Sometimes, as in murder case where
the whole region is infiamed with pas
sion, the trial is changed to another
county far away from where the deed
has been committed so that the de-
PENDANT may be able to get a jury Of
twelve unbiased men to pass just
verdict upon his motives and his deed.
Never since the world was started has
it been fair to try man before pref
udiced or partial court"
Now, Claudius Lysias, commander of
the Roman troops, who had charge of
the temple at Jerusalem, was an hon.
est official. He knew that Paul was be-
ing mobbad by the populace and could
never get fair and an impartial trial
in the Hebrew capital. He also knew
that the longer Paul stayed there the
bitterer would become the prejudices
of the people. So he said thus: Il know
what will do. l will send the prison
er north to Caesarea Palestine, about
fifty-five miles away. Then by the
change Of venue Paul will be in new
city under an impartial Judge" So
Claudius Lysias sends Paul to Felix,
the governor of Caesarea Palestine,
with a letter stating the case. That
was the reason why the venue of PauFs
trial was changed from Jerusalem to
Caesarea Palestine.
But Paul did not get a speedy trial at
Caesarea. He was summoned before
he faced his witnesses. There he plead
ed for his life, and there he preached
righteousness, temperance and judg-
ment to come with such power that
Governor Felix trembled. The judge
in this case became the defendant, and
the defendant became the judge. Then
Felix trembled and answered: go thy
way for this time. When | have
more convenient season l will cali for
thee As Felix resisted the pleadings
of Paul, some of us are resisting our
Saviour's calls to the better and the
truer life.
Governor Felix was like many sin
ners In our day. He wanted to conceal
for little while longer his domestic
sins. He wanted to go on practieing
his libertinisms unmolested. He want
ed to do just as David did when he
took unto himself Uriah's wife to be his
wife. He wanted to do as Herod did
when he took unto himself Herodias,
his brother Philips wife. to be his wife.
He wanted to do as Augustus did when
he brutally divorced his own wife,
Scribonia, to marry Livia, who was the
wife of Tiberius Claudius Nero. He
did ais Mark Antony, who deliberately
turned his back upon his beautiful
wife, the noble and chaste Octavia, In
order to enter a sinful alliance with the
far famed voluptuary Cleopatra, the
Egyptian queen. He did as thousands
Of men and women of this generation
are doing today In the divorce courts.
who, by secret or open immoralities,
are defying the sacred law of the mari
tai relations, making the old fashioned
name of husband and wife mere
secular arrangement and bringing such
q discredit upon the wedding ring that
it is of no more strength than spiders
web, which can be snapped in day.
Who Drusilia Was.
Come, Paul; tell us who was this
Drusilla sitting beside Governor Felix,
listening to thy invectives? Was she a
princess? Yes; the records show she
was the daughter of a king. Was she
beautiful? oh, yes. Legend tells us
she was one OF the most beautiful wo-
men of all the east. Was she queen?
Yes: she was now the wife of the ruler
Of province. She was the cOnsort OF
Caesarea Palestina But she had been
more than that. She had been the wife
of the king of Emesa. She deliberately
left her first husband because Felix fell
in love with her and could offer her
more beautiful palace in which to live.
Thus as John the Baptist pointed his
condemnatory finger at Herod and said,
1T is not lawful for thee to have her;
thou hast no right to Herodias.' Paul
was pointing the condemnatory finger
at Governor Felix when he reasoned Of
righteousness which forbade such I'M
ions. And today Paul Is pointing the
condemnatory finger at every man ana
woman who Is cherishing at heart an
illicit love- He Is saying, In the name
of God, thou must not, thou shalt not,
covet thy neighbours wife nor his
daughter nor his sister; thou shalt not
covet any one who has not been given
In.