Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1913-02-22
SATURDAY NIGHT
~ SERMONS
,Ws@, BY
p REvSAMUEL
F" WpURVIS.DD
THE DEVILS WAGES.

QutSlpuS urheu uttWeeH tulIuoNtl anu
employee: what can you dot" What
will you pay;" We get wages for ev
erything we do II you work In fac.
tory. farm or Office you get wages II
you study YOU get pay wages for 1t,
The wages is the knowledge that Is
stored up 10 1T you for life If you are
mean. unkind and selfish your pay l.
dislike by your fellows. Some wages
are paid as we go along, but most
come on pay day. when the worker
and his master settle up. I've heard Of
n man who borrowed $500 10 send n
substitute into the civil war Never
has yet paid the principal. is still pay
ing interest Many are still paying OF
the sins Of years ago dropped into
the police court. listened MS the judg,
sentenced cach offender. Say. the dev.
lis wages are horrible Five bodies
Inv on the marble slabs in the morguC
the other morning. "Who are they
asked the coroncr's deputy "Hc
killed her. then himself he pointed.
THAT one was found dead on the
street alcoholism. That girl next was
picked up In the river Poor thing.
That young fellow shot himself. Shor,
In his accounts and couldn't stand the
disgrace
Automatic Penalty.
Penalty grows on the same stem as
sin. II IL part Of It, rs heat IL part of
fire Sin is the penalty OF sin. One oi
the results of transgression is that Il
involves more transgression. Sin pun
ishes itself. "Of our pleasant sins God
makes whips TO scourge us Every
observing man has observed that. Ey
cry writer of fiction has seen 1t. Haw
thorne's monomaniac carries the ser
pent in his bosom and cries. 1T gnaws
me-" Arthur Dimsdale wears unsccr
the scarlet letter that Hester Prynn,
wears without. In the rhine of the
Ancient Mariner" the old man must
wear the carcass Of the dead bird about
his neck. He'll is born not In Gods
judgments, but in our hearts. SiI
makes hell Take the most luxuriani
isle in tropic sea. fill it with sin and il
will be pcrditlon. One August night q
There were flowers and music and light
but IL flew In terror and distress. II
was out of place. II belonged in outer
darkness. II God should take Il sinner.
robe him in white and place him in
heaven he would still he unhappy while
sin was In his heart. Sin makes ~
shun light because II is OF the darkness
The Deadly Nighsshade.
The wages of sin are sure. Pay day
comes early. Not many aged gamblers.
plgilisiS or drunkardS The names on
the criminal calendar are those of
young men i've saved my neck.
said Denver police official. but. my
God. I'm only III my thirles and must
spend my life In a living tomb, II !
only could have foreseen this" But
the devil shows only one side of tho
picture. He turns the bright side tho
broad. easy path of sin toward us. but
not the ruin that II leads 20. lie tells
ms that we viii, escape the penalty. and
so men step over n drunkard 10 enter q
saloon will steal within sight Of prison
walls and murder under shadow of III,
gallows. Sin gets an early start on us
and bends our inclinations. I've al.
ways had difficulty 'eith shall" and
will" j suppose | always shall-no,
because | do not know grammar and
rhetoric by no means hut because
learned To- talk before the grammar
man got hold Of me. We know sin
well enough. hut in unguardcd mo
ments il slips In on us. II becomes
habit. and habit doesn't require voli
ton. The ability to play a piano be
comes mechanical after awhile. old
Judge Pyncheon sits dead In the nous,
of the seven gables the morning light
strikes his face. his watch ticks tho
tumnlt ~ traffic passes without. and he
hears not l KNOW HteH III WHoSe lhfNN
the spiritual nature is dead. the mora
being is corpse. The light Of God,
grace. the bells of Gods invitation
awaken no response. The penalty OF
sin Is death.
The Eternal Contrast.
"Thc gift of God is eternal life" This
gift is not wages. not something you
can demand nor claim as due. II isn't
n natural achievement or a spiritual
evolution. II isn't gift in the order Of
providence like spring flowers or an
inmn harvests. 4 university may con
fer degree: government may subsi
die It's merchant marine These are
gifts Of honor or necessity. Gods gifl
Is the gift Of love. \ youth buys for
maiden and counts not the cost. Love
never calculates: II gives Mary did
not estimate the value OF her vase nf
spikenard: II WAS Judas that did the
figuring The father walks YEARLY
home from his work: the day has been