The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1879-03-05
Life's Turning Points,
AS SEEN AND DESCRIBED IN
THE SUNDAY SERMON OF REV.
r. DEWITT rALMAGE.

Stand Trouble, Not nj n STAND
Successful Is Not the Trouble of
Life That Destroy Men ; 1t Is Their
Prosperity-"I Am Throwing My
Last Stake for Eternity, and Trem.
bic and Shudder for the Issue."--
Sans Christ, Death a Leap into
Darkness.
TEXT: ITS the young man, Absalom, safe 7"-
Samuel, XvIII, 81.
The two great characters Of Absatom were
worldly ambition and spcndid hair. By the
first he wa debased by the second hung. lie
was q bad boy, and broke his fathers heart.
fIe wanted to get his fathers. throne, and so
he goes out. stIrs up insurrection and makes Il
great battle. Meanwhile the father sits In the
O of n fortress, waiting for the news 70
come, not chiefly anxious as to whether ms
trooys win or Absalom's troops win, but chief
~ anxious about the safety OF Nilsson. While
the old man Is sitting there and looking out,
he sees dust arising and some one running
with great dispatch but he cannot walt until
lie gets up to the fortress. The old man cries
out at the top OF his voice "IIave you heard
from my boy? Is he alive? Is the young
man AbsaIoin saIe?" But this messenger
was toldt to stand aside. The father waited for
further t!dingS. and, looking out, he sees an.
other messenger coming ana says: An!
now I shall hear from him. entirety forget
fll OF now muCn WIS lUNOlNcu III tlC oaIbit.
AS soon rs the messenger cone within speak
Ing distance the old man cries out again /:
"WheIc ismy boy? Is he wounded? Is he
dead ? Is the young man AbSaloms afc:' y,
no, he was not safe. He had been riding a
mulc-a mule Is the meancst thing on earth
to ride on 1t has u tough mouth and Is stub
horn nccied, and Is uncoltrollable, n Will
not answer to the bit-and. riding on the
locks caught In a branch and the mule, trne
to its characteristics. would not stop. but
went on and left Absnlom suspended. So he
died, and TO the question OF tho text there
came an awful negative. ~Thcyoung man Alb
SALON. was not safe.
SAFETY OF YOUNG MEN.
I propose thism morning 10 spenk Of the safe
life when u young man seems TO get along
quite well without any religion to help guide
or restrain him, but there are four or five
great passes in life where a young man needs
the grace Of God, and ! shall give q kindly
warning to our young friends against under
taking life without religion.
The first great pass In u young mans life,
when he needs divine help, is when he choos-
es an occupation or profession. IT is a serious
moment when q young man gets through
with his schooling, and perhaps leaves his 70:
theirs house, and says Now, what shall
he 2" Mechanism opens before him a score
of trades, and professional life opens before
him seven or eight calIings. lie must choose
between these, and choose Alright, for If he
makes q mistake here he is gone. He may,
the world, but his life will be useless and his
wrong step a failure. I have n friend who
started life in merchandise. Then he went
into the medical professiou. Ane:a while nc
entered the ministry: Then he became q SOL
dier In the army, After that he entered the
ministry again, and Is now q surgeon. O! II
ne had only had God ut the start to tell him
what to do. There are tens Of thousands OF
men who get on the wrong truck. ahd they
never are able to correct the mistake. They
are in the law, when they ought TO be doctor
Ing the sick, or they are filling the pulpit,
when they ought to be plouching corn. We
want sotie fine occupation, or some neat and
elegant trade, and we start out with that de-
termination, when, instead Of having for the
DC in that occupation. or how white our hands
the only question ought to be,
"FoR WHAT DID GOD FIT U.s."
There arc five hundred businesses IN life
but there Is only one business for which you
are fitted, young man; and If you blunder
Oh Without any divine help In your choice o!
an OCCUPATION or profession, four hundred
! the wrong business. Your father will want
| you to do one thing. your mother Will want
! you to do another thing, your sister will
want you to do another thing, while you
yourself will not be quite decided as to
whether you have endurance enough for this
| or education enough for that, or tact for the
other thing. All! that Is the time when Il
young man needs the grace of Coz to helr
him. God fashioned your bodyand he knows
your physical endurance. lie constructed
your mind, and he fol what profession
you have tie most acumcn. 60, therefore
I" n 10 'l "n" s a?od WITT viii tell Gi'" yo %'' md "i'' he WI" viii
tell y"u rightly Rlunder here: and you
blundcr forever. knnw u score of men whu
nave been ruined for both worlds simply be-
cause they got into the W VIZ nnfiness; Ti,a
man wants divine directions when he cstab'
fishes his own household. When n nan
builds his earthly home he decides his cier'
nlty. ] know that ailianc!ng Is usually look
ed upon ~ something to br merry over. IN
stead Of something to be prayed about; bu'
what step Is there frhusllt with such veal OF
woe? Is 1t not strange that an affair charged
with such temporal and eternal import
not think | put the case too strongly when
say that when q young man marrics
HE MARiIFS FOR HEAVEN OR HE'LL.
If he bring into his household the righ'
kind of influences. the home will be elevated
and upward in its impressions. II he brin:
the wrong kind OF influences Into his house
he will go dOwn-lc must go down. Builc
not your home on tho color OF II fair check, Of
the sprinkle Of II bright eye, for life Is not 1
n gay romance, but q tremendous reality: hnt
there will come Il time in your house wlicl
sou will want not 50 much n pr; or n toy ms l
heroine. There will be Il time when The out
side world will lc dark enough, and you vii
come Into your home, wanting, most OF all
a cheerful word and TO see Il c0untenancc TN
b%ccloudcd. yet sympathetic. There is
man-his head Is gray n~ow-who looks bach
to the time of some great business disaster
when his soul sunk within him, and hi!
mind almost dropped from It's throne: yc
MI r the duns and tolls and annoynnccs ant
insults Of the day. lie went to his home ant
shut the door against the world OF annoy
anccS. and there, amid the sweet home voice
r t.,- ..l- ,,,n l,nf - az ltt,, Gtth.t
forctaSte of that heaven where pains ncyc
come. Why, he had hardly dared to tell hi
wife Of the business misfortune. lie says
"Shc won't be able to endure It," But whci
he was compelled to tell her, how SURPRISED
he was to find that she was rs happy In
small house as In u large hOtsp, and. aflc
the piano went. she still could sing withou
the accom- raninnent as well aS she ever san:
it.. :JeSus, Lover Of My Soul. Let Me to TN,
Bosom Fly" There have been Christian wo
men who have 20 had their domestic trouble
sanctIfted to them that they could get NOR
music ont oc Il Wheeler IL Wilson sewing ma
chine than ever before In their life the.
could get out Of II Chickcrjng grand or
Stcinway. \ minister Of the gospel cam
into IL house. where there was great povert!
and drstitution. and 1t was generally. supros
cl That the poverty came from the TACT tina
these people had
MARRIED TOO EARLY
And after the minister nat looked arount
upon the utter want and ucStitntlOn, and hnt
rehearscd the misfortuncs that had come upon
the household. he turned to the poor man ant
said "Don't YOU now regret your early mar
riasn? Don't you think IT was your grea
mistake in life ?" And the man halted for
moment and his eyes filled up with tears, anc
he look ed up at his p%oorly:clad wife and sait
NO. sir: she has been the same to me ni
through" o, there ure some Of you who
would never have known wha, your hom'
was worth II God had not upset you. md you
gOul Ind not been ranSaCked or trouble. Ina
first touch Of trouble changed that wife, wh'
was too fond Of gnycLles and frirolitles OF tn
world, into q soul That could rise In calm tri
umph, like Miriam singing the Victory or
SPOKEN Of lightness and frivolity, and fond
ness of display as the chief characteristic o
woman, YOU know not of what you speak ,ant
may have to correct your mistake some bite
day when all other supports have failed yot
and you are upheld by the hands OF q CHRIS
tinn wife suddenly armed by the Lord Al
mighty for that emergency. Young man
rush not into THAT relation by an appeal t.
God. II you ever need his grace you need 4
there. Is there a more beautiful spoLon earti
than a new home in which those Just af1lanc'
ed have begun the service OF God? BLESSED
the family Bible IN which their names hav'
Just been written. blessed the hour OF morn
Ing and evening prayer. Blessed the angels
the home Is all covered mp with a canopy o
light and love and JOY. 1t may have beer
only yesterday when they clnsped their hands
mt the altar, but they claspcd their hands i3r
ever. The orange blossoms Will fade. and tht
fragrance will die in the mir, but they who
marry In Christ shall walk together In thu
day when the church, which Is the Lambs
wife. shall take the hand OF her Lord am
King amid the swinging OF golden Gems ers!
FIRST SUCCESS.
The third great pass In life in which q young
p,op tpnnfG ra1ip{0n iS In the lime or Ills ITS