Los Angeles herald., 1907-04-15
TELLS HOW BAD
MEN ARE USED

"The Terrific Driver was the SUBJ
ject of a sermon by Rev. Frank De
Witt Talmage yesterday. In part he
said:
This biographical sketch, in the first
place, teaches US that sometimes God
uses a very bad man to work out his
purposes. He sometimes says to his
Jehus: You, O selfish and sinful men,
are to be the agencies by which 1 will
execute my warnings. You are to
carry my chalices, even though your
hands are sinful. You are to unsheath
my avenging sword, even though you
have evil hearts. You are to run my
errands, even though you are answer
ing the calls of greed and crime
Thus all doers of good are not ne
cessarily disciples, or Gods children.
Though we today find Jehu topping
over the throne of an infamous king,
yet Jehu himself was as heartless, as
merciless and as much of a criminal
as Ahab or Jezebel, who slew Naboth
in order that they might annex his
vineyard to the royal domain.
THE sinful life of Jehu as a full
filler of Elijah's prophecies finds it's
duplicate in the lives of many sinful
men whom God at times has used for
certain purposes. Study, for instance,
the life of Thomas Paine. Most of the
present generation never think of
Thomas Paine except as blasphemer
and an enemy of Jesus. When we men
ton his name there rises before us his
book, The Age of Reason which has
done as much damage as any book
ever penned by man, if not more.
When Mr.. Paine went. to his friend,
Benjamin Franklin, and placed the
manuscript of this book in his hands
for him to criticise before it was pub
lished, Mr. Franklin read the manu-
script and then wrote to Thomas
Paine the following letter:
Franklin's Opinion
Dear Sir: 1 will not enter into any
discussion of your principles, though
you seem to desire It, At present
shall only give my opinion that, though
your reasonings are subtle and may
prevail with some readers, yet you will
not succeed so as to change the gen.
eral sentiments of mankind upon that
subject, and the consequence Of print
ing this piece will be a great deal of
odium drawn upon yourself, mischief
to you, and no benefit to others.
would advise you, therefore, not to at
tempt to unchain the tiger, but to burn
this piece before it is seen by any
other person. If men are so wicked
without it? He that spits against the
wind, spits in his own face.
4" b. FRANKLIN
Reasonable and powerful letter,
thati But Paine would not heed the
warning. He sent forth his Age of
Reason on it's mission of spiritual and
moral and physical destruction. That
book brought down a hurricane of
odium upon Thomas Paine.
I'VE hardly ever think of him ex-
cept as the infdel. the blasphemer, and
the enemy of society. But amid your
excavations of this book, do you re-
call the fact that Paine the infidel was
also Paine, one of the great leaders
and most powerful factors in the
struggle for American liberty? In the
darkest days which preceded the prep
aration of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence his pen was busy. He pub
lished a book at that time called
Common Sense 1t was a plea for
national independence. 1t was written
in simple language, and was read ev-
erywhere. Dare any man, facing the
historical facts, declare that God did
not forge out of the blasphemous pen
OF scoffing infidel a golden wand to
guide the American people into Inde-
pendence hall of old Philadelphia?
May Be Doing Good
"In your life and mine we may be
doing good in way. We may be help
ployment to the poor. We may be kind
to some people. But good deed here
and there does not make us children of
God. Jehu was able to avenge the
death of Naboth. In the rumbling of
his chariot wheels we can see the tall,
gaunt form of Elijah the Tishbite
bending over a bleeding corpse and
pointing his condemning finger at the
cringing and covering king and queen,
while he says; Thus saith the Lord,
In the place where dogs licked the
blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy
blood even thine And of Jesebel also
spake the Lord, saying, The dogs shall
eat Jezebel by the wall Of Jezreel.'
But because Jehu was commissioned
TO fulfill Elijah's prophecy, that did
not make Jehu a child of God. Do not
deceive yourselves. Not all Gods
instruments are his children. Wicked
men, to serve their own interests, may
do things which fulfill Gods purposes,
but he does not reward them by maxi
ing them his children. Let no man
4 l t..V- L.. ID all. CHI 81