The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1888-03-29

No slim slices at the Lords table. I re-
| member when the Master Street hos
| pital, in Philadelphia, was opened
| during the war, a telegram came, saying:
ssThere will be three hundred wounded
men tonight; be ready to take care
of them;" and from my church there
went in some twenty or thirty men and
women to look after these poor wounded
fellows. A. they came, some from one
part of the land, some from another, no
| one asked whether this man was from
Oregon, or from Massachusetts, or from
Minnesota, or from New York. There
was wounded soldier, and the only
question was how to take off the rags the
most gently and put on the handage, and
| administer the cordial. And when a
soul comes to God, he does not ask where
you came from or what your ancestry
was. Healing for all your wounds. Par
don for all your guilt. Comfort for all
your troubles.
Then, also, I counsel you, if you want
/ to get back, to quit all your bad associ-
ations. One unholy intimacy will fill
your soul with moral distemper. In all
the ages of the church there has not been
an instance where a man kept one evil
associate and was reformed. Go home
today, open your desk, take out letter
paper, stamp and envelope, and then
write letter something like this:
my Old Companions-I start this day
for heaven. Until / am persuaded you
will join me in this, farewell.
Then sign your name, and send the
letter by the first post. Give up your
bad companions or give up heaven. 1t is
not ten bad companions that destroy a
man, nor five bad companions. nor three
but one. What, chance is there for that
young man saw along the street, four
Or five young men with him, hating in
front of a grogshop, urging him to go in,
he resisting violently resisting. until
after a while they forced him to go in2
1t was summer night and the door was
left open. and l saw the process. They
held him fast, and they put the cup to
his lips, and they forced down the strong
drink. What chance is there for such n
young MANI
I counsel you, also, seek Christian adj
vice. Every Christian man is bound to
help you. If you find no other human
ear willing 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 1 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 Chris
tan counsel. Gather up all the energies
of body, mind and soul, and, appealing
to God for success, declare this day
everlasting war against all drink
ing habits, all gaming practices,
all houses of sin. Half and half work
will amount to nothing; it must be a
Waterloo Shrink back now and you
are lost. Push on and you are saved. A
Spartan general fell at the very moment
of victory, but he dipped his finger in his
own blood and wrote on a rock near
which he was dying: 'sSparta has con-
quered." 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 on the
Rock of Ages: Victory through our
Lord Jesus Christ" Oh! what glo-
rious news it would be for some of
these young men to send home to their
parents in the country. They go to the
postoffice every day or two to see if there
are any letters from you. How anxious
they are to hear. Nothing would please
them half SO much as the news you
might send home tomorrow that you
had given your heart to God. know
how it is in the country. The night
comes on. The cattle stand under the
rack, through which burst the trusses of
hay. The horses, just having frisked up
at 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 backlog, and shake the shadow of
the group up and down the wall. Father
and mother sit there for half an hour,
saving nothing. l wonder what they
arc thinking of. After q while the
father breaks the silence and says:
well. l wonder where our boy is in
town tonight" and the mother answers
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 s
ocsock-for they retire early in tho
c,n,s.try-at 8 O'Clock they kneel down
ana commend you to that God who
watches in the country and in town, on
the Aassd and on the sea.
:-,isse. os.e said to :. Grecian general
~. iisat ~s;zss he prcudost moment of Your
hfr: lie thought a moment, and then
sal --Tfss igou'iest moment of my life
MAS wi,eli / sent word homo TO my
parents that | Ind gained the victory"
And the pronlest and most brilliant mo-
lnent ii your lie will DO the moment
when you send word to your parents in
the country that you have conquered
your evil habits. by the grace of God. and
nj i
parental anxiety. The time will come
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 neigh
borhood. Cry as loud for forgiveness as
you may over the mound in the church
yard, they will not answer. Dead!
Deads 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 used
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 d pang through
their dear old hearts. God pity the
young man who has brought disgrace on
his father 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, instead of
being laid against tho warm bosom of
maternal tenderness, he had been cof-
fined and sepulcimed- 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
tho nj 81