St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1886-12-18

| '""s-hN INC SlSlutti oHl now Hart
1t is to arrest them. God only can arres
them. Suppose man, after five or ter
or twenty years of evil doing, resolves tt
do right. Why, all the forces of darkness
are allied against him. He can not sleer
nights; he gets down on his knees in the
midnight and cries: "God help mer he
bites his lip; he grinds his teeth; he
clenches his fist in determination to keep
MS purpose; he dare not look at the bottles
IN the window Of a wine store. 1t is one
long, bitter, exhaustive hand-to-hand fight
| with lnf1amed, tantalzing and merciless
| haolt. When he thinks he is entirely free,
the old lncllnatlons pounce upon him like a
pack OF hounds with their muzzles tearing
away at the tanks of one poor reindeer
In Paris there is sculptured rcpresen-
tatlon of Bacchus, the god of revelry. He
IS riding on panther at full leap. Oh,
how suggestive! Let every one who is
speeding on bad ways understand he is not
riding docile and well-broken steed, but
| he is riding a monster, wild and blood
thirsty, going at a death leap. How many
there are who resolve on a better life and
say When shall l awake?" but seized on
by their old habits cry: Il will try it once
more; | will seek it yet again!" Years
ago there We're some Princeton students
who were skating, and the ice was very
thin, and some one warned the company
back from the air-hole; and finally warned
them entirely to leave the place. But one
young man with bravado, after all the rest
had stopped, cried out: Zone round more"
He swept around, and went down, and was
brought out corpse. My friends, there
are thousands and ten Of thousands of men
losing their souls in that way. 1t is the
one round more.
have also to say that if man wants to
return from evil practices society repulses
him. Desiring to reform, he says: "Now,
l will shake off my old associates, and l
Will lind Christian mpanionship." And
he appears at the church door some Sab
bath day. and the usher greets him with a
look, as much as to say: Why, you
here! You are the last man I ever expect
ed to see at church,! Come, take this seat
right down by the door!" instead of say
ing: "Good morning! l am glad you are
here Come, l will give you a first-rate
seat, right by the pulpit" Well, the prod |
igal, not yet discouraged, enters a prayer
meeting, and some Christian man, with |
more zeal than common sense, says: ''Glad |
to see you. The dying thief was saved, and |
l suppose there is mercy for you" The |
young man, disguised, chilled, throws him. |
self back on his dignity, resolves he new err |
will enter the house of God again Per-
haps not quite fully DISCUS ed about refor-
nation, he sides up by some highly respect
able man he used to know, going down the
street, and Immediately the respectable
man has an errand down some other street
Wen, the prodigal, wishing to return, takes
some member of Christian Association by
the hand or tries to. The Christian young
at i'm + ba fo1o |
and the marks of dissipation, and instead of
giving him a warm grip of the hand offers
him the tip end of the long fingers of the left
hand, which is equal to striking a man in
the face.
Oh how few Christian people under
stand how much force and gospel there is
n good, honest hand-shaking. Some
dmes when you have felt the need of en-
and some Christian man has
aiken you heartily by the hand, have you
lot felt thrilling through every fiber
II your body, mind and soul an encourage !
nent that was just what you needed! You
10 not know any thing at all about this I'M
ess you know when man tries to return
rom evil courses Of conduct he runs
gainst repulsions innumerable. We say ,
Il some man, he lives a block or two from |
he church, or half mile from the church !
mere are people in our crowded cities who |
i've one thousand miles from church Vast ,
eserts of Indifference between them and {
he house of God. The fact is, we must ,
eep our responsibility, though thousands {
nd tens of thousands perish. Christ sat |
nth publicans and sinners. But if {
here come to the house of God a +
Ian with marks of dissipation upon i
i'm, people throw up their hands in horror, G
fp |
low these dainty, fastidious Christians in h
Il our churches are going to get to Heaven V
do not know, unless they have an especial t
ain of cars, cushioned and upholstered, h
ach one car to himself! They can not 90 r
18th the great herd of publicans and sim h
ers. o We, who curl your lip with scorn at @
lie fallen, I tell you plainly, if you had s
zen surrounded by the same influences, O.
stead Of sitting to-day amid the cultured 6
Id refined and the Christian, you would O
I'VE been crouching wretch in stable or 8,
tch, covered with filth and abomination IL
Is not because you are naturally any "
liter, but because the mercy of God has Of
detected you. Who are you that, brought a.
} in Christian circles and watched by a.
lrlstian parentage, you should be so hard h
the fallen2 ri
l think men also are often hindered from w
turn by the fact that churches are too w
xious about their membership and too NJ
xious about their denomination, and VI
ey rush out when they see man about ht
give up his sin and return to God and ask or
n how he is going to be baptized, whether tn
sprinkling or by immersion, and what II
nd of church he is going to join. O.! my fir
ends! it is poor time to talk about in
esbyterian catechisms and Episcopal lie
URGES, and Methodist love-feasts, and is
ptistries, to man that is coming out of fe
3 darkness of sin into the glorious light ca
the Gospel. Why, it reminds me of man ha
owning in the sea, and life-boat puts til
for him and the man in the boat SAYS to w;
} man out Of the boat: CHOW, if I get an
i ashore, are you going to live In my tn