Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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f TALMAGE SERMON By Rev. FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. D.D., Pastor of Jefferson Park Presby terian Church, Chica.go Cblcttjro, Dec. 1!7.-In Hiis senuon, on the last Sabbath of the tl.viiin year, the preacher sounds a loud call for re pentance of past sins and a resolution with divine help to begin a new life in Christ with the coming year. The text is Luke xiii. o, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” tptlreat accidents generally have their two < hi-si's of heroin*. The one class is composed of dying heroes, the other of living heroes. When, a few Weeks ago, a coal train crashed into the Big Four special which was carrying a thousand college students and their friends to Indianapolis to play for the state foot ball championship the young men who were unhurt pulled and tugged at the derailed oars. They lifted up the man gled bodies of the dying, and they col lected the mutilated remains of tin dead. Young girls who in ordinary life would have screamed at the sight of a mouse or fainted at a vaccination in that awful crisis tore up their garments for bandages and bathed the white foreheads of their young friends who were about to pass away. On the oilier hand, those who were being aided were Just as self sacrificing as those who were trying to alleviate physical suffer ings and minister to spiritual wants. An acquaintance of mine arrived at that scene of horror only a short time after the tragedy occurred. He per sonally told me of the nobility of some of those maimed and dying heroes. One young man had crawled out of tile wreck and was seated upon the ground with his thumb tightly pressed against an artery. His foot had been complete ly amputated by the wreck. When the doctor found him, he turned with a brave smile and said: “Never mind me, doctor. I am all right for the present. Go and help those poor fellows down there. They 'need you more than I.” Dying athletes thought not of them selves. While tossing about in mortal agony they begged their friends not to let their fathers and mothers and sis ters and brothers and sweethearts know how badly they were hurt. A Practical Tlicnic. We shudder at the details of these sudden and appalling calamities. It shocks us to think of strong men and delicate women, bright and gay and ^ with apparently many years of happy life before them, being overwhelmed and crushed in one short hour by some terrific disaster. Yes, it is horrible. But, while we deplore and sympathize, let us not forget the lesson that Christ would have us learn from such catas trophe. To those who told him of a great and sudden sacrifice of life he said, “Ye, too, shall likewise perish un less you repent.” lie did not mean that their earthly lives would necessarily ■ rhave a similar end, but that without repenting a doom beyond the grave as appalling as that they had described awaited them. The greatest railroad accident that ever took place, as when the Edinburgh express went down through the broken trestles of the Tay bridge; the greatest tidal wave tragedy, os when Galveston was submerged; the greatest volcanic horror, as when Vesuvius emptied Itself, and the two favorite resorts of Home's aristocracy in one night were buried in their grave of ashes; the most awful of fires, as when Chicago was burned; the most bitter of murderous persecutions, as when Pilate slew' the followers of Ju das of Galilee, are not to be compared to the horror of that day when sinners who have not repented of and turned from their sins shall hear their doom pronounced by a righteous God. Listen to the words of Jesus: "Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all Galileans because tbey suffered those things? 1 tell ye nay, but except ye re pent ye shall ail likewise perish.” Re pentance of sin is our subject. Repent ance of sin is an imperative command. Coukl we have a g: atcr and a more practical theme to preach upon for the last sermon of the dying year of ItKKi? €>41*1*11 < <1111111)1 II <1. Standing between the open grave of the dying year and the new made cra dle of the coming year, we hear God thornier the command: “Repent! Re pent! Repent ye of sin!” What does that mean? Not sorrow alone, though It Includes that; not alone regret that we have sinned against a God so good and bo loving, but renunciation. There is no real repentance until there is de termination to abandon sin. It means that each sinner must first be willing to pluck the wriggling, hissing serpent of evil out of his heart and hurl it from him as though It had the poisonous fangs of a fatal cobra before Christ’s blood will blot out the evil resalts of a hideous past. It means that heaven is not an outhouse of a Dante’s Inferno. The paradise loat which Milton de scribed can never become paradise re gained to any sinner who clings to his sin. It means that the sinner has no ground for expecting heaven at the end of bis course unless, through the power of Christ, he has renounced Lis sit;. Either the repentant sinner, with f wide open eyes, Is walking directly to ward (he cross or else he is walking directly away from it. What says Paul In reference to this renunciation of sin? To the church of Gorinth he wrote practically these words: “There are two groups of peo pie—group the first, those that are fol lowers of the world; group the second, those that are followers of Jesus. If you would be a follower of Jesua you must leave the group of the world and seek the group of Christ.” These are his exaet words: "Wherefore come ye out from among them, and be ye sepa rate, sj.ith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, sairh the Lord God Almighty.” Without re- P'-ntanee of sin there can be no remis J sion of sin. Now. my brother, my sis ter, come the practical and overpower- ing questions: Are you and 1, on this > last Sunday night of the year, ready to turn oEr hacks upon sin? Are we ready to tear out this viper of evil hab it which we have been nursing in our bosoms as a Nathan’s pet lamb? Re pentance of sin means more than to be | merely sorry for sin. It means a com- j plete renunciation of, a turning from, a repudiation of sin. Are you and I ready now to promise God that, with \ the help of the Holy Spirit, we will throttle our secret sins, even as the na | tives of India in bands go forth to dc- I stroy the man eating prowler of the 1 dark jungle? Tlie CurMe ikf Slu. And why should we not one and all be ready to turn our backs upon and renounce sin? In all the history of our lives is there one instance of yielding to sin in which sin has not proved it self our enemy? As a loathsome can cer has it not been eating at the vitals of our hearts? it has steadily been de vouring our manhood and self respect. Many years ago as a Pittsburg pastor I was calling upon an old woma^who was in the last sthges of cancer. It was my last visit. It was made the night she died. When about to enter the sick room I bad to pass through another room, where lay sleeping a little blue eyed child only a few hours old. In the one room was a newborn babe; in the other an old, shriveled up, horribly dis- tigured woman of threescore and ten. The birth angel and the death angel that night seemed to loyk wings over the grandmother’s and the grandchild’s home. But. ns I stood under those lock ed wings, I seemed to feel that the child and the old woman were one. 1 seemed to feel that the physical change from the bloom of health to the decay of death was symbolic of the spiritual change which was wrought by the cancer of sin. Why should we not be ready to renounce our sins and turn to Christ? Has not sin always been a curse and an enemy? Has not sin destroyed the best part of our lives? Standing between the open grave of the dying year and the cradle of the year about to be born, my text is espe cially appropriate. Why? Though God offers pardon and peace for repentance of nil past sins, he does not offer par don for one sin that we intend to com mit in the future. One drop of Christ’s blood is sullieiont*' to undermine and sweep away the mountain ranges of past evil. But to the man who is chor Ishing his sin, who will not break with It, who will not give it up, there is no promise. Pardon for the past is of no avail to a man who loves his sin and will accumulate a new load next year, next month of next week, though that sin be as small as a grain of sand by the seashore, as small as a microbe which can only be seen under the mag nifying glass in the biologist’s labora tory. No Mud Can Serve Two MuntcrN. Many people mistakingly suppose that God’s pardon applies to future as well as to past sins. They think it ap plies to those sins which we intend to commit ns well as to those sins of which we are already guilty. In the far east the Mohammedans suppose that earth and heaven are separated by a great chasm. Over this fathomless chasm are stretched many bridges, each the breadth of a hair in thickness. Over these infinitesimal bridges the im mortal souls must pass from earth to heaven while glowing, hissing, burst ing llames leaping up from the bottom less pit beneath scorch their feet and try to drag them down. Bo some peo ple of Christian America foolishly think they can reach heaven, though they are deliberately and intentionally walking, as the Mohammedans imagine themselves doing, over the hot fires of evil. They believe God will pardon those sins which we intend to commit in the future as well as those slits which are already recorded against us upon Hie black pages of the past. Abraham Lincoln’s war ci*y-against slavery was this: "A house divided against Itself cannot stand. This coun- tl*y must become all slave or all free.” In the same way, man cannot have two masters. “Either he will hate the one and love the oilier, qr else he will hold to the one and despise the other.” Yet there have been thousands upon thou sands of immortals who have been eter nally destroyed because they thought they could serve God and Satan at the same time. In my father’s congrega tion at Syracuse was a magnificent man. He was a regular attendant upon the divine services, but he would not publicly profess Christ and Join the church. One day my father was pleading with him to become a Chris tian. The man turned and said:*“Dr. Talmagc, 1 have long studied over what you say. I know I ought to be come a Christian. I will do so, but not now. 1 have Just been elected to the legislature. I do not believe a man can be a good politician and a good Chris tian at the same time. I will bo a good politician for two years, and then I will become a good Christian.” Front that moment the spirit of God ceaaed to plead with him. Pardon for past alns, but not until* we resolve against future sins. That man Immediately became a changed man. He went to Albany. He drifted away from the old landmarks of the Bible. He drifted first into Unlversallsm, then into ng iioNtlcIsin, then Into Infidelity. He died a blaspheming, cursing, lost soul! Dimcaltr of CuUolnsr Wronu. Pardon for the past sins. No parde* Is promised for the future sins wide’ we deliberately intend to commit. Mr. Moody, 1 tbiuk it was. gave this as bis testimony: For many weeks and months he had been laboring with a business friend to give bis heart to God. This man at last said: "Moodjf, 1 will do as you ask, but upon one condition. It lias always been my ambition from a boy to be worth tjHOU.tKH). I see that my wealth is rapidly nearing that mark. When 1 have that much in the bank, 1 shall then become a Christian and be a true, practical Christian as well as a professing one." From that moment the man’s eternal destiny was sealed. His heart became hardened. He did reach his $100,000 milestone along the pathway of wealth, but he never reached the foot of the cross. Pardon for sins of 1003. Yes. But God offers no assurance >f pardon for those sins which we deliberately mean to commit in 1904. Standing between the open grave of the dying year and the cradle of the year about to be born, we should all repent of our sins. Why, again? Be cause the far reaching word “repent ance” embraces another far reaching word, "restitution.” Therefore, if we are going to try to undo the many wrongs of the past, we must be about out Father’s business very quickly. Jod forgives those who truly repent, t"it the work of restitution or of atone- l it to our brother man who lias suf fered in body or soul by our wrongdo ing belongs to us, and we know not how soon the opportunity of doing that work may pass away. Sometimes It is not possible for us to un lo the wrongs of the past. Mr. Be cber in one of bis sermons related an incident illustrative of this impos sibility. While be was living in In- Tliunapolis a young man was enticed into a gambling den and there drugged and cheated out of all bis money, some $ 1 ,r>00. This callow youth begged the robbers to give him back at least enough to pay his car fare home. Tbey not o tly refused, but kicked him out into the street. Under their brutal treatment the young man was driven •to commit suicide. The owner of that gambling den afterward repented of his share of the crime. “But,” said Mr. Beechei “all his repentance could not restore nis victim’s life and could not undo the wrongs of the past.” In our i ship, to carry me forward to the har bor of peace.” Deep repentance for sin naturally implies a corresponding gratitude to ward Christ, who lias redeemed us from the evil Vesults of sin. The great er the danger the greater the love we have for o’ir rescuer. I was never more impressed with this truth than last year, when the Chicago presbytery, banqueted its most honored member. Rev. Herrick Johnson, D. D., on ids seventieth birthday. Without doubt Dr. Jobuson is one of our most iutlu- ential living ministers of the Presbyte rian church. He is not only a great ecclesiastical statesman and famous professor, but be has bound to him with golden cords of love all who know' him and who have lived close to him. After the different Chicago ministers had spoken and expressed their deep respect for their honored guest Dr. Johnson rose to reply. With n sw'eet. gentle spirit looking out of his loving eyes, he said: "Brethren, I am over whelmed with this overpowering mani festation of your love. I have done nothing to merit all this.” Then, with a quavering voice, he gratefully litid all the happy results of his life’s work at the feet of his Saviour when in a simple, childlike way be repeated these trustful words: I am a poor sinner and nothing at all, But Jesus Christ is my all in all. Ah, yes, such loving yearning, such tender turning with joyful and grate ful face to a divine Saviour, are the im mediate results of true repentance. The darker the clouds that hangover Mount Sinai the more rapturous the emptied sepulcher on Easter morn. The more awful the hurricarte which tosses us about upon the sea of sin tl^' more beautiful becomes the Bethlehem star, beckoning us across the still waters and into the harbor where the rescued mariners need never fear again the angry waves. The Way of Salvation. Still another reason for immediate repentance: The mute appeal of thou sands upon thousands of immortals heading toward destruction who may be saved if we will only point them to the way. The ihomeut a repentant sin ner is snatched from eternal death that moment he longs to rescue others threatened w ith the same danger. Some lives there are thousands of wrongs wo y Cars a>;o j n |] lL » f ai > west a young girl have done to others which w’e can nev er undo. Perhaps by some sinful imi tation which we gave or by some evil example which we have paraded in our past life we have been the means of 1 starting some young man, some young woman, on a life of crime and have started them on a journey which ended in a drunkard's or a suicide’s grave. All the vain regrets of a jealously maddened Othello could not bring back to life bis murdered bride. When the fiendish work of the brutal lago was once done, it was done forever. lIPKtltntioii For I’hkI MlNdeetlN. But though we may bo tumble to un do all wrongs we have done our neigh bors we can make restitution for many of our past misdeeds, and one of the chief manifestations of true repentance is the expressed desire and willingness to personally atone, as far as lies with in our power, for past faults. The widow of the famous artist John Ople once said: "I never saw my husband satistied with any of his productions. Often, very often, have I seen him en ter my room and throw himself in an agony of drspondcncy on the sofa and exclaim, 'I never, never can be a paint er as long as I live!’.” “It was a noble despair, such as is never felt by the self complacent daubers of signboards,” commented «.’hnrles H. Spurgeon. “It was a noble despair, which bore the aspirant up lo one of the highest niches in the artistic annals of ids country.” The truly repentant sinner, too, has a noble despair in bis restless and un satisfied desire to indke restitution for all the evil be has done. This desire will goad him on and on as long as lie lives. Therefore, my brother, if you have a long and evil past, so far as possible you should lose no time in be ginning the long and difficult task of trying to undo the wrongs you have done. One of the self evident proofs, patent to all, that Zaecheus was truly converted was the blunt statement be made to the Master when he said, “Be hold, Lord, the half of my goods I give t» the poor, and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusa tion I restore to him fourfold." Then Jesus said unto him, "This day Is sal vation come to this house.” True repentance can never take place without being accompanied by a holy longing to ifuike restitution for an evil past. Then, my brother, you had better make haste to repent. There are many evil words you have spoken which you should-iry to recall. There are many bad influences you have ex- , erted over your companions. There are many, very many, sins which you i have committed In your homes the ef- 1 fects of which you should try to eradi cate from the minds and hearts of your children. “Repent! Repent! Repent ye of sin!" Repent, so that you may he able, like Zaecheus, to return fourfold to those whqp yon have wronged. : Restitution must go hand in hand with repentance. y Reaaon For Repentance. There Is still another reaa4^|^||^ > repentance of sin. The greafW^m'r self abnegation the more glorious will appear to us the forgiveness of God. The more we stand afar off and beat our breasts and, like the poor publican, say, "God be merciful to me, a sinner." the more Joyous will be the Saviour's words which will welcome us into opr Father's house when he says. “Son daughter, thy sins are forgiven thee: go In peace." Then the burden of the cross will not be a burden, as you am’ I may have antlelpated. It will h such a burden ns Rutherford, the evnn gellst. described It when be said: “Th burden of the cross is the sweetest bm den I ever Imre. It Is such a burden wings are to a bird or sails are to ’Gets At The Joints From TAe Inside. BEGINS tvORK with the first dose, cleansing the blood of all the poisonous acids that produce RHEUMATISM, driving out all the dangerous germs that infest the body—that is the way cures are effected by Other medicines treat symptoms; Rheumacide removts the cause, and, therefore, its CURES ARE PERMANENT. Helps the digestion, tones up the system. Sample bottle free on application to Bobbitt Cgbmical Co., Pro prietors, 316 West Lombard St., Baltimore, Md. was trudging through the dark, stormy night to her home. She bad to pass over a bridge which spanned a wide river. As she came to the abutment suddenly by a flash of lightning she saw that the bridge was down. Hor ror, with clammy, cold fingers, clutched at her heart. She realized that within a few minutes the fast mail would be coining along the track which led to ward the bridge, a part of which was now down. Saved herself, she imme diately wanted to save others. She turned and with mad terror ran up the track. She took off her skirt as she saw the locomotive coming and stood there upon the track, waving It as a signal of distress. The engineer reversed the engine; the brakes ground hard upon the wheels; slowly, very slowly, the train came to a halt upon the bripk that overlooked certain death. This is the story, the true story, of repentance and gratitude in a nutshell. As soon ns a sinner is saved from eternal death, like tlie young girl from the far xy*st he will try to save others from the same destruction. And, oh, my friends, how* many sinners there are who may be saved if by the grace of (Jod we will go forth to save them! But mark this— the unrepentant cannot rescue the un repentant. The blind cannot lead the blind or they will both stumble into the ditch and be lost. But while I have been talking relent less time lias* been pushing the minute hand around the face of the clock. Like one who w Hts lor dissolution, the year 1903 is ready for the messenger to lead it forth to sleep in the graveyard of the other dead years. If we are to re pent in 1903, we must do so soon, wo must do it now! The messenger is knocking at the door. Goodby, old year! Goodby! Thou hast been a good friend to most of ns. Goodby! When we meet thee before the judgment seat of Christ, may we hear thee testify that thou didst see the tear of peni tence upon our cheek and that thou didst hear us say to our Heavenly King. “Father, take me as I am." Goodby, old year 1903! Goodby! Good by! Yes. the year 1903 is almost gone forever. Old Time's great clock never stops Nor runs too fast or slow; Hung up amid the world of space, Where wheeling planets glow. Its dial plate, the orbit vast Where hangs our mundane sphere, Has pushed Its pointer round again And struck anothor year. [Copyright, 1903, by Louis Klopsch.]- BLACK - DRAUGHT STOCK »nd POULTRY MEDICINE Stock and poultry have few troubles which are not bowel and liver irregularities. Black- Draught Stock and Poultry Medi cine is a bowel and liver remedy for stock. It puts the organs of digestion in a perfect condition. Prominent American breeders and fanners keep their herds and flocks healthy by giving them an occa sional dose of Black-Draught Stock and Poultry Medicine in their food. Any stock raiser mavbuya 25-cent half-pound air-tight can of this medicine from his dealer and keep his stock in vigorous health for weeks. Dealers gener ally keep Black-Draught Stock and Poultry Medicine. If yours does not, send 25 cents for a sample can to the manufacturers, The Chattanooga Medicine Co., Chat tanooga, Tenn. Rochrllb. Ga., Jan. 80,1902. Maclt-Draught Stock and Poultry Medicine is the best i ever tried. Our slock was looking bad when you sent ifle the medicine and now they are getting so fine. They are looking M per cent, better. 8. P. BROOKINGTON. BUILDERS’ SUPPLIES LUMBER, SHINGLES, LATHS, DOORS, SASH, BLINDS, FLOORING, SIDING, CEILING, MOULDING. ALSO A FINE LINE OF Paints and Oils 50c to $1.;I0 per gal. L. BAKER Trespass Notice. All persons are hereby forewarned not to hunt, cut timber or otherwise trespass or allow their stock to trespass upon the premises of Messrs. A. S. and W. D. Douglass in Gowdeysville township with out permission of the owners. Those dis regarding this notice must take what fol lows. J.L. Strain, Dec. 4-11-18-25 Agent for A. D. and W. D. Douglass. Tax Returns for 1904. iror Building and Plastering Lime Coal, and Plaster Hair.' Plaster Paris Shingles. Portland Cement, Dynamite, Blasting powder, Kuse and Dynamite Caps, call on w Limestone Springs Lime Works CARROLL & CO., Lessees. T ' eet-one The Burning of Cliurchea. During the seventeen years ending with 1900 4,939 churches were burned in this country, permanently wiping out values to the extent of $18,873,827. The record is not complete of the de struction done during these years by the cyclone and other forms of wind storm, but the total would be very large, for church splreg Invite the at tention of the wind as well as of light ning. This fact Is so well known that some Insurance companies will not Is sue tornado policies on churches with out stipulating that the spire Is not covered.—Oburcb Economist. Iu the Hollow of • Tree. A church service In the hollow of a tree was recently held In Glppsland the eastern province of Victoria. A giant gum tree had been cut through a a distance of twenty feet from th< ground. Tlie remaining part of th* trunk was then hollowed out and rool ed overhead, thus forming a rooi: twenty-five feef in breadth, which wa capable Of accommodating a confen gntlon of sixty. But the owner did no intend It to be permanently used as t church and afterward turned it into a creamery. IT MEANS | SOMETHING when you speak of being up-to-date. It means that you i will find Our Photographs “present time” pis- ptures in every way. They have that soft j finish and delicate tone which tells'of the touch of the ar tistic and tli* fidelity to the nature and de tails which thecam- alone will not give. Each sitter is carefully posed. None of the beauties 1 of face or figure are \ lost.' JUNE H. CARR 625 Limestone St. 'Phone 176. Residence 171 T—: Or. S. H. Griffith, PHYSICIAN—SUR.GEON—OCULIST. * Former pupil of the celebra ted Oculist, Dr. Julian J. Chisolm, of Baltimore. Has also taken special post-grad uate course in the Kye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital of Baltimore. Classes Fitted Accurately end Scientifically. •VOffice in Cherokee Drug Co. B’ld'g. Office ok County Auditor, \ |Chkkokke County. i * Notice is hereby given that this office will be open from January 1st, 1904, to February 20th, 1904, for the purpose of receiving returns of property for taxa tion. I will he at the following places at the times hereinafter mentioned for receiving Upturns: At Draytonville, Monday, Jan. nth. At Wilkinsville, Tuesday, Jan. 12th. At Sarratt’s Store, Wednesday, Jan. 13D1. At Asbury, Thursday, Jan. 14th. At Ravenna, (Brown’s Store), Friday, Jan. 15th. At Webster, (M. M. Tate’s), Saturday, Jan. 16th. At Thickety, (Smith's Store), Monday, Jan.18th. At White Plains, (M. C. Lipscomb’s), Tuesday, Jan. 19th. At Macedonia, (School House), Wed nesday, Jan. 20th. At Butler, Thursday, Jan. 21st. At Ezell, Friday, Jan. 22<1. At Maud, (Linder’s Store), Saturday, Jan. 23d. At Cherokee Falls, Monday, Jan. 25th. At Kings Creek, Tuesday, Jan. 26th. At Antioch, (Church),Wednesday, Jan. 27th. At Blacksburg, Thursday and Fridayj Jan. 28th and 29th. At Buffalo, (School House), Saturday, Jan. 30th. At Allens, Monday, Feb. 1st. At Grassy Pond, Tuesday, Feb. 2nd. During my absence at the above places the office will be kept open by G. W. Speer. The books will close on Febru ary 20th and if anyone fails to make re turn by this date the law requires me to add a penalty of 50 per cent, to the re turn of 1903.* All persons are required to state iu what school district they live. If they don’t know the district then they will be required to give the names of their school trustees. All persons having property in Districts Nos. 9 and 10 will state now much and make separate returns therefor. All persons are required to make out and return a statement of all personal nioperty, money, credits, investments in oonds, joint stock companies, notes, mortgages, etc., in your possession or under your control as husband, guardian, agent, attorney, executor, or administra tor on the first day of January, 1904, and fix a value thereto. Anyone who has sold or bought real estate since they made their last return must make return of same, stating who to and how much, and if they bought, how much and who from. All buildings erected during the year must he returued and the value. All returns made before anyone except me must be sworn to. All persons liable to the income tax are required to make return of same. POLL TAX.—All persons between the ages 0F21 and 60 years, except those in capable of making a living, are liable for poll tax. Confederate soldiers are ex empt. at 50 years. W. D. Camp, iw till 2-20, 04 Auditor. Kodol Dyspepsia Cura DlQMtt what you out* FOLEYSHONEMAR