Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-03

/ poverty come as one tnat LraVeleIl anu bny
want as an armed man." don't know OF another
| sentence in the Bible more explosive than that.
1t first Kisses softly, like the fuse of cannon,
and at last bursts like 54-pounder. The old
proverb was right: ''The devil tempts most
men, but idlers tempt the devil"
A young man came to man of 80 years OF
age and said to him: How have you made out
| to live so long and be SO well?' The old man
took the youngster to an orchard, and, pointing
70 some some large trees full OF apples salu:
| II planted these trees when / was boy, and
do you wonder that now 1 am permitted 70
age what we plant in our youth. Sow to the
wind, and we reap the whirlTind. Plant In
early life the right kind Of Christian char
acter and you will eat lucious fruit IN OLD age
and gather these
HARVEST APPLES IN ETERNITY.
Again: 1 urge you TO avoid the perpetua
pleasure seeker. 1 believe in recreation and
amusement need it as much as need bread,
and go to my daily exercise with as conseien-
tious purpose as go to the Lords Supper;
and all persons of sanguine temperament must
have amusement and recreation God would
not have made us with the capacity to laugh II
He had not intended us sometimes to indulge
it. God hath hung in sky, and set In wave, and
printed on grass many a roundelay; but he who
chooses pleasure seeking for his life work does
not understand for what God made him. Our
amusements are intended to help us In some
earnest mission. The thunder cloud hath an
edge exquisitely purpled, but, with voice that
jars the earth, it declares: Il go to water the
green nelds." The wild flowers under the
fence are CAV, but they say: 1--WE stand here to
make beautiful edge for the wheat field, and
to refresh the husbandmen in their noonlng."
The stream sparkles and foams and trollcs,
and says: II go to baptize the moss. l lave the
spots on the trout. / slake the thirst OF the
bird. turn the wheel of the mill. rock in
my crystal cradle muckshaw and water lily.
And so, while the world plays, 1t works. LOOK
out for the man who ALWAYS DlayS and never
works
You will do well to avoid those whose regu-
lar business it is to play ball. skate or go a-boat
ing. All these sports are grand in their places.
l never derived so much advantage from any
ministerial association as from ministerial
club that went out to play ball every Saturday
afternoon in the outskirts of Philadelphia.
These recreations are grand to give us muscle
and spirits for our regular toll. L DeleVe IN
muscular Christianity. A man is often not so
near God with weak stomach as when he has
a strong digestion. But shun those who make
in their life occupation to sport. There are
young men whose industry and usefulness have
fallen overheard from the yacht on the Hudson
or the Schuylkill. There are men whose business
fell through the ice of the skating pond, and
has never since been heard of. There is a
beauty in the gliding of boat, in the song Of
skates in the soaring of
A WELL STRUCK BALL,
and 1 never see one fly but involuntarily
throw up my hands to catch it; and, SO far from
laying an injunction upon ball playing, or any
other innocent sport, claim them all as be-
longing of right to those of us who toll in the
grand industries of church and state. But the
life business of pleasure-seeking always makes
in the end criminal or a sot. George Brum-
nell was smiled upon by all England, and his
life was given to pleasure. He danced with
peeresses, and swung a round of mirth, and
wealth, and applause, until exhausted of purse,
and worn out of body, and bankrupt of reputa:
tion, and ruined of soul. he begged biscuit
from grocer, and declared he thought dogs
life was better than mans.
Such men will crowd around your desk or
counter or work bench or seek to decoy you
off. They will want you to break out in the
midst of your busy day to take a ride with
them to Coney Island or to Central Park. They
will tell you of some people you must see; of
some excursion that you must take; of some
Sabbath day that you ought to dishonor. They
will tell you of exquisite wines that you must
take; of costly operas that you must hear; of
wonderful dancers that you must see, but be-
fore you accept their convoy or their compan-
ionship remember that while at the end of a
useful life you may be able to look back to
kindnesses DONE to honorable work accom-
plished, to poverty helped, to a good name
earned, to Christian influence exerJed, to a
Sayior's cause advanCed-these pleasure seek
ers on their deathbed have nothing better TO
review than torn playbill, ticket for the
races, an empty tankard and the cast out rinds
of a carousal; and as in the delirium of their
TO their lips the dregs of the cup falling upon
their tongue will begin to hiss and uncoil with
the adders of an eternal poison.
Cast out these men from your company Do
not be intimate with them. Always be polite. |
There is no demand that you ever sacrifice |
politeness. A young man accosted Christian |
ali your money! The Quaker replied: by |
dealing in article that thou mayest deal inf |
thou wilt-civility."
ALWAYS BE COURTEOUS,
but at the same time firm. Say no as If you |
meant 1t. Have it understood in store, and |
shop, and street. that you will not stand in the |
companionshIp of the skeptic the idle the pleas
ue seeker. Rather than enter the campanion- |
ship of such, accept the invitation of better |
feast The promises of God are the fruits. |
The harps of heaven are the music. Clusters |
from the vineyards of God have been pressed |
into the tankards The sons and daughters of |
the Lord Almighty are the guests. While, |
standing at the banquet to MI the cups and
welcome the guests, is a daughter of God, on |
whose brow are the blossoms of paradise, and |
in whose cheek is the flush of celestial summer. |
Her name is Religion.
Her ways are ways of pleasantness
And all her paths are peace.
Decide this soon, oh, young man, what direc- /
tion you will take. There comes such a mo- |
ment of final decision-why not this? One |
night saw young man at the street corner, |
evidently doubling as to which direction he /
had better take, his hat lifted high enough SO |
you could see he had an intelligent forehead, |
and he had stout chest and robust develop
ment. Splendid young man. Cultured young |
man. Honored young man. Why did he stop |
there while SO many were going up and down?
The fact is, that every man has a
GOOD ANGEL AND A BAD ANGEL
contending for the mastery Of his spirit, and |
there was a good angel and bad angel strug-
Cling with that young mans soul at the corner
of the street. Come with me-" said the good |
angel; ST will take you home; will spread my
wing over your pillow: will lovingly escort
you all through life under supernatural protec-
ton; / will bless every cup you drink out OF,
every couch you rest on, every doorway you
enter; will consecrate your tears when you
weep, your sweat when you toll, and at the
last will hand over your grave to the bright |
angel of a Christian resurrection.
in answer to your fathers petition and your
mothers prayer, have been sent of the Lord
out of heaven TO be your guardian spirit. Come
with me-" said the good angel, in a voice of un-
earthly symphony. 1t was music like that
which drops from Lutte of heaven when
seraph breathes on it. 'No, no." said the bad
angel, "come with me; have something better
bewitching carousal; the dance l lead is over
floor tessellated with unrestrained indulgences;
there is no God to frown on the temples of sin
where worship, The skies are rel Italian. allan The
primrosed. Come with me-"
The young man hestated at time when
hesitation was ruin, and the bad angel smote
the good angel until it departed spreading
until a door flashed open in the sky and for
ever the wings vanished. That was the turning
point of that young mans history; for, the |
good angel flown, he hesitated no longer, but
started on pathway which is beautiful at the
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