Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-06-20
CalnnaSe
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De witt Talmade. d. d.


official corruption and wlekedness in
high places. q lesson which has a pc
culiar application to governors and
judges in our own day. The text is
Acts xiv. 20, go thy way for this
time; when I have a convenient season
will call for thee"
That is change of venue Z" I asked
a lawyer friend. "a venue" he an.
swered, as merely the legal name for
} the place Of a trial. Now, the place Of
venue is sometimes changed for the
convenience of witnesses. Sometimes
II Is due to the fact of county Judge
being an interested party in a civil suit
Sometimes. as IN a 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 fury Of
twelve unbiased men to pass a just
verdict upon bis motives and his deed.
Never since the world was started has
it been fair to try a man before o pref
udiced or a partial court"
Now, Claudus 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 mobbed by the populace and could
never get fair and an impartial trial
In the Hebrew capital. lie 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. I will send the prison
er north to Caesarea Palestine, about
iifty-1ve miles away. Then by the
change OF venue Paul will be in a new
city under an impartial Judge" SO
Claudus Lysias sends Paul to Felix.
the governor Of Caesarea Palestine
with a letter stating the case. That
was the reason why the venue Of PauPs
trial was changed from Jerusalem to
Caesarea Palestine.
But Paul did not get a speedy trial at
Caesarea. lie was summoned before
the governor again and again. There
he faced his witnesses. There he plead
ed for his life, and there he preached
righteousness, temperance and tudg-
ment to come" with such power that
Governor Felix trembled. The judge
in this case becan me the defendant, and
the defendant became the Judge. Then
Felix trembled and answered: GO thy
way for this time. When I have &
more convenient season 7 will call fol
thee" As Felix resisted the pleadings
of Paul, some of us are resisting OUT
Saviours calls to the better and the
truer life.
Governor Felix was Ike many sin
ners in our day. He wanted to conCpa
for little while longer his domestic
sins. He wanted to go on practicinl
his libertinsms unmolestcd. He want
ed to do just as David did when be
took unto himself Uriah's wife to be hi.
wife He wanted to do as Herod die
when he took unto himself Herodias
his brother Philips wife, to be his wife
He wanted to do as Augustus did wher
lie brutally divorced his own wife
Scribonia, to marry Livla. who was the
wife of Tiberius Claudius Nero. &c
did as 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 immoralitles
are defying the sacred law Of the mari
tai relations, making the old fashioned
name of husband and wife mere
secular arrangement and bringing suct
q discredit upon the wedding ring thai
il is of no more strength than spiders
web, which can be snapped in day.
Who DrusiIla Was.
Come, Paul: tell us who was thi;
Drusilla sitting beside Governor Felix
listening to thy invectivcs? Was she a
princess? Yes; the records show she
was the daughter of 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
1Se, oue was iioN thc iit Va 'hc SiNi
OF province. She was the consort OF
| Caes2rea Palestine. But she had beer
more than that She had been the wife
OF the king OF Emesa. She deliberately
left her first husband because Felix Eel
in love with her and could offer her g
more beautiful palace in which to live
Thus as John the Baptist pointed hi
! condemnatory finger at Herod and I'D
1T Is not lawful for thee to have her
thou hast no right to Herodias," Pau
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 and
woman who is cherishing at heart ar
Illicit love. He Is saying I'm the name
of God. thou must not. thou shalt not
covet thy neighbours wife nor bis
daughter nor his sister; thou shalt not
covet any one who has not been given
to thee in holy wedlock." And yet there
are thousands Of men and women to
day absolutely debasing and destroying
their spiritual lives because they are
loving those Of whom God has said
Thou shalt not have them nor love
them"
Now, Is Paul's denunciatlon Of Felix
and Drusilla being hurled against any