The Sioux County Journal,
VOLUME VI.
HAKUISOX, NEBRASKA, THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 1804.
NUMBER 42.
TAIMAGE'S SERMON.
THE GREAT PREACHER SPEAKS
THROUGH THE HRES&
Be Take For Bli Sahjeet "Tha Eirtted
Ooernor" Wbjr Frill Poatouad Ac
cepting the Ouapal Noar la tha Time to
Embrac tha Offer of Salvation.
A Dangaroua IV la 7.
Rev, Dr. Taimage, who In now speed
ing across the l'a-ific to Honolulu on
LU round the world journey, selected
as the subject for sermonic diucourse
through the press last Sunday "The
Kxclted Governor," the text being
taken from Acts xxiv, 25: "Felix trem
bled, and answered: Go thy way for
this time. v hen I have a convenient
Season. I will call for thee."
A city of marble was Ca-sarea
wharves of marble, houm-g of marble,
temples of marble. This beim.' the
ordinary architecture of the place, you
may imagine boinethintfof thesplen ior
of Governor Keiix's residence. In a
room of that palace, floor tesHellaied,
windows curtained, ceiling fretted, the
whole scene allluent with Tyriun pur-
lo and statues aud pictures and curv
nga. sut a very dark comp exioned
man uf the name of Felix, and beside
hira a woman of extraordinary leauty,
whom he had stolen by breaking up
another domestic circle. She was only
11 years of ajre, a princess by birth and
unwittingly waiting for her doom
that of boing buried alive in tha ashes
and seori.e of Mount Vesuvius which
in sudden eruption one day put an end
to her abominutions.
Well, one a.lernoon Drusllla, seated
in the palace, weary with the magnifi
cent stupidities of the place, says to
Felix: "iou have a very distinguished
prisoner, I beilo.o, of the name of j
l'aul. i)o you know no is one of my I
countrymen;' i should very much like
to see him, and 1 should very much
like to hear him speuk, for I have
heard K) much alxiut his eloquence.
Uesides that the other day, when he
was being tried In another room of
this place and the windows were 0;n,
1 heard the applause that greeted the
eoeoch of Lawyer Tertullus as he
denounced l'aul. Now I very much wish
1 could hear l'aul BeaK. Won't you
let me hear him speak.'" "Yes," said
Felix, "I wllL I will order him up
now from the guardroom." Clunk,
clunk, comes a chain up the marble
stairway, and there is a shuttle at
the door, and in comes l'aul, a little
old man, prematurely old through ex-
sure only tHJ years of age, but look-
n very courteously before the Gov
ernor and the beautiful woman by his
tide. They say: "Paul, we have heard
a great deal about your speaking.
Give us now a specimen of your elo
quence." Oh, if there ever was a chance of a
man to show off, l'aul had a chance
there! He might have harangued
them about Grecian art, about the
wonderful Waterworks he had seen at
Corinth, alwut the AcrojKjlis by moon
light, about prison liie In i'hilippl,
about "what t saw In Thesalonica, "
about the old mythologies, but "Sol"
Paul said to himself. "I am now on
the way to martyrdom, and this man
and woman will soon be dead, and this
is my only opportunity to talk to them
about the things of eternity."
And just there and then there broke
in upon thn scene a peal of thunder.
It was the voice of a judgment
day speaking through the words
of the decrepit ajKJstle. As that grand
Old missionary proceeded with his re
marks the stoop begins to go out of his
shoulders, and he rises up. and his coun
tenance is illumined with tho glories
of a future life, and his shackles rattle
and grind as he lifts his fettered arm,
and with it hurls upon his abashed
auditors the bolts of God's indignation.
Felix grew very white about tho lips.
His heart boat unevenly. He put his
hand to his brow, as though to slop
the quickness and violence of his
thoughts, lie drew his rooe tighter
about him as under a sudden chill.
His eyes glare, and his knees shake,
an I as he clutches the sldo of his chair
In a very paroxysm of terror he orders
t.'io Sheriff to take l'aul ba -k to the
guardroom. Felix trembled and said:
Go thy way lor this time. When I
have a convenient season, I will call
(or thee.'' A young man came one
night to our services, with pencil in
hand, to caricature the wholo scene
and make mirth of tboso who should
express any anxiety alwut their souls,
but 1 met liim at the door, his face
Very white, tears running down his
cheek, as he said, "Do you think there
is any chance for me?" Felix trem
bled, and so may God grant it may be
so with others.
Three Keaeuna.
I propose to give you two or throe
reasons wny I think Felix sent l'aul
back to the gardroom and ad ourned
this wholo subject of religion. Tho
first reason was ho aid not want to give
up his sins. He looked arounu. There
was Drusilla. He knew that when ho
became a Chrlsiun he must send her
Pack to AzUus, her lawful husband,
and ho said to himself: "1 wilt risk
the destruction of my Immortal soul
ioonor than 1 will do that."
How many there are now who can
not get to bo Christians Iwcause they
will not abandon their sins! In vain all
their prayers and all their church go
ing. You cannot keep these durllng
sins and win Heaven, and now somo of
you will have to decide Ijetweon the
wine cup and unlawful amusements
and lascivious gratifications on tho
other. Delilah sheared tho locks of
Samson; Saloino danced Herod Into tho
pit; Drusilla blockod up the way to
Heaven for Felix. Yet when 1 pre
sent the subject now, I fear that some
of you will say: ".Not quite yet. Dod t
be so precipitate in your demands. I
have a few tickets yet that I have M
use. I have a few engagements that J.
must keep. I want to stay a little
longer In the whirl of conviviality a
lew more guffaw of unclean laughter,
a few more steps on the road to death, '
and then, sir, 1 will listen to what you 1
xay. "Go thy way for this time. When
1 have a convenient seaon 1 will call
for thee.'"
A Convenient Season.
Anotner reason why Felix sent Paul
back to the guardroom and adjourned
this subject wag he was so very busy,
in ordinary times he found the a lairs
of htate absorbing, but those were ex
traordinary times. Tho whole land
was ripe for insurrection. The Hicarii,
a band of assassins, were already
prowling around the palace, and I buj
jose he thought. "1 can't attend to re
ligion while I am pressed by affairs of
State. It was bunlness, among other
things, that ruined bis soul, and I sup
pose there ate thousands of people who
are not children of God because they
have so much business."
It is business in the store -losses,
gains, unfaithful employees. It is
bus, ness in your law otnee -subp.fnas, j
writs you have to write out, papers
you liave to me, arguments you have
to make. It is your medical profes
sion, witn its broken nights, and the
exhausted anxieties of life hanging
uxjn your treatment. It is your real
e-tato otllce, your business with land
lords and tenants, and tho failure of
men to meet their obligations with you.
Aye, with some of thoe who are here,
it is the annovunce of the kitchen, and
the sitting room, and the parlor tho
wearing economy ot trying to meet
lurgo expenses with a small income.
Ten thou-and voices of "business,
business, business" drown the voice of
the eternal Spirit, silencing the voice
of the advancing judgment day, over
coming the voice of eternity, and they
cannot listen. They say, "Go thy way
for this time."
Some of you look upon your goo. Is,
look Uxin your profession, you look
Uon your memorandum hooks, and
you eo the demands that are made
this very week upon your time, and
your patience, and your money, and
while 1 am entreating you about your
soul and the danger of procrastination
you sav: Go thy way for this time. !
When I have a convenient season, I j
will call for thee." O Felix, why bo 1
withered about the affairs or this world
so much more than about the affair
of eternity Do you know that when
death comes you will have to stop
business, though it bo in the most ex
acting period of it -between the pay
ment of thn money and tho taking of
the receipt? The moment ho comes
you will have to go. Death waits for
no man, however high, however low.
Will you put your otllce, will you put
your shop in comparison with the af-
fuirs of an eternal world, asairs that
Involve thrones, palaces, dominions
eternal? Wyi you put 200 acres of
(round against iwienaity?-WU1 you
put forty or fifty years of your life
against millions of ages?
O Felix, you might better postpone
everything else! For do you not know
that the upho. storing of Tyrian pur
ple In your pala-e will fade, and tho
marble bio ksof Cusarea will crumble,
and the breakwater at the lcach,
made of great blocks of stone 00 feet
long, must give way before the perpet
ual wash of the sea, but tho redotnii
tion that l'aul offers you will be for
ever? And yet and yet aud yet you wave
him back to tho euardrooru, saying:
"Go thy way for this time. When I
havo a convenient season, I will call
for theo."
Honors of the World.
Aeain Felix adjourned this subject
of religion and put off Paul's argument
because he could not give up the
honors of the world. He was alraid
somehow that ho would bo compro
mised himself in this matter. Remarks
he made afterward showed him to bo
intensely ambitious. Oh, how ho
hugtfod tho favor of men!
I never saw the honors of this world
in their hollowness and hypocrisy so
much as in the life and death of that
wonderful man, Charles Sumner. As
he went toward the place of burial
even Independence Hall in Philadel
phia asked that his remains stop there
on their way to Uoston. The flags
wero at half-mast, and the minute guns
on Boston common throbbed after his
heart ceased to beat. Was it always
so? While ho lived, how censured of
legislative resolutions, how carica
tured of tho pictorials; how charged
with every motive mean and ridicu
lous; how all tho urns of scorn and
hatred and billingsgate emptied upon
his head: how, when struck down In
the Senate Chamber, there wero hun
dreds of thousands of people who said,
"Good for him; serves him right.'" how
ho had put the ocean between him and
his maltgners, that he might havo a
little peace, and how, when ho wont
off sick, thev said he was broken
hearted because ho could not got to be
President or Secretary of State.
O commonwealth of Massachusetts,
who Is that man that sleeps In your
public hall, covered with garlands and
wrapped In tho sturs and strlpos' Is
that the man who, only a few months
before, yon denounced as the too of
republican and democratic institu
tions? Is that tho same man? Ye
American people, yo could not. by ono
wook ol funeral eulogium and news
pajier loaders, which the dead Senator
could neither read nor hear, atone for
twenty-five yours of maltreatment, und
caricature. When I see a man like
that, pur-mod by all the hounds of ttio
political konnel so lonu as ho lives and
then buried under a groat pile of gar
lands and amid the lamentations of a
wholo nation, I say to myself: "What
an unutterably hypocritical thing is
all human applause and all humun fa
vor! You took twonty-live years In
trying to pull down his fame and thon
tako twenty-five years in trying to
build his monument.
My friends, was there evor a bettor
commentary on the hoi ownorfs of all
earthly favor? If there are young
men who read this who are postponing
religion in order that they may have
tho favors of this world, let me per
suade them of their complete folly. If
you are looking forward to guberna
torial, senatorial, or presidential chair,
lot me show you your great mistake.
Can It bo that there is now any young
man saying: "Lot ma have political
office, let me have some of the high
rwitions of trust and power, and then
will attend to religion, but not now.
'Go thy way lor this time. When I
have a convenient season, 1 will call
for thee!'"
A Danferooa Delay.
And now my subject takes a deeper
tone, and it shows what a dangerous
thinif is this deferring of religion.
When Paul's chains rattled down the
marble stairs of Felix, tout was Felix's
last chance 1 r Heaven. Judging from
his character afterward, he was rep
robate and abandoned. And so was
Drusilla.
One day in'Southern Italy there was
a trembling of the earth, and the air
got black with smoke intershot with
liquid rocks, and Vesuvius rained upon
Drusilla and upon her s in a horrible
tempest of aches and fire. They did
not reject religion: they only put it
off They did not understand that
that day. that that hour when Paul
stood before them, was the pivotal
hour upon which everything was
poised, and that it tipped the wrong
way. Their convenient season came
when l'a'il and his guardsman entered
the palace - it went away when Paul
and his guardsman left. Have you
never seen men waiting for a conven
ient season.-1 There Is such a great
fascination almut it that, though you
may have great respect to tho truth
of Christ, yet somehow there is in
your soul the thought: "Not quite
yet. It is not time for me to become a
Christian." I say to a boy, "Seek
Christ." He says, "No: wait until I
got to be a young man." I say to the
young man, "Seek Christ." He says,
"Wait until I come to midlife." I
meet the same person in midlife, and
I say, "Seek Christ." "Ho says,
"Wait until I get old." I meet the
same person in old age and say to him,
"Seek Christ." He says, "Wait until
I am on my flying bed." I am called
to his dying couch. His last moments
have como. I bend over the couch
and listen for his last words. 1 have
purtially to guess what they are by
tho motion of his lips, he is so feeble,
but rallying himself, ho whispers, un
til lean hear him say. ''I am wait
ing for a more convenient soa
so.i," and he is gone!
Now In the Accepted Time
I can tell you whim your conenient
season will come. I can tell you the
year it will be 18'.4. I can toll you
what kind of a day it will be it will
bo tho Sabbath day. I can tell you
what hour it will bo it will bo be
tween h and Hi o'clock. In othor words,
It is now. Do you ask me how I know
this is vour convenient season? I know
it because you are here, and because
the Holy Spirit is here, and because
tbalect-aun juid.dajig liters of God
are praying for your redemption.
Ah, I know it is your convenient sea
son because some of you, like Felix,
trembled as all your past life comes
upon you with Its sins and all the
future life comes upon you with its
terror. This uight air Is aglare with
torches to show vou up or to show you
down. It is rustling with wings to lift
you into light or smito you into de
spair, and there is a rushing to and fro
and a beating against the door of your
soul as with a great thunder of empha
sis, telling you, "Now, now is the best
tune, as it may be the only tiire.
May God Almighty forbid that any of
you, my brethren or sisters, act the
part of Felix and Drusillaand put away
this great Biib.oct. If you are going to
bo saved ever, why not begin to-night?
Throw down your sins and tako the
Lord's pardon. Christ has been tramp
ing after you many a day. An Indian
and a white man became Christians.
Tho Indian, a'most as soon as he heard
tho gospel, relieved and was saved,
but the white struggled on in darkness
for a long while before he found light.
After their peace In Christ the white
man said to tho Indian, "Why was it
that I was kept so long In the dark
ness and you immediately found
peace?" Tho Indian replied: "I will
toll you. A prinoo comes along, and
ho offers you a coat. You look at your
coat, and you say, 'My coat Is good
enough,' and you refuse his offer, but
the prince comes along and ho offers
me the coat, and I look at my old
blanket and I throw that away and
tako his o ler. You, sir," continued
the Indian, "aro clinging to your own
righteousness, you think you aro good
enough, and you keep your own right
eousness, but I havo nothing, nothing,
and so when Jesus .offers mo pardon
and pea e I simply tako it."
My reader, why not now throw away
the wornout blanket of your sin and
take the robe of a Saviour's right eous
ness -a robe so white, so fair, so lus
trous, that no lullor on earth can
whiten it? O shepherd, to-nlghtbrlng
home tho !ost sheep! O Father, to
night give a welcoming kiss to the
wan prodigal! O friend of Lazarus,
to-night break down tho door of the
sopulcher and say to all those doad
souls as by irresistible flat: "Live!
Live!"
Thin Skating Tor llochclor Flirt.
The declaration of marriage In
Slam is simpler even than it used to
be In Scotland. You ask a lady to
; marry you by merely offering her a
I llower, or taking a light from a cigar
ette if It. happens lo be In her mouth;
and your family and the bride's fam
ily have to put iipatloast-00 apiece
for a dowry. Tho principal .nijicdl
mcnt In the way of marriage is that
each year Is natnl after an animal,
and only certa n animals are allowed
to Intermarry; for Instance, a person
born In the year of the cat can nut
marry with a person born In tho year
of the dog, or a pe son born to the
year of the cow with a person born la
the year of tbe tiger; and there are
s milar erubargos about months and
(lays, akin, perhaps, to the old super,
tit on In this country that I tea -rlage
will be unlucky If tho birth
months uf the bride and groom art
far apart April should not wed
with November, nor January with
J una Boston Post.
UNDAUNTED BY POLAR COLD.
The Pursuit of Food Tempts Birds to
Brave the Moat Klg-orous Climate.
In tbe countries bordering on the
Polar seas, where the changing sea
sons bring aite nately the two ex
tremes of dearth and plenty birds
are more numerous in the short sum
mer than anywhere else all the world
over aud In winte are absent alto
gether. All a e iniruig ants the;e by
force of circumstance, lu like man
ne ' tbe bi ds of teiuoe ate climates
a e affected by tbe seasonable
changes, though in a leg degree,
through the influence of cold and
heat upon their food supplies, rather
than effect of cold upon their well
protected bodies. According to Llt
tell's Living Age. a coat of mail is
not to be compared to a coat of
leather for sarety, so If as a bird's
life is concerned. Layer upon layer
of feathers can withstand any
amount of water or any deg ee of
cold. In proof of this, see how the
delicate te. n, after wintering in com
paratively mild weather, go back to
the Ice Hoes of the Polar Sea and lay
their eggs on the bare ice. For two
or three weeks the tender breast of
the sea swallow is p;essed against a
cold block of ice. Attain, as another
example of tbe in ueuce of food
rathe than climate In governing bird
action, take the colony of beccaflcos.
The beccattco is a Mediterranean bird
common on the southern shores of
Spain and Italy, in the Grecian Is
lands, .-icily and Malta, and on the
northern shores of Africa. Formerly
it was quite unknown in the British
Isles, but some yea s ago a large
orchard of Ug trees was planted near
Brighton, and the beccallco have dis
covered the fact and come over to
share the spoil. Doubtless the night
ingales told them the story of En
glish figs and showed them the way
over. He this as it may, the little
birds frorn the warm sho es of the
Mediterranean bid fal to become es
tablished as naturalized British sub
jects. Welt Done, John!
J. A. Owen tells a touching story
of shamelul wrong done in a mcment
of passion to a faithful dog. The in
cident Is glvcu In the words or a
friend of old John, the keeper. "He
was a rare 'un for sliootln' was the
Squire, an' the best pointers that
could be bad for money he'd have in
bis kennels. But . Cyrus , was . the
finest dog of the lot both as regards
size an' looks an' woric in the Held.
"He'd never made a miss, all the
time the s.juire shot over hiui. Well,
one day when they wa-i pa tridge
ahootlu', the bi ds went out o' one
Held and dropped over a bank into
anothe . There was a gate at one
end 0' the bank, an' 'twas half-way
open like.
On they comes. after the dog, the
S ,uire an' . ohn. An' how It come
about no one knows; the dog might
ha' been jealous, for there was an
other dog out with 'em, an' he might
W been thinkiu' about him. Any
way Instead o' drawln' th ough as
usual, he cante.ed th ough, jest as if
he'd been rangln',
"Up got the covey; they was be
hind that bank. Cyrus turned round
an' stopped dead still. He knowed,
poor feller, he'd made a blunder fo.
once in bis life, an' old John told me
he looked up at him real pitiful like.
Befo e he could say a wo d, the
Sgulre swung his gun up to his
shoulde , an' shot Cyrus dead, an'
then turnin' ound to old John, he
says to him quiet, very quiet, though
his face was white with temper.
' 'You b oke that dog in, or tried
to: now break me In another that
will not make a mistake '
"It was quite enough for the old
feller, an' too much. Layin' the gun
down, an' takln' the game bag fro. a
his shoulders, he says:
" 'Jqulre, I've been in your father's
service an' yours for many years, an'
se ved ye faithful to the best o' my
means an' ways, such as they a e,
but as long as I live, I'll never break
another dog for you.'
"The S ,ulre looked at him for full
a minute, and then he said, soitllke:
" 'John take my gun, an' carry It
home. I shall shoot no mo e to-day.
An' get Cyrus buried.'
"An' then ho walked away hastv
like, as if he was glad to get away
from the place. Tho old feller said
he knowed he was sorry for what he
done; but he never mentioned Cyrus
after that nor John didn't to the
Squire neither.'!
The Bilk Hytder.
The silk spider of Madagscar spins
threads of a golden color, and strong
enough, according to Malndron, to
hang a cork helmet by. The female
npider may attain a length of 15 cm.,
whllo tho ii. ale docs not exceed 3 cm.
A single female individual, at the
breeding season, gave M. Cambouo, a
French u lssionary, some 8,000 in. of
a One silken threa I during a period
of about twenty-seven days. The
thread was examined with a view to
creating a new industry. Small tex
tures woven of these threads aro ac
tually used by the uatlves for fasten
ing flowers on sunshades and for
other purposes.
Most women are positive geniuses
at fixing up and looking well on al
most empty pocketbooka
Wi like nearly any sort of a man
batter than a thoroughbred.
THE
COMMERCIAL BANK.
ESTABLISHED 1688.1
Harrison, Nebraska.
ft. & Biiwvru,
President
D. H. ORISWOLD, Cashier.
AUTHORIZED CAPITAL. $50 000.
Transacts a General
CORRESPONDENTS:
iirmoiir Exchanoi National Basic, New York,
U.rmc States National Bank, Omaha,
Futar National Bank, Cbadrota
Interest Paid on Time Deposits
IT-DRAFTS SOLD ON ALL PARTS OF EUBOIX
THE PIONEER
Pharmacy,
J. E. PHINNEY, Proprietor.
Pure Drugs, Medicines, Paints,
Oils and Varnishes.
"ARTISTS MATERIAL.
School Supplies.
Prescriptions Carefully Compounded
Day or Night.
simotis & SMILEY,
Harrison, Nebraska,
Real Estate Agents,
Have a number of bargaino in
choice land in Sioux county.
Parties desiring to buy or sell real
estate should not fail to
call on them.
School Lands
leased, taxes paid for
non-residents; farms rented, eta
CORRESPONDENTS S0UC1TED.
a r.
Banking Business
