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Show GREAT CROWD HEARS REV. SILCOX TALK ON DANIEL A great crowd was assembled last night in the First M. E. church to hear the great sermon by the Rev. Dr. Silcox on Daniel in Babylon. All the seats were filled and. all the chairs from the basement brought into use The audience was held spellbound while thlB master preacher swayed them with his magniflcept English, and earnest oratory. All the good thlngB that have been sajd about this address were proved to be true. The next few days will be full of work for this eloquent visitor. Today at 4 i. m., he speaks, in the 4j'6n school on "Browning as a Teadher of Rellgon," at 6 p. m. to the churchmen's church-men's banquet at the Congregational church., ahej at S to the mixed audience in "the auditorium cjf the Congregational Congrega-tional church; Tueaday at 4 and s p. m., In the Baptist church, and Wednesday Wed-nesday at 4 and 8 p. m. jwill be the cIopJsb service In the Presbyterian, church. After the two great set-vises set-vises of yesterday, added Interest will be shown In the meetings this week. Dr. Silcox, in his address yesterday, said: "Daniel, in Babylon exhibits elements ele-ments of character every young man rauBt possess If he Intends to live the life God destined him to live. The fip8t introduction We1 have to him Is the statement, 'Daniel purposed In his heart that he would not defile himself.' him-self.' That sentence makes us think 'well Of him. Show me a young man who begins life with the determination that he will not defile himself and 1 will show you a man who will rise to the first place In the scale of magnificent mag-nificent manhood. There is nothing so majestic as truth, nothing so powerful pow-erful as purity. "The first thing I want to say about Daniel, in Babylon is, he was a young man with a purpose. The first fact stated about him In the book that bears his name is, 'He purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself.' him-self.' That purpose saved him. That purpose made a man of him. That purpose lifted him up and made him the companion of kings. 'What he was in nobleness of character, what he did In magnificence of deed, were but the development of that high and holy purpose. Through all the tragic scenes of a most dramatic life, the purpose that ho formed in youth held him fast to truth, to conscience and to God. What a compass Is to a ship at sea, this purpose was to Daniel In Babylon. It pointed out the clear open path to duty. It kept him from drifting on rockB of ruin ana shoals of shame. You can say of Daniel what Markam wrote of Lincoln: " 'He held his place, Held the long purpose like a growing grow-ing tree. Held on through blame, 'And faltered not at praise." "Daniel Increased his might, and manhood tenfold the day he pledged himself to purity by purposing not to defile himself. Men with fixed purpose pur-pose are strong men. They are terrible terri-ble men to meet In battle. Everybody will stand aside and get out of the way of the man who knows where he is going. "I would like to Impress young men with the wisdom of beginning life with a definite purpose. " 'Dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone; Dare to have a purpose firm, dare to make It known.' "The next thing I want to say about Daniel in Babylon Is this: The purpose pur-pose he formed had reference pr.Ima' rily to himself. 'He purposed that he would not defile himself,' throwing the emphasis on the words 'defile himself.' He had too much respect for himself to defile himself. He resolved re-solved to keep himself clean. It was himself he would not defile. He had what Milton calls, The Inner rever ence of a man for his own person.' "Religion teaches a man to respect himself. The Bible will not allow a man to think meanly of himself. Over and over again you read the command, 'Take heed to thyself.' 'Do thyself no barm.' 'Keep thyself pure.' 'What shall it profit a man If he gain the whole world and lose himself.' You, yourself, are of more value than all the gold you can accumulate. Wealth Is dearly purchased, If you have to give yourself, your manhood, your character for it. "One great lesson to learn from Daniel In Babylon Is 'Take heed to thyself.' Milton expresses this duty in a phrase of splendor and power when he says, 'A man should hold himself In reverence, and due esteem, both for the dignity of God's Image upon him, and for the price of his redemption, re-demption, which is visibly marked on his forehead.' To -very young man I would say with all earnestness, the care of thyself Is the one great solemn trust God has committed to thee. It you neglect yourself, or harm yourself, your-self, you disqualify yourself for rendering ren-dering service to humanity. Man who would be man, must rule the empire em-pire of himself. In thyself the future lies. The kingdom of God is within you. " 'Not In the clamor of the crowded street, But In ourselves, our triumph or defeat' de-feat' "My counsel to every young man Is: Be good to yourself. Make the most of yourself. Take yourself In hand, kindly, thoroughly. Criticise yourself. Diagnose yourself. Encourage yourself. your-self. Discipline yourself. Pray for yourself. Enrich your selfhood. Religion Re-ligion commands you to do this. Religion Re-ligion separates each of us frOm the mass, declaring with solemn emphasis empha-sis that, 'Even' man shall give an ao count of himself to God.' Alone we came into the world, alone we go out of the world. Alone we stand before God's great Judgment seai. Our in f divldualism Is the first great solemn fact we have to face and account for. "'By ourselves Is evil done, By ourselves we pain endure, By ourselves we cease from wrong. By ourselves become we pure." "Sit down an hour and think about youraelf. Perhaps you had better take a whole day to it. Do what the Bible bids you do. 'Commune with your own heart and be still.' Get alone with yourself with the light ol God's truth, look Into your heart, into . your soul, into your character, into your motives. " 'Go to your own bosom, knock there, And ask your heart wEat doth t know?" "Look yourself over carefullv, critically. crit-ically. Give yourself a thorough overhauling, over-hauling, as they do the locomotives brought into the shops for repair. Of many a man you hear It Bald, he Is hls own worst enemy. Therefore I say to you be g6od to yourself. If you are good to yourself there Is soma reason to believe that you will be good to others. j "Listen to me! When you sit down at the gambler's table and play away your hard earned money, you are not good to yourself. When you stand at the bar and drink away your God given health, you are not good to yourself. When you Indulge In illicit vices, when you cross the threshold of her whose house leads to hell, you are not good to yourself. You lack reverence for your own person. You mar and scar your divinely redeem ed nature. "Daniel purposed that he would not defile himself. If Daniel would not defile himself, no one else would, for no one else could. The truth I emphasize em-phasize is this: If a young man becomes be-comes defiled, It Is his own. act. No man can become defiled except by his own consent and co-operation Sa tan may tempt you, hut he cannot force you to evil. The old Roman proverb Is forever true: 'No man is hurt but by himself.' "It was Daniel In Babylon that determined de-termined to avoid personal defilement. defile-ment. It was comparatively easy to keep himself pure In Jerusalem, for Jerusalem was his home, where he was surrounded by refining influences. influ-ences. In Babylon it was the reverse. There he was girded round on every side with everything that could corrupt cor-rupt and befoul character. Remember It was In Babylon that he worked out his salvation. It was in Babylon that he resolved to do whatever God would have him do. It was In Babylon Baby-lon he made it the rule and practice of his life, to read the bible and pray every day. It was In Babylon he made and kept his record clean Babylon, Ba-bylon, the mother of abominations, became to him the arena of spiritual growth and moral conquest. The world-conquering Alexander went to Babylon and In a Bacchanalian carousal, carou-sal, drank himself to shameful death. Daniel went to Babylon, resisted tls fascinating damnations, kept himself clean from Its ruinous pollutions, and rose to Alpine heights of manly strength and beauty. "If environment could degrade a man Daniel in Babylon would have been degarded past redemption. If circumstances make te man, as some modern Idiots affirm, then cir-sumstances cir-sumstances in . Babylon would have made Daniel not a pure saint but a foul fiend. "The meanest, most brainless heresy. here-sy. I know of. Is that which says, "Circumstances "Cir-cumstances make the man." Circumstances Circum-stances make things, but not men. The most abject thing I know of, is that feeble flabby, flaccid thing men call 'a creature of circumstances," whose decalogue is condensed in the one idiotic sentence, 'When you are in Rome do as the Romans do, which being Interpreted means, when you are among hogs do as the hogs do To what depths of imbecility men can sink. I "Of all cities that the pride of man ' has built, Babylon was the greatest. As Napoleon brough the treasures of conquered nations to enrich and beautify Paris, so the kings of the earth were compelled to bring their glory and honor, their gems and treasures into Babylon. Tyre sent her most gorgeous dyes. Arabia her choicest spices. Hilbon her costliest wines, Media her riches agates, and emeralds, India her largest pearls, Egvpt her finest Ivory. Ethopia her rarest topaz, and Greece her fairest dancing girls, for Babylon was fond of the dance, as all decadent nations and peoples are. It is a revelation of Babylon's low moral life to know that the price of a comely dancinj girl, was equal to the pay of a thousand thou-sand soldiers a year. "It is almost impossible to form any adequate conception of the mag- nificance of this ancient city. The wealth of surrounding nations In one continuous stream poured into the coffers of its merchant princess. The golden vessels, the precious stones of Jerusalem's temple were carriea,. there. If Babylpn was foremost in wealth and splendor, it was also foremost fore-most in vice. Its debaucheries were too vile to picture to you. Babylon, in the Book of Revelation, -stands of the type of all the abominations that the power and purity of Christ are to destroy. The city was a great sewer pit of sensual lust It has been rightly named, the city ot sensuality. In golden goblets set with precious gems, profligate women and licentious lords drank deep draughts of wine to che honor of Bacchus and Venus, confederate con-federate deities of 'drunkenness and lust. "Into this magnificent city, into this corrupt court, came young Daniel not 20 years old. Comely In person, courteous in conduct, brilliant In lm tellect, he was selected by the king to be educated for service of the court. The most corrupting place on earth is a corrupt court. And Daniel, with all the hot blood of youth, was brought into closest contact with the gilded vice of the most corrupt court. In the most corrupt city of the world. There the name of God was daily blasphemed, virtue derided, and vice deified. "What I ask you to lay to heart is this: In that sink of iniquity, in that hell of vice. In that swine trough of licentiousness, Daniel by the grace ol God kept faith, and held fast to his ! manhood. Amidst the moral filth that surged and swirled around him, he stood upright and carried unstained the tallsmanlc jewel of clean, unsullied unsul-lied manhood. "Young man here in this world to-dav to-dav you face the same tempter that Daniel faced and floored In Babylon. Here vou will be confronted with temptations as subtle and deadly as he confronted In Babylon. Here you will meet the man who will deride the-religion the-religion of your father and blaspheme the God of your mother. Here you will meet the drink traffic, debauching debauch-ing and damning Its victims as it has ever done. Here you will meet In theatres lewd, nude dancing worn en that would put Sodom to shade. Here vou will meet the Impure book and licentious picture, casting the pestiferous mlsama of hell over yom God given imagination, making purity of thought and life almost impossible A man had better take putrid meal Jnto-iup. storaaoh, than befoul his God given intellect by dumping into it as into a public nuisance ground, the moral garbage that scavepger-artist and cess pool publishers have raked and scraped from the muddiest and murkiest slums that have deformed and defiled hunianity. ""' "Here as in Babylon are palaces of vice where thousands of licentious vo-tarles vo-tarles hold a ceaseless carnival of rev-elries rev-elries that end in shameful death. Here in unblushing impudence stands the strange woman and it is as true today as when the pen of inspiration' wrote it three thousand years ago, 'Her house Is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death. She has cast down many wounded, yea many strong men have been slain by her. Whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding, he that doeth it destroyeth his ov.n soul. A wound and dishonor shall he get, and his reproach shall not be wiped away. For it is a heinous crime and an Iniquity to be punished by the Judges, a fire that consumeth unto de- fl struction. "When will men learn that the loss of chastity is the loss of manhood as truly as the loss of virtue is the loss of womanhood. God had not set up a double standard of morality, or more two sets of laws, one for man and another for woman. God's eternal seventh commandment is as obligatory on man as it is on woman. Ulysses In his wonderlngs is as .much under bond to sacred marriage vowb as Is his queen-wife Penolope, who, in conjugal faithfulness waits his return to her palace home. There is no worse fl heresy under Heaven than the heresy that In the violation of the seventh commandment the woman Is guilty and the man guiltless. That old He-brew He-brew law with the Inflexibility and impartiality of divine justice, assumed that In God's sight the fallen man IH is as sinful as the fallen woman. At IH God's judgment seat adulterer and adultress stand on the same level of transgression, and on each falls Ihi same measure of condemnation. "The sins ye do by two and twq ye shall pay for one by one." |