Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-12-06


after these poor wounded fellows. As they
came, some from one part of the land,
some from another, no one asked whether
this man was from Oregon, or from Massa-
chusetts, or from Minnesota, or from New
York. There was wounded soldier, and
the only question was how to take off the
rags most gently, and put on the bandage,
and administer the cordial. And when q
soul comes to God, He does not ask where
you came from or what your ances try was.
Healing for all your wounds Pardon for
all your guilt. Comfort for all your
troubles
Then also counsel you, if you want to
get back, to
QUIT ALL YOUR BAD ASSOCIATIONS.
One unholy intimacy will fill your soul
with moral distemper. In all the ages OF
the church there has not been an instance
where man kept one evil associate and
was reformed. Among the fourteen hun
dred million of the race not one instance.
Go home to-day, open your desk, take out
letter paper, stamp, and envelope, and
then write letter something like this:
My old companions: start this day
for heaven. Until am persuaded you
will join me in this, farewell"
Then sign your name and send the let
ter with the first post. Give up your bad
companions, or give up Heaven. 1t is not
ten bad companions that destroy man.
nor five bad companions, nor three bad
companions, but one. What chance is
there for that young man say along the
| Sfraaf nr me with hin,
haltiDg in front of grogshop, urging him
to 60 in he resisting, violently resisting,
until after while they forced him to 90
in? 1t was a summer night, and the door
was left open, and l saw the process. They
held him fast and put the cup to his lips,
and they forced down the strong drink
What chance is there for such young
man?
counsel you also,
SEEK CHRISTIAN ADVICE.
Every Christian man is bound to help
you. If you find no other human ear will
ing to listen to your story of struggle,
come to me, and l will, by every sympathy
of my heart, and every prayer, and every
toll of my hand, stand beside you in the
struggle for reformation; and as | hope
to have my own sins forgiven
and hope to be acquitted at the judgment
seat of Christ, will not betray you. First
of all, seek God; then seek Christian coun-
sci. Gather up all the energies of body,
mind and soul, and, appealing to God for
success, declare this day everlasting war
| against all drinking habits, all gaming
practices, all houses of sin. Half and half
work will amount to nothing; it must be
Waterloo. Shrink back now and you
are lost. Push on, and you are saved.
A Spartan fell at the very moment Of VIC
tory, but he dipped his finger in his own
blood and wrote on rock near which he
was dying: Sparta has conquered. "
Though your struggle to get rid of sin
may seem to be almost death struggle,
you can dip your finger in your own blood
and write OH the Rock of Ages Victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ"
o, what glorious news it would be for
some Of these young men to send home to
their parents in the country these holidays
which are coming. They 90 to the post
Office every day or two to see whether there
are any letters from you. How anxious
they are to hear! You might send them
for holiday present this season, book
from one OF our best publishing houses, or
complete wardrobe from the importers
palace, it would not please them half 80
much IS the news you might send home
tomorrow that you had given your heart
to God. | know how it is in this country.
The night comes on. The cattle stand
under the rack through which burst the
trusses of hay. The horses Just having
| frisked up the meadow at the nightfall,
stand knee-deep in the bright straw that
invites them to lie down and rest The
perch of the hovel is full of fowl their
feet warm under the feathers. In the old
farm house at night no candle is lighted,
for the flames clap their hands
about the great back log, and shake
the shadow of the group up and down the
wall. Father and mother sit there for
half an hour, saying nothing | wonder
what they are thinking of. After awhile
the father breaks the silence and says:
"Well,
WONDER WHERE OUR BOY IS
in town to-nght?' and the mother an
swers: I'm no bad place, | warrant you;
we always could trust him when he was
home, and since he has been away there
have been so many prayers offered for
him, we can trust him STILL" Then at
eight o'clock-for they retire early in the
country-they kneel down and commend
YOU TO that God who watches in country
and in town, on the land and on the sea.
Some one said to n Grecian General:
| ggXTbnt xyoo ba 1ronIaaf ynur
life?" He thought q moment, and said:
''The proudest moment in my life was
when sent word home to
my parents that had
gained the victory" And the proudest
and most brilliant moment in your life will
be the moment when you can send word
to your parents that you have conquered
your evil habits by the grace Of God, and
become eternal victor. oh despise not pa
ternal anxiety!
THE TIME WILL CONE
when you will have neither father nor
mother and you will go around the place
where they used to watch you, and find
them gone from the house, and gone from
the field, and gone from the neighbOrhood.
Cry as loud for forgiveness as you may over
the mound in the churchyard, they will
not answer. Dead! Dead! And then
you will take out the white lock Of hair
that was cut from your mothers brow Just
before they buried her, and you will take
the cane with which your father nsed TO
walk, and you will think and think
and wish that you had done just as
they wanted you to, and would
give the world if you had never thrust q
paug through their dear old hearts. God
pity the young man who has brought dis
grace on his fathers name! God pity the
young man who has broken his mothers
heart! Better if he had never been born
better if in the first hour of his life, in
stead Of being laid against the warm
bosom of maternal tenderness, he had
been cof1ined and sepulchred. There is
no balm powerful enough to heal the
heart of one who has brought parents to a
sOrrowful grave, and who wanders about
through the dismal cemetery, rending the
! ba;r apd rri M 1;ng tha hands and CRYING !.