Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-07-31


snow, if get you ashore, are you goin
to live in my street?' First get him ashore
and then tall about the pOp-essentials O
religion. Who cares what church he Joins
if he only joins Christ and starts for heaven
Oh, you ought to have, my brother, an il
lnmlned face and hearty grip for ever
one that tries to turn from his evil way
Take hold of the same book with him
though his dissipations shake the book, re
membering that be that converteth SHINE
from the error of his ways shall save sou
from death, and hide multitude of sins
Now, have shown you these obstacles
because | want you to understand I kuoy
all the difficulties in the way; but am nov
to tell you how Hannibal may scale th,
Alps and how the shackles may be un
riveted and how the paths of virtue for
saken may be regained. First of all, my
brother, throw yourself on God. Go t
him, frankly and earnestly, and tell hin
these habits you have, and ask him, if there
is any help in all the resources of omnipo
tent love, to give it to you. Do not g
with long rigmarole people call prayer
made up of ssohs'' and ssahs'' and ssforeyel
and forever amensv' Go to God and cry fol
help! help! help! and if you cannot cry fol
help, Just look and live. l remember il
the war l was at Antietam, and l went into
the hospitals after the battle, and said tC
a man, "Where are you hurt?" He made
no answer, but held up his arm swollen anC
splintered. / saw where he was hurt. The
simple fact is, when man has a wounded
goul, all he has to do is to hold it up before
sympathetic Lord apd get it healed. II
does not take any long prayer. Just hold
up the wound. Oh, it is no small thing
when man is nervous and weak and ex.
hausted, coming from his evil ways, to feel
that God puts two omnipotent arms around
about him and says, "Young man, 1 will
stand by you! The mountains may depart
and the hills be removed, but l will never
fail you" And then, as the soul thinks
the news is too good to be true, and cannot
believe it, and looks up in Gods face, God
lifts his right hand and takes an oath, an
affidavit, saying, "As live, saith the Lord
God, | have no pleasure in the death OF
him that dieth."
Blessed be God for such Gospel as this!
"Cut the slices thin," said the wife to the
husband, ''or there will not be enough to
go all around for the children; cut the
slices thin." Blessed be God, there is a
full loaf for every one that wants it; bread
enough and to spare. No thin slices at the
Lords table. I remember when the
Master Street hospital, in Philadelphia,
was opened during the war, a telegram
came saying, "There will be three hun
dred wounded men tonight; be ready to
take care of them;" and from my church
there went in some twenty or thirty men
and women to look after these poor
wounded fellows. AS they came, some
from one part of the land, some from
another, no one asked whether this man
was from Oregon, or from Massachusetts,
or from MiDnesota, or from New York
There was wounded soldier, and the only
question was how to take off the rags most
gently, and put on the bandages, and ad.
minister the cordial. And when a soul
comes to God he does not ask where you
came from or what your ancestry was.-
Healing for all your wounds. Pardon for
all your guilt. Comfort for all your
troubles.
Then, also, I counsel you, if you want to
get back, to quit all your bad associations,
one unholy intimacy will fill your SOU
with moral distemper. In all the ages ol
the church there has not been an instance
where man kept one evil associate and
was reformed. Among the fourteen hun.
dred millions of the race not one instance.
Go home to-day, open your desk, take out
letter paper, stamp and envelope, and then
write letter something like this:
"My old companions: l start this day
for heaven. Until l am persuaded you will
join me in this, farewell"
Then sign your name, and send the letter
with the first post. Give up your bad
companions, or give up heaven. 1t is moi
ten bad companions that destroy a man,
nor five bad companions, nor three bad
companions, but one. What chance is
there for that young man l saw along the
street, four or five young men with him,
halting in front of a grog-shop, urging him
to go in, he resisting, violently resisting,
until after while they forced him to GO
in? 1t was 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 forced down the strong
drink. What chance is there for such a
young man?
l counsel you also seek Christian advice.
Every Christian man is bound to help you.
First of all, seek God; then seek Christian
counsel. Gather up all the energies OF
body, mind and soul, and, appealing to
God for success, declare this day everlasting
war against all drinking habits, all ganb-
ling practices, all houses of sin. Half-and-
half work will amount to nothing, it must
be Waterloo. Shrink back now and you
are lost. Push on and you are sayed. A
Spartan General fell at the very moment
of victory, but he dipped his finger in his
own blood aud wrote on rock near which
he was dying, Sparta has conquered
Though your struggle to get rid of sin
may seem to be almost 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 60 to the postoffice
every day or two to see whether there are
any letters from you. How anxious they
are to hear.
Some one said to a Grecian General,
"What was the proudest moment in your
life?" He thought moment, and said,
"The proudest moment in my life was
when l sent word home to my parents that
l had gained the victory" And the
proudest and most brilliant momelt in your
life will be the moment when you can send
word TO your parents that you have con-
quered your evil habits by the grace of
God and become eternal victor. Oh, de-
SplSo uOL pdToutdl aHAl61y! uo tiiuo Will
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 neighborhood.
Cry as loud for forgiveness as you may
over the mound in the church-yard, they
will not answer. Dead! Dead! Aud
then you will take out the white lock of
hair that was cut from your mothers brow
just before they buried her, and you will
take the cane with which your father used
to walk, and sou will think and think and
wish that you had done just as they wanted
you to, and would give the world if you
had never thrust 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 heart! Better if he
had never been born-better if, in the first
hour of his life, instead of being laid
against the warm bosom of maternal ten.
derness, he had been coffined and sepul-
chered. There is no balm powerful
enough to heal the heart of one who has
brOu ohb parents to sOrrOWful grave and