Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1888-12-27

recited it to yourself while the storm was
making commentary upon the PASSAGE:
''God is our refuge and strength, very
present Eelp in time of trouble. Therefore
will l not fear though the earth be re-
moved, and though the mountains be car
ried into the midst of the sea; though the
waters thereof roar and be troubled,
| though the mountains shake with the
swelling thereof. Selah!" o. how inde-
pendent the religion of Christ makes a
man of worldly success and worldly cir
cumstances! Nelson, the night before his
! last battle, said: Tomorrow / shall win
either a peerage or grave in Westmin-
ster Abbey" And it does not make much
difference to the Christian whether he
rises or falls in worldly matters; he has
| everlasting renown any way. Other
| plumage may be torn in the blast, but that
soul adorned with Christian grace is fairer
than the dove its wings covered with sill
yer, and its feathers with yellow gold.
You and have found out that people
who pretend to De happy are not always
happy. Look at that young man carica-
turing the Christian religion, scoffing at
every thing good, going into registering
drunkenness, dashing the champagne bot
| tie to the floor, rolling the glasses from
| the barroom counter. laughing, shouting,
stamping the floor, shrieking. Is he hap
py! will go to his midnight pillow. l
will see him turn the gas off. Twill ask
myself il the pillow on which he sleeps is
as soft as the pillow on which that pure
young man sleeps. All! no. When he
opens his eyes in the morning will the
| world be as bright to him as to that Young
man who retired at night saying his pray
ers. invoking Gods blessing upon his own
soul and the souls of his comrades, and
father and mother, and brother and sister,
far away? No, no. His laughter will
ring out from the saloon so that you
hear it as you pass by, but it is
hollow laughter; in it is the snap
ping of heart-strings and the rattle
of prison gates! Happy! that young
man happy! Let him fill high
the bowl; he can not drown the upbraid
ing conscience. Let the balls roll through
the bowling alley; the deep rumble and
the sharp crack can not overpower the
voices of condemnation. Let him whirl in
the dance of sin and temptation and death.
All the brilliancy of the scene can not
make him forget the last look of his mother
as he left home when she said to him:
snow, my son, you will do right, l am
sure you will do right; you will, won't
you" That young man happy? Why.
| across every night there fits shadows Of
eternal darkness; there are adders in every
cup; there are yultures of despair striking
their iron beaks into his heart; there are
skeleton fingers of grief pinching at the
throat. l come in amid the clinking of
glasses and under the flashing of the
chandeliers, and l cry: ''Woe! woe! The
way of the ungodly shall perish. There
is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
The way of the transgressor is hard!"
o, my friends, there is more joy in one
drop of Christian satisfaction than in
whole rivers of sinful delight. Other
wings may be drenched of the storm and
splashed of the tempest, but the dove that
comes in through the window of this heav-
emily ark has wings like the dove covered
with silver, and her feathers with yellow
gold. Again Iremark religion is an adorn-
ment in the style of usefulness into which
it induces man. Here are two young
men. The one has fine culture, exquisite
wardrobe, plenty of friends, great worldly
success, but he lives for himself. His chief
care is for his own comfort. He lives USE
lessly. He dies unregretted. Here is an
other young man. His apparel may not
be SO good, his education may not be so
thorough. He lives for others. His happi-
ness is to make others happy. He is as
self-denying as that dying soldier, falling
in the ranks, when he said: ~Colone there
is no need of those boys firing themselves
by carrying me to the hospital; let me die
just where l am" So this young man of
whom l speak loves God, wants all the
world to love Him, is not ashamed to carry
bundle Of clothes up that dark alley to
the poor. Which of those young men do
you admire the better! The one a sham,
the other prince imperial.
D, do you know of any thing, my hearer,
that is more beautiful than to see young
man start out for Christ? Here is some
one falling; he lifts him up. Here is a
vagabond boy, he introduces him to mis-
sion school. Here is a family freezing to
death; he carries them a scuttle of coal.
There are SO0,0O0,0o0 perishing in midnight
heather darkness; by all possible means
he tries to send to them the Gospel He
may be laughed at and he may be sneered
at and he may be caricatured but he is
not ashamed to go everywhere, saying:
II am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ
1t is the power of God and the wisdom of
God unto salvation" Such a young man
can go through every thing. There is no
force on earth or in hell that can resist
him.
I show you three spectacles. Spectacle
the first: Napoleon passes by with the
host that went down with him to Egypt
and up with him through Russia and
crossed the continent on the bleeding
heart of which he set his iron heel and
across the quivering flesh Of which he went
grinding the wheels of his gun carriages
in his dying moment asking his attend
ants to put on his military boots for him.
Spectacle the second: Voltaire, bright
and learned and witty and eloquent, with
tongue and voice and stratagem Internal,
warning against God and poisoning whole
Kingdoms with his infidelity. yet applaud
ed by the clapping hands Of thrones and
empires and continents-his last words in
delrium supposing Christ standing by the
bedside-his last words: Crush that
wretchu'
Spectacle the third: Paul-Psul, in
significant in person, thrust out from all
refined association, scourged, spat on,
bounded like wild beast from city to
city, vet trying to make the world good
and Heaven full; announced resurrection
to those who mourned at the barred gates
of the dead; speaking consultations which
light up the eyes of widowhood and
orphanage and want with glow of certain
and eternal release; undaunted before
those who could take his life, his cheek
flushed with transport and his eyes on
Heaven; with one hand shaking defiance
at all the foes of. earth and all the princi-
palities of hell, and with the other hand
reckoning messenger angels to come and
bear him away, as he says: 81 am now