The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-03-09

knocks the fire out of them until the
rest of their days they go cowed down.
Who is that weigher in that large COM
mercial establishment He once owned
the store. Who is that underling in that
great manufacturing establishments
He once owned the factory. When the
first sorrow came he fell, having no grace
to sustain him, and he never rose up
never will rise.
Perhaps your first trouble may be be-
reaVement. God sometimes comes and
takes a lamb out of the fold. Have you
ever noticed how God takes the first
born? have seven brothers and sisters,
all Of whom lost their first born. We
want the grace of God to comfort us
when bereavement comes to the house
that first was full of laughter, and sunny
locks, and greetings at the door, and
kisses by little hands flung from the
window as you went down the stairs,
and everything is changed, and the
doves cry in the nest because the hawk
swOOps. and the pulses flutter, and the
cheek fades, and the eyes close, and the
heart stops. To put away carmen Is
that will never be worn again, and toys
tnat never will strew the carpet, and to
go with sense of suffOcatiOn in the
throat through deserted halls which
once rang with childish merriment-O,
God, who can stand that? Only those
who have Thy help. Young man, when
your first trouble comes, be it of busi-
ness or of bereavement, you will want
Christ.
Now you are hale and strong. You
look as if you could leap, and Jump, and
wrestle, and row, as though you could
battle your way through; but after a
while you will be sick. You will be told
that you must stay in, and your GOor will
k.,s ,,,,kN Nln OIL
be two watchers at the pillow, and the
night will be hot, and nervous and rest
less. The morning will come and you
will be worse, and the lattice will be
turned. They will silence the footsteps
on the stairs with "h-u-s-hp You will
be very sick, and there will be doubt eX-
pressed as to whether you will ever get
well; and in your dreams you will hear
the dash of waters, and you will make
up your mind that it is the breaking of
the waves of the Jordan against your
pillow; and you will hear sound at the
gate, and you will think, why that is
the paving of the hOOf of the pale horse.
0, then you will want the great Physi-
clan to come in and stand by you and
say: young man, fear not, l am with
thee; whether you live or die, all is
we'll"
There comes great pass through
which we must all go, my hearers, and
that is the last hour of our life, l sup
pose we all want to die at home. We
want our friends and kindred in the
room when our soul is launched. We
want to take their hand. We want to
them the final message. Some of them
we want to sing and some to pray. and
some to recite the Divine promises.
When | leave this world, the last object
want to see is not the sun, nor the
moon, nor the picture, nor the beautiful
works of art; it is the faces of my friends.
But we want Divine friend in such an
hour as that. Without Christ death is a
wild leap into the dark. Did you ever hear
what the dying nObleman wrote to his
gay friend? He said: 81 am throwing
my last stake for eternity, and trembie
and shuddeT for the important issue. o,
my friend, with what horror do L recall
the hours of vanity we have wasted to-
gether. But have a splendid passage
to the grave. | die in state and Ian
gu sh under gi canopy. lam eXpiIi g
on soft and dOWny pillows. My depend
ents sigh, my sisters weep, my father
bends beneath the load of years and of
grief, my lovely wife, pale and silent,
cOnceals her inward anguish, my friend,
who was as my own soul, suppresses his
=
but o, which Of them will bail me from
the arrest of death? Who will descend
into the dark prison of the grave for
me? Adieu, till we meet in the world
of spirits"
What sad way to live, and what a
sad way to get out of the world. LET
me die the death of the righteous, and
let my last end be like his" o, young
man, to-day take Jesus Christ. He was
young man. He died young man.
He knows all a young mans temptations
and trials. Are you fair and honorable,
and pure aud true? do not dispute it.
Notwithstanding all that, you want
Christ. A young man has no safety in
these cities without Divine defence.
You know not what is before you. Take
the Lord Jesus Christ this day as your
pardon, your life, your heaven.
But there is some young man here
who says: 81 have already gone too far
astray. You are too late when you preach
to me. 1 have gone into paths of sin.
Don't you see it in the flush of my cheek?
Don't you see it in the glaze of my eye?
have gone so far off in sin there is no
need of your preaching to me-" My
brother, you are mistaken. You may get
back. Hear that. Though your sins be
as scarlet, they shall be as snow; though
they be red as scarlet, they shall be as
WOOL" But some one says: 81 don't
care anything about that. 1 have
started in the path of sin, and l am
going to keep on" o, my brother, what
a mistake you are making. You are
floating down into the rapids of an aw-
full and eternal plunge. Put back! 1t
may require some energy and force of
resolution, and a laying hold of the
strong arm of the Lord God Almighty;
but mt baCkl Angels of God from the
balconies of light look down upon the
struggle. You have not moment to
spare with this awful tide against you.
Lay hold of the oar with both hands, and
pull land pull! till the blood start if need
be. Now is your last chance for heaven.
1t is ruin here; it is salvation there. 1t
is death here; it is life there.
'Ye lovely bands of blooming youth,
Warned BIZ the voice of heavenly truth,
Now yield to Christ your youthful prime.
With all your talents and your time.
Eternity! how near 1t rolls
Count the vast valne of your souls;
Beware and count the awful cost,