The Russellville Democrat. [volume] (Russellville, Ark.) 1875-1898, 1889-04-18

1
come out at tho right goa;
Bring me young man and tell me
whit his physical health is, and what his
mental caliber, and what his habits, and
will tell you what will be his destiny
for this world, and his destiny for the
world to come and l will not make five
inaccurate prophesies out of the five hun
dred. All this makes me solicitous In
regard to young men, and want to make
them nervous in regard to the contraction
OF unpayable debts. / give you para
graph from my own experience.
My first settlement as pastor was in 0
village. My salary was eight hundred
dollars and parsonage. The amount
seemed enormous to me. / said to my
self: "Whatl oil this for one year"
was afraid OF getting worldly under sc
much prosperity! l resolved to invite al
the congregation to my house in groups
OF twenty-five each. We began, and as
they were the best congregation in the
world, and we felt nothing was too good
for them, we piled all the luIuries on the
table. l never completed the undertak-
ing. At the end of six months / was in
financial despair. / found what every
young man learns in time to save him
self, or too late, that you must measure
the size of mans body before you begin
to cut the cloth for his coat.
When young man wilfully and OF
choice, having the comforts of life, goes
into the contraction of unpayable debts
he knows not into what he goes. The cred
itors get after the debtor, the pack OF
hounds in full cry, and alas for the rein
deer. They jingle his door bell before he
gets up in the morning they jingle his
Ill l. a. 81
night. They meet him as he comes off his
front steps. They send him postal card,
or a letter, in curtest style, telling him to
pay up. They attach his goods. They
want cash, or note at thirty days, or q
note on demand. They call him knave.
They say he lies. They want him dis
ciplined at the church. They want him
turned out of the bank. They come at
him from this side, and from that side,
and from before, and from behind, and
| from above, and from beneath, and he is
insulted and gibbeted, and sued, and
dunned, and sworn at, until he gets the
nervous dyspepsia, gets neuralgia, gets
| liver complaint, gets heart disease, gets
convulsive disorder, gets consumption.
| Now he is dead, and you say: "Of
| course they will let him alone" Oh, no
| Now they are watchful to see whether
there are any unnecessary expenses at
the obsequies, to see whether there is any
useless handle on the casket, to see
whether there is any surplus plait on the
shroud, to see whether the hearse is cost
| ly or cheap, to see whether the flowers
sent to the casket have been bought by
the family or donated, to see in whose
name the deed to the grave is made out.
Then they ransack the bereft household,
the books, the pictures, the carpets, the
| chairs, the piano, the mattresses, the pill
low on which he dies. Cursed be debt!
For the sake of your own happiness, for
the sake of your good morals, for the sake
of your immortal soul, for Gods sake,
young man, as far as possible, keep out
of it.
2. But / think more young men are
slaughtered through irreligion. Take
away young mans religion and you
make him the prey Of evil. We all know
that the Bible is the only perfect system
Of morals. Now il you want to destroy
the young mans morals take his Bible
away. How will you do that? Well, you
will caricature his reverence for the
Scriptures, you will take all those incl
dents OF the Bible which can be made
mirth of-Jonah's whale, Samson's foxes,
|
centric Christians or inconsistent Chris
tians, then you will pass off as your own
oil those hackneyed arguments against
| Christianity which are as old as Tom
Paine, as old as Voltaire, as old as sin.
Now you have captured his Bible, and you
have taken his strongest fortress; the
way is comparatively clear, and all the
gates Of his soul are set open in invitation
| to the sins OF earth and the sorrows Of
death, that they may come in and drive
| the stake for their encampment.
| A steamer fifteen hundred miles from
shore with broken rudder and lost COM
pass, and hulk leaking fifty gallons the
| hour, is better off than young man when
| you have robbed him of his Bi BILE. Have
you ever noticed how desp icably men it is
| TO take away the worlds Bible without
| proposing q substitutey 1t is meaner
| than to come to sick man and steal his
| medicine, meaner than to come to q Grip
pie and steal ms crutch, meaner than
| come to a pauper and steal his crust,
meaner than to come to poor man and
burn his house down. 1t is the worse OF
all larcenies to steal the Bible, which has
been the crutch and medicine and food
and eternal home to so many! What q
generous and magnanimous business in
| fidelity has gone intol This splitting up
| Of life boats and taking away of fire es-
capes and extinguishing light
| come out and l say to such people:
"What are you doing all this tors" "Oh, p
they say, '.just for fun" 1t is such fun tc
see Christians try to hold on to their
Biblesl Many of them have lost loved
ones, and have been told that there is g
resurrection, and it is such fun to tel
them there will be no resurrection Many
of them have believed that Christ came tO
carry the burdens and to heal the wounds
OF the world, and it is such fun to tell
them they will have TO be their own
Saviour! Think of the meanest thing you
ever heard of; then go down q thousand
feet underneath II, and you will fnd your.
self at the top OF stairs a hundred miles
long ;go to the bottom OF the stairs, and you
will find ladder q thousand miles long;
then go to the foot OF the ladder and look
off precipice half as far as from here to
China, and you will find the headquarters
of the meanness that would rob this world
OF its only comfort in life, its only peace
in death and its only hope for immortali-
ty. Slaughter a young mans faith in
God, and there is not much more left K
slaughter.
Now What NOS DOOVhio VI the sidueu'
teredi Well, some OF them are in their IA,
theirs or mothers house broken down in
health, waiting to die; others are in the
hospitals; others are in Greenwood, oil
rather, their bodies are, for their soult
have gone on TO retribution. Not much
prospect for young man who started life
with good health, and good education,
and Christian example set him, and op.
portunity Of usefulness, who gathered al
his treasures and put them in one box
and then dropped It 1t into the sea.
Now, how is this Wholesale slaughter t.
be stoppedY There is not person in tn,
house but is interested in that question
Young man, arm yourself. The object o.
my sermon is to put weapon in each O