Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1875-09-04

10 the mountains. Men stalV III hS"'SH
but do not always get there. Ii my
house he burning, and take a bucket
of water and put out the flames in this
and that and yonder room, while | leave
the flames in another room, might as
we'll have wasted no strength and
brought no buckets Of water at all. The
whole thing will be consumed. And if
man is only half saved, he is not
saved at all. Ten thousand men start
for the kingdom of Christ, but do not
get there. They either start too late,
or stop before they get there. Ths
Cumbria started for Scotland but did
not go into port. The City Of Boston
came out from Liverpool harbor with
flags flying, but the ocean keeps the aw-
full secret of its burial. There is such a
thing as starting for place and not
getting there There was not one inch
of safety anywhere between Sodom and
the mountain of refuge. LOT might as
well have stayed in his own home, and
perished there, as to have perished out
side the city.
Last Sabbath night there were men
here who started for the kingdom.
HAVE THEY GOT THERE!
Let ME say to all such as have not
reached that place there: is no rock OF
shelter where you are; no promise OF
safety where you are; overtaken by the
storm here, you perish. A man has
been very sick, doctors have attended
him carefully, and he comes up to lite
again, begins to walk out; but he takes
a cold, has relapse, and in twelve
hours he is dead man. There are
men who have been almost cured OF
their sin; they begin to get well, the
heavenly Physician stayed day after day
by their soul, they had almost recovered,
but not quite; there came on them a
cold draught' from the world, there came
| a relapse, and they were gone. | hear
men saying in the audience: "Lord, |
will believe, | will be Christian. "
VIII you,now? If not now, to morrow
will take you into the whirl of business
and gayety, and you may never think
Of these things again. There is man
who, forty years ago, became almost a
| Christian, but not quite. What would
have become of the Prodigal Son if he
had stopped halfway betweenthe swine
trough and his fathers house? Why,
he might better not have started, but
STAYED down where he was. The car
rots that the swine eat are better than
nothing at all Oh, to have started for
heaven and not to get there If there
are any in this house who are in this
position now describe, let me say that
! YOU are no more safe in this half and
half experience than You were IN the
time before you began to think, and so
sound the tocsin: Escape for your
life; look not behind thee, neither stay
thou in all the plain; escape to the
mountain, lest thou be consumed. l."
The text suggests further, that aman
after being persuaded out of sin some
fines looks back LoT's wife looked
| hack and perished. LOT himself would
.e looked back had it not been for
warning of the text. 1t is very
ural that they should. 1t was their
ne. All her friends were there; all
friends were there. We become at
he'd to the city of our residence, not
hstanding all its sins. Still it was
ong for them to look back, God for
le it. But are there not persons in
day who start out Of their sins yet
* back wistfully for occasional indul-
nee? Here is q man who started for
aven year ago. He had been given
dissipation; he has looked back. You
drinking too hard | believe q mod
ate drinker may get into heaven, but
hard drinker, never! ''No drunkard
all inherit the kingdom of God" The
axe catches the eye of the bird on the
ND; it begins 70 tremble, and soon
ps from the tree branch, and begins
fly down toward the serpent, and
on it is caught in the terrible folds
is gone. The wine cup has been
,ur fascination. You have 10y it been
| brought down from the circles in which
you once moved, and come down nearer
and nearer to the day of your destruc-
ton, and after a while you will be caught
in the coils of that which "Eiteth like
serpent and stingeth like an adder
on, man,
GIVE CP DRlNDING,
or give up heauen! There is your
choice. A man stood on the scatfold
about to be executed, and the sheriff:
pulling out his watch, said: "You have
five minutes to say what you have to
say" The dying man said: "Rum
ruined me. l had little brother l
loved him very much. He was bright
eyed lad. l came home one day in
toxicated My little brother was pick
ing berries in the garden, and for some
reason got mad at him, and | took up
au iron rake and with one stroke / killed
him. Now | am to die for it, and you
ask me what l have TO say. 1t is this (:
never, never, never touch anything that
can intoxicate." Alas, if once you start
/ tor heaven and looked back to your
early dissipations!
Here is another who has made ship
wreck In another direction; it has been
the house Of shame. That Sodom will
be the eternal damnation of your soul
unless you quit it. "As an OK goeth to
the slaughter, or as fool to the cor
rection of the stocks; till dart strike
through his liver" So saws God in