The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1881-02-17

him cast the first stone at this collin
lid" On one side Of the pulpit sat that
little child, rosy, sweet faced, as beautl'
fuI as any little child that sat at your
liable, l warrant you. She looked up
wistfully, not knowing the full sorrows
Of an orphan child. Oh her counte
nance haunts me to-day like some sweet
face looking upon US through a horrid
dream. On the other side Of the pulpit
were the men who had destroyed him.
There they sat- hard vissged, some OF
them pale from exhausting disease, some
of them flushed until it seemed as IT the
fires of iniquity famed through the
cheek and Crackled the lips. They were
the men who had done the work. They
were the men who had bound hlm hand
and foot They had kindled the fires
They had poured the wormwoo1 and
gall into that orphans cup. Did they
weepP mol Did they sigh repent
ingly? mol Did they say What q
pity such brave man should be slain r.
No, no; not one bloated hand was lifted
to wipe tear from a bloated cheek
They sat and looked at the coffin like
vultures gazing at the carcass OF lamb
whose heart had been ripped out
cried in their cars as plainly as could,
"There is a God and Judgment Day
and an awful hell for those who destroy
their fellows" Did they tremble7 Oh,
no. They went back from the house OF
God and that night, though their victim
lay in OakWood Cemetery, | was told
that they blasphemed, and they drank,
and they gambled, and there was yet
one less customer in all the houses Of
iniquity. This destroyed man was a
Samson in physical strength, but Delilah
shesred him and the Philistines of evil
companionship dug his eyes out and
threw him into the prison Of evil hal its,
and "he made sport for them" But in
the hour of his death he rose up and
took hold of the two pillared curses Of
God against drunkenness and uncleanli.
ness, and threw himself forward until
down upon him and his companions
there came the thunders of an eternal
catastrophe. Oh, beware Of evil COM
panionship. Rejoice, young man, in
thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee
in the days Of thy youth, and walk in
the ways of thine heart, and in the
sight of thine eyes but know thou, that
for all these things God will bring thee
into judgment.
want to offer one more rule. Any
amusement that gives you a distaste for
domestic life is bad. How many bright
domestic circles have been broken UP by
sinful amusements The father went
off. the mother went of, the child went
off. There are TO day the fragments be
lore me of great many blasted house
holds. Oh ! if you have wandered
away, would like to charm you back by |
the sound of that one word, Home"
Do you not know that you have but lit
tie more time to give to domestic well |
fare? Do you not see, father, that your
children are soon 20 get out into the |
world, and all the influence for good |
you have over them, you are to have |
now? Death will break in on your con-
jugal relations, and, alas if you have to |
stand over the grave of one who per
ished from your neglect saw way |
ward husband standing at he death-bed |
of his Christian wife, and l saw her
point to a ring on her finger, and heard |
her say to her husband, do you see
that ringP" He replied: "Yes, see
it." "Well," said she, "do you remem-
Der who put it there" YES" said he,
II put it there" and all the past seemed
to rush upon him. By the memory of
that day, when, in the presence Of mt n
and angels, you promised to be faithful
in Joy and sorrow, and in sickness and
health by the memory of those pleas
ant hours when you sat together in your
new home talking of bright future
by the cradle and the joyful hour when
one life was spared and another given
by that sick bed, when the little one
lifted up the hands and called for help,
and you knew he must die, and he put
one arm around each of your necks and
brought you very near together in the
dying kiss; by the little grave in Green.
wood that you never think of without
rush of tears; by the family Bible,
where, amid stores of heavenly love, is
the brief but expressive record Of" births
and deaths; by the neglsCts of the past
and by the agonies of the future; by a
Judgment Day, when husbands and
wives, parents and children, in immor.
tai groups, will stand to be caught up in
shiniHg array, or to shrink down into
darkness. By all that beg you to give
to home your best affections. look
in your eyes 10 day and / ask you the
questions that Gehezi asked of the Shu-
rs it we'll with thee2 Is it
we'll with thy husbandP Is it we'll with
thy childP" God grant that it may be
eyerlastingly well.
And now / have some remarks of a
more general nature. You have noticed
last Sabbath that | have no sympathy
with ecclesiastical straight jackets, or
with that wholesale denunCiation Of
amusements to which many churches
are pledged. A book lately issued says
that Christian man has a right to some
for instance, if he comes
home at night weary from his work,
and, feeling the need of recreation, puts
on his slippers and goes into his garret,
and walks lively around the floor sew
eral times, there can be no harm in it,
| believe the Church of God has made
tremendous mistake in trying to sup
pIcbo Guo bpOItluluobb VI yOulu buu
drive out from men their love Of amuse-
meht. If God ever implanted anything
In US, He implanted Il is desire. But
instead of providing for this demand of
our nature, the Church Of God has, for
the main part, ignored it. as, in a riot,
the Mayor plants battery at the end Of
the street, and has it fred of, so hat
every thing is cut down that happens to
stand in the range, the good as we'll as
the bad, so there are men in the church
who plant their batteries of condemna.
tion, and fire away Unfortunately.
Every thing is condemned. There are a
great many who denounce ball playing.
They hate puzzles. They despise char
ades., They sbhor tableaux. They say;
Away With all parlor gamesp They
talk as If they would like to have our
youth dressed in blue uniform, like the
children Of an orphan asylum, and
MACH down the nath of life To the time