Milford chronicle., 1907-06-21
CalmaQe
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmage. D. D.

official corruption and wickedness in
high places, a lesson which has a pc
culiar 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
/ will call for thee"
What is 0 change OF yenue?" I asked
a lawyer friend "a venue" he an
swered, "is merely the legal name for
the place Of a trial. Now, the place of
venue is sometimes changed for the
convenience of witnesses. Sometimes
it is due to the fact of a county judge
being an interested party in a civil suit.
Sometimes. as in a murder case where
sion, the trial is changed to another
county far away from where the deed
has been committed so that the de-
fendant 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
it been fair to try a man before pref
udiced or a partial court"
Now, Claudius Lysias, commander Of
the Roman troops, who had charge OF
the temple at Jerusalem, was an hons
est official. He kneW that Paul was be-
ing mObbed by the populaes and could
never get a faiE and an impartial trial
in the Hebrew capital. HS also knew
that the longeB Paul stayed there the
bitterer would b0Oome the prejudices
of the people. So he said thus: Il know
what l Win do. will send the prison.
eY north 10 Caesarea Palestina, about
fifty-fiVe miles away. Then by the
change Of venue Paul will be in new
city under an impartial judge" So
Claudius Lysias sends Paul to Felix,
the governor of Caesarea Palestina,
with a letter stating the case. That
was the reason why the venue of PauFs
trial was changed from Jerusalem to
Caesarea Palestine.
But Paul did not get speedy trial at
Caesarea. 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
in 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 a
more convenient season l will call for
thee" AS Felix resisted the pleadings
of Paul, some Of us are resisting our
Saviour's calls to the better and the
truer life.
Governor Felix was like many sin
ners in our day. He wanted to conceal
for a little while longer his domestic
sins. He wanted to go on practicing
his Ubertinisms unmOlested. He want
ed to do Just as David did when he
took unto himself Uriahs 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 brutally divorced his own wife,
Scribonia, to marry Llvia, who was the
wife of Tiberius Claudius Nero. be
did as Mark Antony, who deliberately
turned his back upon his beautiful
wife the noble and chaste Oetavia, IN
order TO enter a sinful alliance with the
far famed voluptuary Cleopatra, the
Egvptian queen. He did as thousands
of men and women Of this generation
are doing today in the divorce courts,
who. by secret OF open immoFalities,
are defying the sacred law of the mari
tai relations, making the old fashioned
name of husband and wife a mere
secular Arrangement and bringing such
discredit upon the wedding ring that
it is of no more strength than spiders
web. which can be snapped in a day.
Who Drusilla Was.
Come. Paul; tell us who was this
Drusilla sitting beside Governor Felix,
listening to thy invectives? Was she a
nrincess? 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 a queen!
Yes. she was now the wife Of the ruler
of a province She was the eonsoTt OF
CaOsaFea Palostina But she had been
more than that She bsd Dsen the W..
of the king OF Bmssa, She deAberateAg
left heR first husband because Felix fell
in love with her and could offer her a
more beautiful palace in which to i've
Thus as John the Baptist pointed MS
condemnatory finger at Hsrod and said
.'It 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 un'
ions. And today Paul is pointing the
condemnatory finger at every man ana
woman who is cherishing at heart au
illicit love. He is saying, In the name
OF God, thou must not thou shalt not
covet thy neighbors wife nor his
daughter nor his sister; thou shalt not
covet any one who has not been given
10 thee in holy wedlook." And yet there
are thousands Of men and women TO