Milford chronicle., 1888-03-30


the falls. 1t was said 10 have been a
scene brilliant beyond all description. Well,
there are tlousancs oT men on fire Of evil
habit. coming down through the rapids and
through tile awful night Of temptation to-
ward the eternal plunge. On, how hard it
Is to arrest them. God only can arrest them.
Suppose a man after five, or ten, or twenty
years of evil doing resolves to do right.
Why, oil the forces Of darkness are allied
AGAINST him He cannot sleep nights. lie
gets down on his knees in tho midnight ANA
cries; God help mcln He bites his lips. lie
grints his teeth. He cleuches his fist in de-
termination to keep his purpose. lie dare
not look at the bottles in the windows OF a
wine store. 1t is one long, bitter, exhaustive,
hand to hand fight with inhalned, tantaliz-
ing and merciless habit. When he
thinks he is entirely free the Old inclila'
tons pounce upon him like a pack Of
hounds with their muzzles tearing away at
the tanks of one poor reindeer. In Paris
there is a sculptured representation Of
Bacchus, the god Of revelry. He is riding on
a panther at full leap. Oil how suggestive.
Let every one who is speeding on bad ways
understand he is not riding a docile and
well broken steed, but he is riding monster
wild and bloodthirsty, going at a death leap.
How many there are who resolve on better
life. and say: 'When shall ] awakef'
but, seized on by their old habits, cry: Il
will try it once more; l will seek it yet
againn Years ago, there were some Prince
ton 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 hravado,
after all the rest had stopped, cried out;
some round moren He swept around, and
went down, and was brought out a corpse.
Ny friends, there are thousands and tens OF
thousands of men losing their souls IN that
way 1t is the one round more.
l have also to say that if a man wants to
return from evil practices society repulses
him. Desiring to reform, he says: Snow,
will shake off my old associates, and will
find Christian companiOnship.n And he ap-
pears at the church door some Sabbath day,
and the usher greets hinl with look as much
as to say: "Why, you here2 You are the
last man l ever expected to see at church,
Come. take this scat right down by the
doorn Instead Of saying, Good morning;
am glad you are here. Come, l viii give
you first rate seat, right up by the pulpit"
Well, the prodigal, not yet discouraged, en-
ters a prayer meeting, and some Christian
man. with more zeal than common sense,
says: "Glad to see you; the dying thief was
saved. and 1 suppose there is mercy for you
The young man, disguised, chilled, throws
himself on his dignity, resolved he will never
enter into the house Of God again. Perhaps
not quite fully discouraged about reforma-
ton, 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 MEM
Der of a Christian association by the hand,
or tries to. The Christian young man looks
at him, looks at the faded apparel and the
marks of dissipation, instead of giving him
warm grip Of the hand, offers him the tip
ends of tho long fingers Of the left hand,
which is equal TO striking a man IN the facel
OIL how few Christian people understand
how much force and gospel there is in
good honest hand shaking. Sometimes,
when You have felt the need Of encourage
ment, and some Christian man las taken
you heartily by the hand, have you not felt
thrilling through every fiber Of your body,
mind and soul an encouragement that was
Just what you needed. You do not know
ANYTHING at all about this unless you know
when a man tries to return from evil courses
Of conduct he runs against repulsions innu-
merable. We say of some man, he lives block
OF two from the church, or half a mile from
the church. There are people in our crowded
cities who live 1 900 miles from church. Vast
deserts Of indifference between them and the
house of God. The fact is we must keep our
respectability, though thousands and tens Of
thousands perish. Christ sat with publicans
and sinners. But if there came to the house
of God u man with parks of dissipation upon
him people almost threw up their hands in
horror, as much as to say: "Isn't it shock
ingY' How these dainty, fastidious Chris
tians in all our churches are going to get into
heaven don't know, unless they have an es-
pecial train Of cars, cushioned and uphol-
stored, each one a car to himself. They can
not go with the great horde of publicans and
sinners. Oil ye who curl your lip Of scorn
at the fallen, tell you plainly, if you had
been surrounded by the same Influences in
stead of sitting today amid the cultured,
and the refined, and the Christian, you would
have been a crouching wretch in stable or
ditch, covered with filth and abomination.
| It is not because you are naturally any bet
ter, but because the mercy of God has pro
| tected you Who are you that, brought up
/ in Christian circles and watched by Christian
parentage, you should be so hard on the
/ think mon also are often hindered from
return by the fact that churches are too anx-
;ous about their membership and too anxious
about their denomination, and they rush out
when they see a man about to give up his sin
and return to Cod, and ask him how he is
going to be baptized, whether by sprinkiing
| or immersion, and what kind of a church he
is going to join Oil my friends, it is poor
| time to talk about Presbyterian cathochisms,
and Episcopal liturgies, and Methodist love
feasts, and baptistries to a man that is COM
/ ing out OF tho darkness Of sin into the glori-
Gus light of the gospel. Why, it reminds me
of a man drowning in the sea, and a life boat
puts out for him, and the man in the boat
says to the man out of the boat: "Now, if
/ get you ashore, are you going to live on my
streetf' First get him ashore, and then talk
about the non-essentials Of religion Who
cares what church he joins, if he only joins
Christ and starts for heaven! Obi you ought
to have, my brother, an illumined face and
hearty grip for every one that tries to turn
from his evil way. Take hold Of the same
book with him though his dissipations shake
the book, remembering that "he that con
verteth a sinner from the error Of his ways
save Il sDuA ANatA anu niue u
titudc Of sns.n
Now, / have shown you these obstacles be
cause want you to understand know all
the difficulties in the way; but l am now to
tell you how Hannibal may scale the Alps
and how the shaczles may be unriveted, and
how the paths of virtue forsaken may be re
gained First Of all, my brother, throw
yourself on God Go to him frankly, and
1 earnestly and tell Him these habits Won have
and ask him if there is any help in all TIE
i resources of omnipotent love- to give it to
you. DO not go with long rigmarole people
call prayer made up of ''ohs,n and ahs," and
"forever and ever, amensl" Co God and cry
for help hclpl helpl and if you cannot cry
for help, Just look and live. l remember in
the late war, was at Antietam, and went
into the hospitals after the battle and said tC
a man: "Where are you hurts' He made nc
answer but held up his arm, swollen and
splAtered. saw where he was hurt Tn,
simple fact is, when a man has wounded
soul, all he has to do is to hold it up before d