Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1907-06-21
Calnase
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmase, d. ID.

Los Angeles, Cal, June 16.-In this
sermon the preacher shows the evil of
official corruption and wickedness In
high places, a lesson which has a De-
cullar application to governors and
judges in our own day. The text is
Acts xiv, %, go thy way for this
time; when / have a convenient season
l will call for thee"
What Is n change OF venuef" asked
a lawyer friend. "a venue" he an.
swsred. sis merely the legal name for
the place OF trial. Now, the place of
venue Is sometimes changed for the
convenience OF witnesses. Sometimes
1t Is due to the fact OF a county Judge
being an interested party in a civil suit.
Sometimes, as in a murder case where
the whole region is infismed 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 a Just
verdict upon his motives and his deed.
Never since the world was started has
1t been fair to try a man before pref
udiced or n 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 mobbed 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: 81 know
what will do. 1 will send the prison.
er north to Caesarea Palestine, about
ffty-five miles away. Then by the
change ef venue Paul will be In a new
city under an impartial Judge" So
Claudlus Lysias sends Paul to Felix,
the governor of Caesarea Palestine,
with a letter stating the case. That
was the reason why the venue of Paurs
trial was changed from Jerusalem to
Caesarea Palestine
But Paul did not get speedy trial at
Caessrea. He 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 judg-
ment to come" with such power that
Governor Felix trembled. The Judge
I'm this case became the defendant, and
the defendant became the judge. Then
Felix trembled and answered.: go thy
way for this time. When l have n
more convenient season 1 will call for
thee" As Felix resisted the pleadlngs
OF Paul, some OF us are resisting our
Saviour's calls to the better and the
truer life
Governor Felix was like many sim
ners In our day. He wanted to conceal
for little while longer his domestic
sins. He wanted to go on practicing
his llbertinisms 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 brutality divorced his own wife,
Scrlbonia, to marry Livia. who was the
wife OF Tiberius Claudius Nero. He
did as Mark Antony, who deliberately,
turned his back upon his beautiful
wife, the noble and chaste Octavia, In
OANNA W ChtCA a uk Nlln 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
discredit upon the wedding ring that
il Is OF no more strength than SPIDERS
web, which can be snapped in a day.
Who DrusiIla Was.
Come, Paul: tell us who was this
Drusilla sitting beside Governor Felix,
listening to thy lnvectives? Was she
princess? Yes; the records show she
was the daughter or 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 q queen?
Yes; she was now the wife OF the ruler
OF province. She was the consort of
Caesarea Pelestina 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 q
more beautiful palace IN which to live
Thus as John the Baptist pointed MS
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
eondemnatory finger at every man and
woman who is cherishing at heart an
Illicit love. He is saying, I'm the name
or 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
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 Paurs denunciation OF Felix
and Drusilla being hurled against any
one here? Is every man and woman
married or unmarried among us, moral
ly and socially clean? Is there any
time since our government was started
when the sin of adultery and the sin of
Wholesale and profigate divorce were
SO prevalent as at the present dayt
Are we not as nation rapidly drift. |
Ing toward such a condition as existed |
In ancient Rome when Ii was not con.
sidered disgrace for woman or a |
man to be divorced four or five tinoao