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yea and nay. I want to see the time come when,
like the men of old, when we say a thing, we will
do it.
But this all brings us down to the charge which
we have selected for our text, and there are three
things about this charge that I want you to see.
First, I want you to observe exactly how sacred
the retiring king regards the office that he is now
retiring from, and the office that he is now charg
ing his son to assume. Listen: “Be thou strong,
therefore, and show thyself a man.” There never
has been a time when that sort of a man was not
needed to preside over matters of State; and
there never will be a time. It is true that we
have not always so regarded it. It is true that
most generally we have disregarded it, and espe
cially has that been true in our own country where
professional politics has played such an important
part in the selection of men to govern. And I am
not speaking entirely of governors, mayors, sena
tors, etc. I am speaking of any man placed in a
position of trust by the will of the people. There
has never been a time when this discourse has not
been needed to be applied to the people that gov
ern.
A MAN.
“Be thou strong, and show thyself a man.” A
man! What is it to be a man? It means some
thing more than to have short hair and wear
trousers, because women are getting to do that thing
now. What is it to be a man? To be a man
there must be, first of all, the man principle, and
the man principle is founded upon Him without
whom there is no real manhood, our Lord and Sav
iour Jesus Christ.
My brethren, I would to God that the time would
come when the first requisite that we have for men
to govern would be that of pure and undetiled re
ligion. We will never get this country Christian
ized through an ungodly, non-religious, non-Chris
tian administration. You will never get clear water
through a muddy sponge. You will never get pure
reform, righteous administration, moral atmosphere
in the truest and highest sense of the word until
you get it through men whose hearts have been
washed and purged of their sin and impurity by
the blood of the atonement, and I therefore call
upon Christian men that they, so far as they can,
see to it that the men who seek their vote and
their support are men who know their Lord.
“Be strong, show thyself a man.” What is it
to be a man? It is to have backbone. It is to
have a determination, not only to know the right,
but, knowing the right, to do it. Oh, today, if
we had in the places of trust in this country men
who from Jesus had learned the right, and had the
nerve and the manhood to stand and face the
world of darkness, and do that which they knew
was right, we would have a country that would
soon blossom like the rose.
“Be strong, show thyself a man.” A man. Oh,
this does not apply simply to the man vho rules,
who makes laws, or who executes laws, it applies
to men in every walk of life! The other day in
Spartanburg I ran up on a man who for years was
emploved by a corporation that required him to
work on Sunday; the work which he did on Sun
day he knew was not the work of necessity, he
was a church member and a Christian. I’or many
years his conscience had been hurting him.
Finally one day he went to his employer and
said, in effect, “For conscience sake I cannot work
on Sunday.”
“Then,” said his employer, “You will have to
give up your job.”
Though he had a wife and five children he gave
up his position. A few weeks passed by, and he
had no position. His former employer met him
one day and offered him a position at a salary of
$35 a month, and no Sunday work. That was the
best he could do, so he took it. After awhile they
began to try to get him to work a little bit on
Sunday again. Again he refused and again lost
his position. That all happened a little over a
year ago, and today that man is the Secretary and
Treasurer of one of the biggest insurance compa
nies in Spartanburg, getting twice as much salary
as he ever got in his life before.
Now that is my conception of a man and unless
The Golden Age for July 11, 1907.
you have got that kind of grit in you, you need
not come around bragging about your manhood.
I have seen men bragging about thejr manhood
just longing for John L. Sullivan, Fitzsimmons,
and the whole caboodle of the rest of them to come
along, and they would knock the whole business
of them into the middle of next week, when they
have not manhood enough to do the right in the
smallest details of life.
IN GOD’S PLAN.
Let us look at the next thing. “Keep the charge
of Jehovah, thy God, and walk in His ways.” By
this the king means.to say at the outset that there
is a definite way for governments and for individ
ual life. God has a plan for the government of
the universe, my brethren. God has a plan for the
government of this nation. God wants to govern
America. God wants that it shall blossom and
flourish. God wants to see this Southland, so long
travailing in the dust, come to the front, and he
has done enough to convince us of that fact. He
has given us the grandest climate, and the most
fruitful soil, and the best people in many respects
that present civilization smiles upon, by this re
vealing to us that he has got a plan for the gov
ernment of our people if we will only let Him do
it.
But God’s plan can be, and is, being defeated.
Do you mean to tell me that God’s plan for the
government of our beloved state incorporates the
licensed saloon? Is there a man. however wicked,
however steeped in selfishness and sin, however en
grossed he may be in his business, that would dare
to stand up today and put his hand on his heart
and say, “I believe that God’s plan for this state
is to have a licensed saloon,” whether it is high or
low. God’s plan for our state is freedom from
these things.
Now then, if God has a plan for the state and
for the nation He likewise has a plan for the indi
vidual. We can find His plan for the individual
in this charge. In this charge he is talking, first of
all, to Solomon, and *He is talking through Solo
mon to you and to me, and especially is he talking
to you men who are charged with the responsibil
ity of representing the people. What should be
your attitude as a representative of the people, in
whatever capacity, whether of a legislator, membar
of Council, member of the Board of Aidermen, or
anything else? What is your attitude? May I
attempt to interpret it? I shall do it in the light
of the Scriptures as I see it.
First, according to God’s will, your attitude must
be to strive, as far as you can, to know what God's
plan is for your community or for your consti
tuency. To get at God’s will for your com
munity, or for your constituency, you may
have to follow the rule or diagnosis by
exclusion. There are some things that you
know that God does not endorse. Take, for in
stance, the licensed saloon. You know, and 1
know, and every man knows that that thing is not
in the program of God for this state. - When you
have found that a thing is not in the program of
God, then your attitude is to walk in His way and
do not vote for anything that does not meet th j
endorsement of God.
Now, we have got a condition here in Atlanta.
We are now about to elect a new council, and I
notice in the papers that this one and that one
and the other one was being interviewed, and
the headline states that for the encouragement of
the temperance forces the ones interviewed are op
posed to changing the splendid method of regulat
ing saloons in Atlanta. Os course they are op
posed to changing it. There has never been a time
since I have been in this city when we have had
as loose and damnable a method as we have to
day.
What I want to see the legislators do is to stand
along with the Christian sentiment of this city and
make a fight for straight prohibition in this city
or nothing. I do not want my boy educated on
whiskey money.
Find out what God is about. Fall in line with
Him. Find out which way God is going and take
out after Him. That is the only position for a
true statesman to take. Walk in His ways, and
He will show you the right.
GOD’S CHANCE.
Then take the next part of the charge. There
is the object of it all. First, “That thou mayest
prosper in all that thou doest. ’ ’ Now, my brethren,
if I understand the Bible, it teaches that a man or
woman, or community, or city, or state, or nation,
that finds out what God’s way is, then walks in His
way, will prosper in all that comes to pass. Do
you believe that? Have vou ever known it to fail?
Can you put your finger on a man that disproves
it? Upon a nation that disproves it? Upon a city
that disproves it? In proportion to the fidelity
with which we walk in the ways of God, will we
prosper.
The most prosperous city upon the American con
tinent for a number of years was Toronto, Canada,
Toronto was the most God fearing city, also. You
could not find a street car running on Sunday.
When the Sabbath came Toronto folded her arms
with respect to business and went to worship, and
Toronto flourished like a green bay tree, and blos
somed like a rose, and today it stands as a monu
mental city to the glory of God and the power
of His name. Have you ever known it to fail?
Can it fail? Never! Because back of it is the
promise of God.
But see again. Not only that thou mayest pros
per in all that thou doest and whithersoever thou
turnest thyself, but “that Jehovah may establish
His word.” In other words, simply that Jehovah
may have a chance. God is waiting to get a chance
to reveal Himself, and here we are today per
plexed with difficulties, problems, struggles; toiling
and fighting against odds, and God is just waiting
to get a chance to do His will.
In the Vatican gallery in Rome I saw a picture
that made a great impression upon me. It was a.
simple painting, but it had a great lesson in
it. It represented a thick woodland, almost a wil
derness; through that woodland was a broad plain
path, which led up to a fork. In this broad path,
approaching the fork was a man. Upon his face
there was a look of bewilderment. It was night,
and all was dark, but just over the fork was an
angel, holding in one hand a lantern, and with the
other hand she was holding back the light.
As I looked at that picture I saw what it meant.
It meant to teach this lesson, that God is every
where with His people; that He always is at hand
with His lantern of revelation; that the only thing
for one of God’s children to do when he comes to
a fork in the road is just to look up and He will
remove the hand that hides the light and shine
upon the path. That has helped me a great many
times since I saw it, and in many perplexing sit
uations. We all have difficulties and problems, the
community has them, the state has them, the na
tion has them, the world has them, and yet here is
God, standing, just waiting to get a chance that
He may establish His way and His rule through
the lives of His people.
“Be thou strong therefore, and show thyself »
man. Keep the charge of Jehovah thy God, to
walk in His ways, to keep His statutes and His
commandments and His ordinances, and His testi
monies according to the law which is written in the
law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that
thou doest and whithersoever thou turnest thv
self, that Jehovah may establish His word.”
Oh, let us each one as individuals say to Go?
“T’ cu mayest have a chance in my life”!
»! *1
The Message.
Sy Grace Wilson.
Oh! Time-Spirit, and found you are,
Oh! World-Call, that callest me afar,
What thy message, the message of the days
Thou sendest my soul, that comes and stays?
Words wondrous would tell of things rare,
The radiance and rapture of a world fair,
Sunrisand sunset gathered in one sweet star —
If we had but the eyes to see things as they are.
* it
In France, the land that is sometimes called
the land of infidels, one thousand Bibles were sold
per day during last year. Its sales were greater
than that of any other book.—Mississippi Baptist.
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