Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1888-04-06


He has gone back to smoking. Oh, 1
the fact is, as we all know in our own ]
experience, that habit is a task-master; /
as long as we obey it, it does not chas- |
tise rs, but let US resist, and we find /
we are dashed with scorpion whips, and |
bound with ship cable, and thrown in
to the track of bOne-breaking Jugger- |
nauts. During the war of 1912 there
was a ship set on fire just above Mag
ara falls, and then, cut loose from its
mornings, 1t came on down through
the night, and tossed over the falls. 1t
was said to have been a scene brilliant
beyond description. Well, there are
thousands Of men on fire of evil habit
coming down through the rapids and
through awful night of temptation tow
ard the eternal plunge. Oh, how hard
it is to arrest them. God only can ar
rest them. Suppose a man after five,
or ten, or twenty years of evil doing re-
solves to do right. Why, all the
forces of darkness are allied against
him. He cannot sleep nights. He
gets down on his knees in the
midnight and cries: ''GOd help me %
He bites his lip. He grinds his teeth
He clenches his fist in a determination
to keep his purpose. He dare not look
at the bottles in the windows of a wine
store. 1t is one long, bitter, exhaus-
tive hand-to-hand fight with enhamed
tantalizing and merciless habit. When
| he thinks he is entirely free the old in
clinatiOns pOunce upon him like pack
of hounds with their muzzles tearing
away at the TANKS of one poor reindeer
| In Paris there Is a sculptured repre-
! sentation of Bacchus, the god of revelry.
| He Is riding on a panther at full leap.
] Oh! how suggestive. Let every one
| who Is speeding on bad ways under
/ stand he is not riding a dOcile and we'll
! broken steed, but he is riding monster
] wild and blOOdthirsty, going at death
! leap. How many there are who resolve
| on better life, and say, ''When shall
L awake?" but, seized on by their old
| habits, cry: Il will try it once more; I
viii seek it yet again % Years ago,
| there were some Princeton students
who were skating and the ice was very
thin, and some one warned the COM
pany 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 a
corpse. My friends. there are thou
! sands and tens of thousands of men
]
the one round more.
have also to say that if any man
wants to return from evil practices, So
ciety repulses him. Desiring to re-
form, he says: "NOw, L viii shake off
my old associates, and Will find Chris
tian companionship" And he appears
at the church door some Sabbath day,
and the usher greets him with a look
as much as to say: "Why, you here ?
You are the last man I ever expected
to see at church! Come, take this seat
right down by the door" Instead of
of saying, Good morning, am glad
to see you here. Come; 1 will give you
first rate seat, rightsup by the pull
pit. Well, the prOdigal, not yet dis
cOuraged, 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 himself on his dignity, resolves
he Will never enter into the house of
God again. Perhaps not quite fully
discouraged about reformation, he sides
up by some highly respectable man he
used to know, going down the street,
and Immediately the respectable man
has an errand down some other street.
Well, the prOdigal wishing to return
takes some member of a Christian assO-
: citation by the hand, OF tries to. The
! Christian young man looks at him,
! looks at the faded apparel and the
| marks of dissipation; instead OF
giving him a warm grip of the hand,
offers him the tip ends of the long fng.
/ ers of the left hand, which is equal tc
striking a man in the facel Oh! how
r few Christian people understand how
much force and gospel there is in &
2 good, honest Misunderstanding. Some
, times, when you have felt the need OF
encouragement, and some Christian
man has taken YOU heartily by the
hand, have yOu not felt thrilling through
every fibre of your body, mind and SOU
and encouragement that was just what
you needed? You do not know any
? thing at all about this unless you know
D when man tries to return from evi
4 courses of conduct he runs against re-
pulsiOns innumerable. We say of some
man, he lives a block or two from the
D church, or half a mile from the church
There are people IN our crowded cities
S who live a thousand miles from the
e church. Vast deserts of indifference
between them and the house of God
The fact is we must keep our respect
I ability, though thousands and tens o.
! | thousands perish. Christ sat with pub
8 hcans and sinners. But if there came
, to the house of God a man with marks
of dissipation upon him, people almOs
threw up their hands in horror, as mucl
= as to say: isn't it shocking?" How
= these dainty, fastidiOus Christians In al
S our churches are going to get into HEAVIER
I don't know, unless they have al
. especial train of cars, cushioned anC
| nrnhnIsheraH each one q nar. To hinnenlf