The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1908-04-08
THE PULPIT.
AN ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. B. J. NEWMAN.
Subject: Our Four Anchors.

Irving place and Gates avenue, Sun
day morning, the Rev. B. j. Newman
preached. The text was: And fear
Ing lest We should have fallen upon
the rocks they cast -four anchors out
Of the stern and wished for the day. "
He said:
The text is taken from Fauls story
Of the sbipwreck. Paul was going to
Rome to be tried for his life, but on
the sea a storm ragged for two weeks.
In the darkness of the dead OF night,
not knowing where they were, the
sailors on watch heard the sound OF
water breaking on the rocks and they
took soundings. And again they
took their sounCings and finding that
the water was shallower, they threw
out four anchors land wished 1or
the day." We do not have to be sail
ors to know the value Of these an
chors to the storm assailed men on
that ship. They held them to their
anchorage until light came and theT
could see their way.
MY purpose this morning is to con-
slider briefly the anchors Of righteous
ness that we need in our daily living.
The simplest analysis Of our present
day life, of one weeks experience,
would show that there are a dozen
influences outside ourselves and two
dozen temptations within us that are
storming our righteousness. We are
surrounded on all sides by difficulties.
Our honor, our justice, our sympa-
thies, our religion, all are assailed,
and we have got to protect ourselves
and our fellow men Take the hrst
day of the working week and look at
the experiences We meet with IN that
day. We go to business, and funda-
mentally the principle to-day upon
which business seemed to be based
Is that of dishonor. 1t is not homo
all men, 1t is not trust all men,
but 1t is distrust your fellow man;
put him under bonds" Only the
other day in the Sunday school | said
to the young men and women there:
BE honest; tell the TRUTH" and one
member came to me and said: How
can we be honest? We have to lie.
There is a tendency in the life of mel
to-day to get ahead, no matter what
happens to the other man. Or on
Tuesday we read in the paper hat
some bankers to whom the funds OF
the people had been entrusted, n
on which the stability of business
men depends, and to whom the mon
ey of widows and children has beer
entrusted, have been dishonest n
]speculated in the stock market TO IN
crease their own incomes, n nave
failed. Our confidence is assailed,
and we say: Whom can we trust"
On Wednesday, perhaps, we go to a
MAGISTRATES court and we watch the
man who is elected to dispense JUS
tice in your name, and We see case al
ter case where the politicians lnflu-
ence is at work or where the petty
bride is at work, and men and boys
that have broken our law, and who
should be put in our prisons until
they learn what it is to live among
their fellow men in righteousness,
are discharged and go free. Our
sense of Justice is shocked. Or per-
hans it is some man in a higher rank
of life who takes the life of another,
who comes into our courts, and under
the plea of insanity he is declared not
guilty of his crime; while some poor
man, with the feelings of poverty n
want, steals a loaf of bread from the
corner grocery, and he is sent to jai!
for three months. Our sense of JUS
tice is rightly shocked. Perhaps on
Thursday at 6 o'clock we are coming
home and We al. at the New YORK
end of the Brooklyn Bridge, aud we
see a mad rush to get into the cars.
There is no sympathy shown. Each
man tries to get himself in and
pushes women and children aside.
and we a Y What are men that
they will do this?" And so our SYM
pathies with our fellow men are be-
ing shocked. And so it is through
the rest of the week. And Sunday
comes; Sunday, the day set aside
when we try to commune with God
and learn a little bit of what it means
to be righteous, to do Gods will.
Sunday comes, and a few Of us, here
and there, attend services; but there
are the so called sacred concerts,
poolrooms and saloons, all thrown
open. Men say liberty" but this is
not liberty, but license to degrade
themselves. And we permit it, and
our religion is assailed, and our Gull
ture, and the development Of our cul-
ture to worship God is assailed.
Temptations and conditions out
side ourselves and temptations arising
within cause us to face danger daily.
We hear of the cruelty Of the factory
that allows the little boy and girl OF
ten to work twelve hours a day until
they get the great white plague"
We hear of the evils of the stock
.-- - ~ ~roo{ ,oS1rno1c nn1 ca
on. We hear of these things so Of
ten that We are growing hardened
to them. Familiarity with evil dulls
it's power to affect us, and dulls our
eyes to its ugliness, and we go on our
way rejoicing in our prosperity; and
We are unmindful when we do not
work with all our hearts to over
come these things. These things are
affecting our lives. We have to have
good anchors to hold us to the right.
The right, friends. is our life; moth
ing else in life. Right in everything
not only in the personal sphere,
but in the world around us. Those
Israelitish prophets preached, not
personal Righteousness, but social
righteousness; not pure by yourself,
but pure by your state, and that is
what We have to do. If we love our
right we will fight for it, and for its
best expression, even as Paul fought
for the lives of the seamen and his
companions when his ship was cast
upon the rocks. And in order to fight
for ourselves we have cast out our
anchors and wish for the day"
Now, what are these anchors? The
first is the anchor of faith. Here is
the situation confronting us: Our
confidence is assailed; our faith in
our fellow men is assailed; our faith
in our God is assailed. We have to