Richmond planet., 1889-07-27

man kept one evil associate and was re
formed Among the fourteen hundred mill
lon of the race not one instance Go home
today, open your desk, take out letter paper
stamp and envelope, and then write a letter
something like this:
My old companions: I start this day for
heaven. Until | am persuaded you win join
me In this, farewell"
YOU MUST RENoUNCE ONE OR THE OTHER
Then sign your nans and send the letter
with the first post. Give up your bad COM
panlons or give up heaven. 1t is not ten bad
companions that destroy a man, nor five bad
companions, nor three bad companions, but
one. What chance ts there for that young
man saw along hestreet, four or five young
men with him, halting in front of greg
snop, urging him to go In, he resisting, vio-
Ientiy resisting, until after q while they
forced him to go inf 1t was a summer night
and the door was left open, and | saw the
process They held him fast, and they put
the cup to his lips, and they fsrced down the
strong drink. What chance is there for such
young mani
L counsel you also seek Christian advice
Every Christian man is bound to help you
First or all, seek God; then seek Christian
counsel. Gather up all the energies of body,
mlnd and soul, and, appealing to God for sue
cess, declare this day everlasting war against
all drinking habits, all gambling practices,
all houses of sin. Half-and-haH work viii
amount to nothing; 1t must be Waterloo.
Shrink back now and you are lost. Push on
and you are saved. A Spartan general fe,i
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, Sparta has
conquered" Though your struggle to get
rid of sin may seem to be almost a 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 glorious news it would be for
some of these young men to send home to
their parents. They go to the postoff1ce
every day or two to see whether there are
any letters from you. How anxious they are
to hear.
SEND THE GOOD NEWS HOME
Some one said to Grecian general, "What
was the proudest moment In your lifegn He
thought a moment and said: 1.-THE proudest
moment In my life was when I sent word
home to my parents that l had gained the
victory" And the proudest and most bril-
liant moment In your life will be the moment
when you can send word to your parents that
you have conquered your evil habits by the
grace Of God and become eternal victor. Oh,
despise not parental anxietyl The time win
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 neighbor-
hood Cry as loud for forgiveness as you
may over the mound in the churchyard, |
they VIII not answer. Deadl Dead! And |
then you will take out the white lock of
hair that was cut from your Others brow
just before they buried her, and you will
take the cane with which your father used tn
walk. and you will think and think and wish
that you had done just as they wanted you |
to, and would give the world IL you had |
never thrust a pang through their dear old |
hearts God pity the poor young man who
has brought disgrace on his fathers namel
God pity the young man who has broken his
mothers hearth Better if he had never been
born-better if in the first hour Of his life. T
Instead of being laid against the warm bosom
of maternal tenderness he had been coffined
and sepulchered There Is no balm powerful
enough to heal the heart of one who has
brought parents to sorrowful grave, and
who wanders about through tu> dismal
rending the hair and wringinp the
hands and crying, ''MotherI Motherl" Oh.
hat today, by all the memories of the past
md by all the hopes of the future, you would
yield your heart to GodI May your fathers
1od and your mothers God be your God
oreveri