Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-07-26

iniauity aud plunged into other abando-'
ment who before they yielded to the first
| temptation resisted more evil than many
man who has been moral and upright
all his life. But suppoSing now
that in this age there are so many goOq
neople. that / come down into this au-
dience and select the very best man IN II.
/ do not mean the man who would style
himself the best, for probably he Is
| hypocrite; but mean the man who before
God is really the best l will take you
out from all your Christian surroundings;
| will take you back to bOyhoOd- | VIII
put you in deprayed home. Will put
you in
A CRADLE OF INIQUITY.
Who is that bending over that cradle!
An intoxicated mother Who Is that
swearing in the next room? Your father.
The neighbOrs come in to talk, and their
Jokes are unclean. There is not in the
house Bible or a moral treatise, but only
a few scraps of an old pictorial. After o
while YOU are old enough TO get out OF the
cradle. and YOU are struck across the head
for nauohtiness, but never in any kindly
manner reprimanded. After awhile
Won are old enough TO go
abroad and you are sent out
with basket to steal. Ifyou come home
without any spoil yOu are whipped untll
the blood comes At fifteen years OF age
YOU 90 out to fight your own battles in this
world, which seems TO care no more Tor you
than the dog that has died from nt GhueT
the fence. You are kicked and cutied ana
buffeted. Some day, relying on your eouf-
ace. YOU resent some wrong A man says:
UWho are You? | know who you are.
Your father had free lodgings at Sing Sing
Your mother, she was up for drunkenness
ot the criminal courts. Get out of my
way Won low-lived wretch" My brother,
sunpose that had been the history OF your
advent and the history of your earlier sur
roundings, would you have been the Chris
tian man YOU are to-day, seated in this
Christian assembly? l tell you nay. fOu
would have been Il vagabOnd, an outlaw, a
murder on the scatfOld atOning for your
crime. All these considerations ought to
make us mcrciful i'll our dealings with the
wandering and the lost.
Again, / have to remark, that IN our
estimate of the miSdOing OF people who
have fallen from high responsibility and
usefulness, we must take into conSldera-
tiOn
THE CONJUNCTION OF CIRCUMSTANCES.
In nine eases out Of ten n man who goes
aStray does not intend any positive wrong,
He has trust funds. He risks 4 part Ol
these funds in investment. lie says:
Now. if | should lose that investment, |
have of my own property five times as
much. and if this investment should go
wrong could easily make it up; could
five times make it up" With that wrong
reasoning he goes on and makes the invest
ment and it does not turn out quite as
well rs he expected, and he makes another
investment, and strange to say ut the same
time all his other affairs get entangled, ana
all his other resources fail, and his
hands are tied Now he wants to eN-
tricate himself lie goes little farther on
ON i'm the wrong investment lie taxes Il
plunge further ahead, for he wants to save
his wife and children, he wants his home,
he wants to save his membership IN the
church. He takes one more plunge and
all is lost Some morning at ten O'Clock
the bank door is not opened, and there Is
card on the door signed by an officer OF the
hank. indicating there is trouble, and the
name of the dciaulter or the detraudcr,
heads the newspaper column, and hun
dreds of men say: Good for him." hun
dreds of other men say: Pm glad he's
found out ut last hundreds of other
men say: Just rs told YOU hundreds
of other men say: I'VE couldn't possibly
have been tempted to do that-nO cOnIunc
tion circumstances could ever have over
thrown me-" and there is a super
} abundance of indignation bu
no pity. The heavens full o
lightning but not one drop old If Coo
treated us rs society treats that man VIZ
would all have been in hell long ago! Wal
for the alleviating circumstance. Pcrhap:
he NAV have been the dupe of Others.
BEFORE YOU LET ALL TIE HOUNDS oUT
from their kennel to maui and tear tha
man. find out if he has not been brOugh
up in a commercial establishment wher'
, there was a wrong system OF ethics taught
, find out whether that man has not an eN
travagant wife who is not satisfied with IN
: honest earnings. and i'll the temptation t
I please her he has gone into that rum int
which enough men have fallen, and by tn
; same temptation, to make procession o
{ many miles. Perhaps some sudden sick
ness nav have touched his brain, and hi
! Judgment may be unbalanced. He
: wrong. he is awfully wrong, add he mus
, he condemned, but there may be mitigat
inc circumstances. Under the same temp
, tation vou might have fallen. The reasOi
. some men do not steal two hundred thOus
!, and dollars is because they do not get
= chance! Have righteous indignation yol
must about that mans conduct, but TEN
, per it with mercy. But you say: Il an
: so sorry that the innocent should suffer.
, Yes, | am too-sorry for the widows anC
! orphans who lost their all by that detalca
> tiOn. | am sorry also for the business
a men. the honest business men, who hav
q had their affairs all crippled by that de
: falcatiOn. am sorry for the venerable
!, bank President to whom the credit of tina
; bank was n matter of pride. Yes, | an
: sorry also for that man who brought al
4 the distress: sorry that he sacrificed body
: mind soul, reputation, heaven, and wen
into the blacknesS of darkness forever.
You defiantly say: IL could not b
tempted in that way" Perhaps yo
:, NAV be tested after awhile. God In
, 4 very good memory, and he some
times seems to say: This ma
Z feels so strong in his inRat
; power and goodness he shall be tested h
{, is so full OF bitter invectiye against tina
e unfortunate it shall be shown nov
: whether he has the power to stand.
Fifteen years go by. The wheel of foi
tune turns several times, and you are in
+; crisis that you never could have antict
pated. Now, all the powers Of darkneS
{ come around, and they chuckle, and the
chatter and they say: Aha! here IS tn
Il old fellow who was so proud of his II
;. tegrity, and who Dragged he couldn't b
II overthrown by temptation, and was so ny
C rorious in his demonstrations of indin;
ton at the defllration fifteen years ag'
Let us see" God lets the man go. Cos
who had kept that man under His pr
tecting care, lets the man so, and try fC
y himself the majesty of his integrity
!, God letting the man 90, the powers
! darkness pounce upon him. l see 70
u Gonna daV in your Office in great eNcit,