The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1879-01-21
SERMON.
1sIrsE FAST YOUNG MAN. oR CO.
ING DOWN GRADE.-

BtloW We give some tAtTdctb from u
sermon delivered by Rev. Geo. L. Will
son 10 a crowded house at North
Adams, on Sunday eve, Dec. Sth. Mr..
Wilson furnishing these extracts and
submits them for publication through
a written request of many citizens. As
Mr.. w. speaks exclusively from notes,
he is enabled TO furnish us n full copy.
TExr-"A wise son heareth his Fathers ln-
struction. but a seOrner hearcth not re-
buke," PROV. Isl.
The road 10 ruin is all the way down
grade. aud tens of thousands are going
down this grade. train Of cars heay
| lily loaded will run down grade without
/ the aid Of steam or any native power
whatever; the law OF gravitation is suf-
| ficient, and the second mile post is
past at a greater rate of speed than the
tirst one. When they started their mo-
tion was slow, scarcely perceptible, but
when near the bottom OF the grade
they are then driving along at almost
| lightning speed, So Of mans descent
into vice and sin. He started gradually
down the grade, and as he descends his
fall is constantly accelerated by the
ever increasing load OF sin, he soon
reaches the bottom of the grade; the
draw bridge is turned, he plunges into
the awful chasm and is lost in eternal
darkness.
There is point in every mans life
when he commences TO ascend the hill
OF honor, integrity and OF holiness, or
when he commences his descent into
vice and irretrievable ruin. Go with me
TO yonder city. it is place full Of broth
els, saloons, gambling hells. We are
walking along its streets. Harkl
hear a scream, the crack Of pistol,
excited crowds are rushing in the di-
rection of the noise: we follow them,
We reach the place-great God what is
this? our blood stands still. WHAT IL
IT? A fair young man OF twenty five or
thirty years is lying on the cold pave
meut weltering in his own blood. A
suicide. Why did he do IT? All, he
had been drinking and gambling his
money is all gone, his reputation gone,
bis soul is gone-where? (naught that
deliles shall enter heaven.) His first
step 20 ruin was not gambling, not
drinking, not swearing. not lying, nor
stealing. he was taught better by father
and mother; he had read his Bible, had
attended the Sabbath-school. All, he
scorned the instruction OF his father
and mother and his God.
You may say / have ever drawn
picture TO represent the fast voung
man. Do all gamble and drink and
6nally commit suicide? No. Men who
lay claim 10 a large degree of respecta-
bility, men who DO not swear. lie, cheat,
drink. steal nor gamble, go down TO
ruin. Men OF high positions in the
world often go down TO ruin. Men 60
down to hell from guided places as
we'll as from drunken novels. A man
need not be a gambler, libertine, a
drunkard, in order 10 go down grade 10
rain; spurning the instructions OF pious
parents, disregarding the Instructions
Of Christ is sufficient 10 make our ruin
sure.
Step by step men climb to holiness
aud heaven. Step by step we descend
into sin and on to eternal death, simp-
| w disregarding the instructions OF
Christ will lead 10 ruin.
4 traveller al a hotel is dying; he is
presumably an honest man, "A moral
nan. He's dying, they send for a min
lister. he talks 10 him about his soul.
DYING mah says IL is too late. the min
is,er pleads the merits Of Christ's
blood, hnt ia vain: the dying man ex-
claims it's too late The dying man Is
asked, have You committed any crime
FOR which you feel Christ will not for
give you, have YOU committed the un-
pardonable sins? O, replied the dying
man. once / walked in the way Of his
commandments but j turned my back
upon him and would no longer listen TO
his instruction. spurned both the
councils OF Cody father and mother
aud OF Christ, am ruined, talk TO me
no more Of salyationn- too late, too
late.
lie was lost, not a gambler, he did
| gamble, but he would not listen 10 in.
| structions voice.
Home aud mother, words OF heaven
| " sweetness, especially the word moth
| VI, no name so beautiful in the sacred
| book but that of Christ. III there in
any place in tho Kingdom Of God that
desire 20 stand above all others. IL
is 90 stand near the mother that gave
me birth, and the Saviour that hath re-
| deemed me.
The remembrances Of home and
mother often cause the tears unbidden
TO start. The murderer silently weeps
while the memories OF them float ia
his mind. The criminal in his cell
sheds tears as he thinks Of home and
mother. see in Imagination a crimi-
nal in his cell weeping, he is reviewing
old scenes, living over again his days
OF innocence. He sees the old home,
the fire light, the old armed chair, the
cradle in which his mother rocked him.
Where is father aud mother-now
sleeping among the dead. Man does
not fully know the blessedness OF home
until he has left il forever. Adam aud
Eve had beautiful home which God
had fitted and adorned for them, but
the progenitors of the race did not
fully appreciate il until they had left IL
forever. Sleeping beneath the open
canopy OF heaven the first night after
their expulsion they fully realized what
a blessed home they had left. The
stars came out to weep with them oveI
their fall.
The prodigal was insensible OF the
blessedness or mis- home until at the
foot Of the hill he finds himself in rags
poverty aud hunger. money all gone,
and forsaken by his once gay compan
ions.
ON, the blessedness OF home. Wher
life's storms have been sweeping around
me. how often have | thought OF the
dear old home, how have wished tha
! might lay my head on mothers lap Al
| did in childhood days aud weep.
But Notwithstanding the blessed
= ess OF lome many of the young be
come dissatisfied with home, and thi,
ia generally the starting point Of the
young into sin. Here u u that the road
begins to angle toward death aud ruin
Wholesome restraint IL essential IN
every family. But commonly the younl
man arrives at n point when he feel,
that his Liberties are abridged aud h,
says, / viii not; (step number two OF
the road 10 ruin.) When a young mar
or woman says will not, 90 the gentle
voice Of father or mother or OF God, h'
IL fairly on the road 90 ruin.
L see a young man IN a certain home
he already assumes an important air; q
miniature SolomaD, modern Alex
Selkirk,) his father and mother ar,
endeavoriug 30 persuade him to remail
at home tonight, they are getting olt
and would like bis company. lie re-
plies, I won't He goes out the from
! door elama A behind him maroha,