The Brookhaven ledger. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1881-06-02
Ths 9ireside.
A Lost sleeve Button j..


. A Lost Sleeve Button
Attending a Sunday evening SER
, vice some time ago, in Vicksburg
9 Church, a gentleman found in his
! pew he occupied a sleeve-button,
lost By some former attendant upon
, divine worship. That such a loss
should be sustained is not peculiar.
Many have lost buttons. Nor was
it singular that it occurred in q
, Church. The service may have
been tedious and the auditor rest
less. Whether his physical strength
was becoming exhausted or his dis
turbed conscience produced bodily
as well as mental agitation, in the
paxoxysms of which the loss oc-
Cured, does not appear. The but
ton was handed the paste. to find
it's righful owner, or failing in that,
give it any direction he might
deem best. Upon examination it
was discovered that the button had
on it's enameled face a well-traced
variegated picture, which paste
1 board sportsmen would readily
recognize as Jack of diamonds"
Looking at the picture, the aston
ished pastor, according to the ho-
miletical habit of the pulpit began
to moralize, and the following were
his reflections:
First-He saw on the face of that
button an illustration Of the subtle
tn of Satan's devices. He seeks to
rob sin of it's offensiveness by max
ing it familiar However orthodox
our early teachings, or exalted our
ideal of Christian purity, familiar
ty with wickelness corrupts the one
and degrades the others. Wrong, by
its commences, often commands
approval. Satan, therefore. does
not always hide his devices in dark
ness, but parades them in the light,
and with them even adorns our
bodies. Thus the sensitiveness Of
conscience is blunted, and what we
once condemned we afterward toler-
ated and now approve. There Is
much divine truth as splendid poe
try in those well-known lines:
"Vice is a monster of so frightful mein,s
As to be hated needs but to be seen,
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace"
The failure to rigidly punish law
lessness begets greater disregard
for all law. 1t is fatal mistake
to suppose that the safeguard moral
prodgality is to let boy "see the
elephant '-famillarize him with the
direful effects of sin. Men are not
reformed that way. Drunkenness
and debauchery never arrest, but in
crease the Incorporate habits of
society. When an innocent boy
hears an oath for the first-time, it
shocks and wounds his delicate
moral sense. But if association
makes such language familiar, it
loses it shocking offensiyeness.
Thus by Satan's subtle devices the
unwary are ensnared, and the
strongest saint warned to watch and
pray.
Again, the button revealed reck-
lessness of san. 1t has no metes and
bounds. An angel is degraded to a
devil. An innocent, beautiful
child becomes a reprobate and vii
lain. The depth of iniquity is
fathomless-its breadth is shore
less. But it is not reached by q
single bound. One sin begets an
other, until at length the helpless
victim is dominated by power to
which civil tyranny has never found
mcrciless parallel. One virtue
after another. is destroyed, un-
til all sense of shame is gone. Men
not only sin, but sin unblusningly,
and flaunt their iniquity in the face
of society. The wearer and owner
of that button was once an innocent
boy. The first years of his prodl-
gality were secret-unknown to
friends and anxious parents. But
now he is so lost to shame as not to
hide, but to openly wear the badge
of his wicked profession. The
science of numbers is impotent to
calculate the depths to which man
NAV fall in sin. Beware OF the
first downward step"
Again, the button typed a class
in our religious congregations.
From some unknown prompting
the ''iack of diamonds" went to
church. Whether from idle CT.
riosity, sickness of sin, pungent
conviction, or the influence OF a
friend, he went, occupied pew,
and gave respectful attention to the
gospel preached. A strange auditor,
to be sare, but deep down in that
heart may have been secret long
ing for rest in Christ. He was one
| OF thousands. His representatives
are in every worshipping congre-
CATION. When the sons of God go
up to present themselves before the
| Lord, he is found among them. His
presence is welcome. We are al
wavs glad to see him. This sug-
gests two reflections:
l. The worst of sinners should
not be neglected. Beneath wick
ed affrontery may be an aching
heart
2, In every sermon Christ should
be offered to most abandoned offend
ers. Scarlet sins He can cleanse.
Some burdened spirit in the con-
gregation though he may wear the
"iack of diamonds" is craving for
word of hope and comfort. Our
unknown visitor is ever welcome.
| This moralizing is closed with
1.-THE prayer that he who lost his but