The Newtown bee., 1907-07-19
Ten Pages. w AIIING For Gods Mes
 sageS. A SERMON BY REV R. E.
 CARTER, Of Washington, Connecticut.
Of Washington, Connecticut.

watch ,ste ban and set me & upon'the tower. and will
 The prophecy of Habakuk is one of l the shortest books in the Old Testa- | ment, and one of the least known, and l one of the most beautiful. Daniel | Webster used to say that the language and imagery of the book of Habakuk | was unsurpassed in all literature. There are only three chapters in the book and short ones at that and as 1 have said very few of us could prob ably tell if asked what the book was about, and yet as you read it over, 1t is amazing how many phrases and sen tences constantly on the lips of men. continually repeated because of their beauty, lie bedded like jewels of pearl
 in settings of gold in these three chap
 ters. There Is no passage of Shakes
 peare of equal length from which so
 many familiar and beautiful quota tions are derived. Yet know them as it is this ancient prophet who gave them to us. Let me repeat few which
 might be childhood rhymes, they are so familiar, yet are also heights of lit erature. they are so sublime. Take this for one The just shall live by faith" We forget that Paul the apos-
 tie took that word of strength and
 comfort which he used over and over again from the lips of Habakuk, the prophet. We say Paul when we hear it, but Paul knew better and said Hab- akuk. Or this world, 'The earth shall
 be full of the knowlege of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea-" Why you have known that phrase al ways and felt it's depth and beauty, but perhaps you had forgotten it was in his holy temple let all the earth keep silent before him. 1t was Haba- kuk again who said that and there has never been more perfect word spok- en of the spirit with which heart and soul of man should come into the pres ence and unto the worship of the Lord God. ssThou, O God, that art of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look upon iniquity.'' This familiar word also was from this prophet of the golden tongue. And there is an other about the house of iniquity in these chapters not so familiar but just as wonderful in it's language. It | is where the prophet says that against the evil house the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it. Oh, we have seen houses, you and l, Gone that 1 es- pecially remember for magnificence and display in the great city), which was | built every stone and beam of it from the blood of the souls of men. 1t was builded out of the profits of the vi1est
 
 York City, and as one looked upon it's l imposing front these words seemed to be written across the face of it, 1.-The stone shall cry out of the wall and the beam out of the timber shall answer it. Or when we read the third and last chapter of the prophecy begin ming, 70 Lord, I have heard the re- port of Thee. O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years; Tit is almost like string of familiar quota I4. repeated. With such words as these upon his pages it is no wonder Dean Stanley said, 1.-The prophet is trans formed into a psalmist, the ancient poetic fervor is rekindled within him. . And something of this poetic power and fervor appears in these words which we have taken for our text. The words are strong and clear and full of imagery. You can see the picture the prophet has in mind. Let me read the text again, ''I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the tower and will look forth to see what he will speak with me-" Tis the word of the Lord which the prophet wants to hear spoken. It is the word of the Lord ex- plaining things. explaining the troubles about him and about his nation for which the prophet is watching. He pictures himself as watchman on the city wall waiting for tidings. He is like David sitting on the wall wait ing for news of the battle in which Absalom fell. and crying out from the my Lord, oh King, tidings, ''--crying out, .s Is the young man, Absalom, safe?'' So this man waits for tidings and strains his eyes over the plain from his tower to see ii there be not some messenger from Jehovah hurry ing up to the city gates to tell his anx- ious heart news, tidings about Jerusa- lem and about it's people. Oh, he longs to know, he longs to know what the meaning of the terrible days through which he is living shall be, can be to himself and to his fellow citizens. He thirsts to hear some divine voice, some speaking from Jehovah coming unto the city and calling to him sitting over it's gate, and saying "Tidings, Oh Prophet of the Lord, tidings from the Lord Almighty,it shall s3 yet be well drawing of the picture which the prophet sketches in the text. Ihere
 were two elements in this griev00s anx iety of the prophet,ss5(ll one of them r we can wholly appreciate the other 2 doeS not cFiTe so near to us. The one l O. tneh' winch we can feel almost as deePfs and terribly as he did y.-ss t1e
 burden on his heart because of the in-
 iquity and corruption of Jerusalem.
 Politics were rotten in Jerusalem just
 as they so often are in New York, ano , Chicago and San Francisco, and they
 were rotten in exactly the same way.
 Vice reigned in the streets, and con
 trolled the actions of those in higI
 places. Just the same vice that VOL
 will read about as ruling so much o1
 Chicago now if you read this months
 McClure's. It rules Chicago because
 there is profit or gain of nearly ont
 hundred and fifty million dollars ever,
 single year to those who exploit it
 vice of drunk vice of gambling
 vice of harlotry-every year there is {
 profit of hundred and fifty million r. dollars in these to somebody in Chica r go alone. Is it any wonder that ther. n is tremendous stress and danger ant k temptation, and corruption when sucl Q Q a sum is at stake; the multitude d whom such sum can buy will be en D listed on the side of vice. It almos ss'' seems hopeless to oppose, to struggl. t as one reads how tremendous is tn.
 power on the side of vice, how insid
 ious and far reaching it is; how ever