The Penn's Grove record., 1889-04-27

ethics, and l am solicitous about them
| want to warn them against beinf
slaughtered on the sharp edges Of debt
You want many things you have not
IN young friends. You shall have
them IL you have patience and honesty
and industry. Certain lines OF conduct
always lead out to certain results
There is a law which controls even thost
THINGS THAT SEEM ~HAPHAzARD
l have been told by those who have OBJ
served that 1t is possible to calculate
Just how many letters will be sent to
the Dead Letter UHlce every year
through misdirection; that i. Is possible
to calculate just how many letters will
be detained for lack Of postage stamps
through the fo~rgetfulness Of the send-
ers; and that it is possible to tell just
how many people will fall In the streets
by slipping on orange peel. In other
words, there are no accidents. The
most Insignificant event you ever heard
of is the link between two eternities-
the eternity Of the past and the
eternity OF the future. Head the
right way, ard you will come out at
the right gOai.
Bring me O young man and tell me
what his physical health Is, and what
his mental calibre. and what his habits.
and l will tell you what will be his
destiny for this world. and his destiny
for the world to come, and I will not
make five inaccurate prophecies out of
the five hundred. All this makes me
solicltous IN regard to young men, and
l want to make them W in re.
gard to the contradiction OF u%npayable
debts. l give you a paragraph from
MY OWN EXPERIENCE.
My first settlement as pastor was In
u village. My salary was $500 and a
parsonage. The amount seemed enOr.
nous to me. ] said to myself, "Whatl
all this for ono year," / vas afraid Of
getting worldly under 81 much pros
perityl l resolved to invite all the con-
gregatiOu to my house in groups of
twenty-five each. We began, and as
they were the best congregation in all
the world, and we felt nothing was too
good for them, VI piled all the luxu-
ries OIL the table. ave completed
the undertaking. At the end of six
months 1 was in financial despair. ]
found, what every young man learns in
time to ave himself, or too late, that
you must measure the size of u mans
body before you Legin to cut the cloth
for his coat.
When a young man wilfully and of
choice, having the comforts of life,
goes into the contraction of u~npayable
debts, he knows not Into what he goes.
The creditors get after the debtor, the
pack of
HOUNDS IN FULL CRY,
and alasl for the reindeer. They jingle
his door-bell before he gets up in the
morning, they Jingle his doOr-bell after
he has gone to bed at night. They
meet him as he comes of his front
steps. They send him a postal card, or
a letter, in curtest style, telling him to
pay up, They attach his goods. They
want cash. or q note at thirty days, or
a note on demand. They call him a
knave. They say he lies. They want
him disciplined at the church. They
want him turned out of the bank.
they come ut him from this side, and
from that side. and from before and
frOu behind, and from above, and from
beneath, aud lie Is insulted and glib
beted, AM sued, and dunned, and
sworn at, until he gets the nervous
dyspepsia, gets neuralgia, gets liver
complaint. gets heart disease, gets con-
vulsive disorder, gets consumption.
Now he is dead, and you say: 'O
course they will let him alonep" Oh.
mol Now they are watchful to see
whether there are any unnecessary ex.
penses at the oil sequies, to see whether
there is any useless handle on the cas-.
ket, to see whether there is any surplus
plat on the shroud, 10 see whether the
hearse IS costly or cheap, to see
whether the flowers sent to the casket
have been bought by the family or do.
mated. to see In whose name the deed
to the raw Is made out. Then they
ransack the bereft household, the
books, the pictures. the carpets, the
chairs. the sofa, the piano, the mat.
tresses, the pillow on which he dies.
Cursed be debit For the sake or your
own happiness. for the cake of your
good morals. for the sake of your i'm
mortal soul, for & dps sake, young
man, as far as possible, keep out of i'll
ii. But l think more young men
are
SLAUGHTERED THROUGH IRRELId-
ION.
Take away q young mans religion, and
you make him a prey to evil. We all
know that the Billie is the only perfect
system of morals. Now, II you want
TO destroy the young man morals, take
his B,tle away. How will you do thatp
Well, you will ~caricature his reverence
fnr thA Gnrinfnraa uAsy mill kolyn all
those incidents of the Bible which can
be made mirth Of-Jonah's whale,
Samson's foxes, Adams rib-then you
will caricature eccentric Christians or
inconsistent Christians; then You will
pass off as your own all those hackneyed
arguments against Christianity, which
are as old as Tom Paine, as old as Vol
taire. as old al sin. Now you have
captured bis 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
compass. and hull leaking fifty gallons
an hour, is better off than a young man
when you have robbed him of his
Bible. Have you ever noticed how
despicably mean it is TO take away the
worlds Bible without proposing a sub
stitutef 1t is meaner than to come to a
sick man and steal his medicine;
meaner than to come to a cripple and
steal his crutch; meaner than to
come to a pauper and steal his
crust; meaner than to come to a
poor man and burn his house. 1t Is
THE WORST OF ALL LARCENIEs
TO steal the Bible. which has been the
crutch and medicine and food and
eternal home to Sc manyI What a gen.
o and magnanimous business In.
fidelity has gone intol This splitting
up OF life. boats and taking away of
fire escapes and extinguishing of light