The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1907-01-31
| SATURDAY
NIGHT TALKS.
BY r. e. DAWSON, RUTLAND VT
A GREAT MORAL WASH DAT.
Feb. 8, '07-(Gen. 8:1-16.)
RUTLAND VT.

the w5rid if all the evil people in it
could suddenly be got rid Of. Sup
pose we could get together all the
drunkards, thieves, liars, libertines,
blasphemers, murderers, and big and
little rascals of every description, In
and out of prison, and could take
them out in leaky boat onto the
Pacific Ocean where the water Is five
miles deep, and sink them to the
bottom of the sea, should we not at
once have a regenefated earth, and a
world equal to paradise?
But we forget that that sort Of
scheme has been tried once, and 1T
didn't work. There was great wash
was scrubbed, and soaked and disin-
fected, to get rid CT evil, and the
ed, to get rid of evil, and the
ground had not become thoroughly
dry before sin broke out again in a
most unexpected quarter. The fact is
there is so much depravity In the
best of us that not human being
would be left if sin was to be elimi-
mated by drowning those who prac-
tice it,
The tree of humanity has been cut
down to the root, but when 1t
sprouted again, 1t bore the same
fruit 1t has been settled that water
cannot drown iniquity. Fire cannot
burn it out. Hoefs cannot trample 1t
out. Hammers cannot pound 1t out.
Prisons cannot punish 1t out. Edu-
cation cannot grow 1t out. The mil
lenium never will be introduced by
these methods. Still, If the expert
ment of the flood had not been tried,
there are q lot OF little reformers
would have taken credit for the idea,
and would have been proiGc OF argu-
ment to show the feasibility of It.
And there a good MANY rcc?le now
who don't believe such thing Q :.e.
happened. And they ask speculative
questions about the size of the Arr,
and the extent of the flood, and the
cargo, and the supplies, and who the
ship carpenters were, and how Noah
came to be acquainted with marine
architecture, and how he embarked
all his miscellaneous cargo, and
where they landed, and why no por-
tions of that Great Eastern of anti
diluvian days has never been found,
and thousand and one queries that
may or may not have any bearing on
the case. And weakened disciples
get frightened because they cannot
answer these fool questions, and be-
gin to talk about food of limited
area, and limited depth, and end by
admitting that the whole thing
may have been an allegory. Nom
sense!
Noah faced these same questions
In his day. He was the butt of ridi-
cule for century. He lived In hor-
nets nest of abuse and derision. But
he never spent any time advising the
critics as to how he was going to do
It, His only answer to their jibes and
jeers was the resolute whack of his
hammer against the cyprus sides Of
his ship, growing by inches before
their eyes, There were people up to
the day the food started, who ex-
pressed the opinion that ut wasn't
going to be much of shower" But
they changed their tune soon after
ward.
This is not the main question. The
main question is: How is this old
world to be made a decent place to
| live in? That was the question then;
| that is the question now. There are
some people who look upon sin as
| wart on the hand that may be eaten
| off with a sharp acid. They say 1t Is
| only knot in life's string that q
child may unite. They regard 1t as a
little grit on the smooth wheel, which
| tissue paper will remove. On the
| contrary 1t is a gangrene, and the
| limb must be amputated to save the
| body from complete destruction. In
| Noah's day 1t was a choice between
| leaving the world to be destroyed by
a flood Of lust and brutality that was
| rolling on fathoms deep to exter-
mination, or cleansing and purifying
| it by water. 1t was Gods flood
| against mans flood.
Still it Is a comforting thing to
know that it will never happen
again. Mere destruction has been
proved a failure. Destruction may
| be necessary, but it Is never an in
! strument Of regeneration. Many a
| man has been punished, only to come
| out of prison a hardened criminal.
| Scores of men are in prison for doing
| the very things they saw other men
punished for When judgment over
| took that forger, the bank cashiers
| who knew him said, "What an awful
| thing this isl" And then they delfb-
| erately went to their desks and did
| the same thing Men go with wide
open eyes into the path of old in
| iauities and into the pit Of old pun
! ishments. Within the very shadow of
| the gallows men hatch the most de-
testable and alarming crimes.
Noah and his sons looking out of
the window of the ark saw glorious
abutments of heavenly bridge
forming in the sky. AS they looked
the mystic fingers of light swung it
across the heavens, the seven pris-
matte colors, violet, indigo, blue,
green, yellow, orange, and red. And
under that magnificent arch Of the
rainbow they foated up to the beach
of a new world. No more flood.
Beautiful thought. We have some
/ thing to look at to steady our faith.
| 1t is beyond our touch. We cannot
spoil it with our finger prints. 1t fol
! lows the storm and is sign OF peace,
Employment and hardship prevent
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.