The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1909-04-08
LAUNDERING WICKEDNESS
April II, '09-(Acts 12:1-19).

ways Of killing a dog. break his back
With a stick, or choke him with but
ter" There are two ways Of killing
fhe church, and one or the other has
been tried from the beginning, perse.
euton or patronage. Sometimes there
are periods of red-handed slaughter.
and sometimes long eras of flatterins
seduction, less painful, but more
dangerous condition. When the enc
my "goeth about as roaring lion." his
very growing tends to watchfulness
and defense. 1t Is when Samson is de-
luded by the caresses Of Delilah that
he Is In the most deadly peril
Whether struck down by the paw OF
the lion or Rugged to death by a
bear the result is the same.
Persecution stops Nothing.
The first method OF determination
that was attempted was the method
sf persecution. This talk gives us
the first scene In the bloody drama
that was enacted in the first church
OF the first century. The historian
Luke puts the matter thus: Now
about this time Herod the king
stretched forth his hands to vex Ger.
tain Of the church. And he killed
James, the brother of John, with the
Rword And because he saw that it
pleased the Jews he proceeded to
take Peter Also Herod-name malo.
6orous in history-what bloody
record Is theirc! Herod the Great.
murderer of the innocent children Jf
Bethlehem! He"od Antipas, assassin
of John the Baptist! Herod Agrippa
]. slayer Of James the apostle.
Father, son, and grandson, they stand
through the ages identified among the
human butchers of history. They
switched off heads as ruthlessly and
with as little consideration as the
traveller with his walking stick whisks
OF the flowers of the field. Just as
eheaply and easily as that and they
verify thought that was the end Of
il Swish went the sword, exit James
the apostle. That was the end of It.
That was the last OF James, the broth
er of John. one OF the three mighty
ones. he whom Christ called Bon
erges. Son of Thunder. That was the
end of him. No! 1t was only the be-
ginning. Herod made the biggest
blunder of his life when he performed
that bloody deed. He thought he had
committed murder, he had really COM
mitted suicide. The sword stroke
did not harm James, it merely set a
prisoner Tree, and emancipated cap
tive. The blow reacted on the au-
thor Of it, and made him forever i'm.
famous. But James comes to coro-
nation with the swift stroke of the
sword.
Coronation by the Sword.
They never fail who die in a great
cause;
The block may soak their gore.
Their heads may sodden in the sun,
Their limbs be strung to city gates
and castle walls,
But still their spirit walks abroad.
Though years elapse,
And others share as dark a doom,
They but augment the swelling tide
that overpowers all others.
And conducts the world at last to
freedom.
"And seeing that it pleased the Jews
he proceeded to take Peter also"
Calamity trod upon the heelc of calam
ity. Peter in prison, doomed, devot
ed. as good as dead, only held from
the block until some great occasion
when he could be dispatched publicly
and in a spectacular manner. This
was Herod's second blunder. He
assassinated one James, but his death
only made way for another and a
stronger man. Another man stepped
at once into the murdered apostles
place in that very city of Jerusalem,
and singularly enough his name was
James, and he managed the affairs OF
the church in mastery way for
years thereafter. The church never
slipped cog when the head of James,
the martyr, fell into the executioner's
basket Blundering wickedness!
Herod blundered again when he cap.
tured Peter. He had been thinking
how 1t would please the Jews. but
he had not reckoned with the AL.
mighty. He haa forgotte the
Haheas Corpus of the Eternal. There
Was no jail in the capital strong
rhVu6u W lcolol lHc HcdNShiy mes
sengers who served those documents,
eountersigned by the hand that was
nailed TO the cross. The guards rec.
0gnized the authority and lifted no
finger of restraint, Peter recognized
it. and marched out obedient to the
summons. The prison bolts and bars
recognized it, and few back into their
sockets. The iron door recognized it,
and opened for his deliverance ''of its
own accord"
Habeas Corpus Of Prayer.
The church flung upon its resources.
plucked out of its bosom the key of
all-prayer-that wondrous key which
will fit the wards of the most ingeni-
ously constructed lock that has ever
been devised. God let Herod run out
to the enc. of his rODe and lust as he