The Cellar (Seller) Of Bondage

The Cellar (Seller) of Bondage

Or

If there’s a tax, it ain’t free!

Jhn 8:31-36 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”

34Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.

35Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Jhn 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

I. We eavesdrop this morning on the colonial house of Henry in eastern Virginia.

A. He has friends over in his candlelit parlor when a faint scratching sound is heard beneath the floor.

B. As it grows louder, we know that everyone hears it, although Henry pretends not too.

C. There are brief comments about ghosts but Henry stretches and yawns and asks to be excused so that he might go to bed.

D. Not the most subtle way of getting rid of your guests but at least it is effective for they soon leave.

E. Not long after their departure the noise is heard again along with a dragging sound just beneath the floor on which Henry stands.

F. He reaches for a lantern and approaches a hidden trap door in the hallway floor.

G. Pulling the ring that’s attached, Henry opens it and pears down into the darkness of his cold cellar.

H. As he steps down, his lantern illuminates a lonely corner where a figure barely visible cringes in terror of the penetrating glow.

I. Henry walks closer and the light bears down on twisted horrible face that snarls at him at one moment and weeps the next.

J. It a face that is submerged in torment, the face of Henry’s wife.

K. Henry has lost count of the numerous times he has gone through this ritual of feeding and caring for his loved one who had gone mad and now lives submerged below the floor.

L. It is almost too much for Henry to bear: the site of his wife in her restraining jacket, her personal chains of bondage, the love of his life imprisoned through no fault of her own.

M. Oh on occasion he thought he would see a faint glow in her face, reminiscent of happier normal times, but it would last just for a moment after which the unimaginable horror would return.

N. These are the visions that plagued Henry’s mind every night and day of his life.

O. We can’t be sure but perhaps these images were on his mind and that haunted him several months later, and after his wife had died, as he addressed the crowd at St. John’s Church, March 23, 1775.

P. No he was not the preacher that day but listen to a portion of his words on that day

“Shall we try argument?... What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. We have petitioned….. we have supplicated; ….we have been spurned, with contempt,.. There is no longer any room for hope….Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations,….. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard ….Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

Q. The famous words of Henry, Patrick Henry.

R. A Man who saw first hand what the chains of bondage will produce.

S. So much did it haunt his mind that he truly meant it when he said give me liberty or give me death.

T. Death a much more palatable option then to live in bondage. Give us freedom.

II. Freedom the magical word that stirs deeps emotions in all of us.

A. But its definition is often clouded by the philosophy of the speaker.