The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1889-05-30


that others leap off q higher cliff into
deeper darknessl When the Hudson
river rail train went through the bridge
at Spuyten Duyvil, did ii alleviate the
matter at all that instead of two or
three people being hurt there were
seventy-five mangled and crushedl
Because others are dcpraved, is that
any excuse for my depravity2 Am /
better than they2 Perhaps they had
worse temptations than | have had.
Perhaps their surroundings in life were
more overpowering Perhaps, 0 man,
if you had been under the same stress
of temptation, instead of sitting here
today, you would have been looking
through the bars of a penitentiary.
Perhaps, 0 woman, if you had
been under the same power of
temptation, instead Of sitting here
today, you would be tramping the
street, the laughing stock of men and
the grief of the angels of God, dun
geoned, body, mind and soul, In the
blackness of despair. All, do not let
US solace ourselves with the thought
that other people are worse than we.
Perhaps in the future, when our for
tunesmay change, unless God prevents
it, we may be worse than they are.
Many man after thirty years, after
forty years, after fifty years, after
sixty years, has gone to pieces on the
sand bars Oh! instead of wasting
our timein typercriticism about others,
let us ask ourselves the questions,
Where do we stand2 What are our
Sins? What are our deficits? What
are our perils? What our hopes2 Let
feach one say to himself: "Where will
| be2 Shall range in summery fields,
or grind in the mills of great night2
Where? Where's"
Some winter morning you go out
and see q snow bank in graceful
| drifts, as though by some heavenly
compass it had been curved; and as
the sun glints it the luster is'almost
! insufferable, and it seems as if God
| had wrapped the earth in u shroud
with white plaits woven in looms ce-
lestial And you say; ''Was there
ever anything so pure as the snow, so
| beautiful as the SNOWY But you
| Brought pail of that snow and put it
upon the stove and melted it; and you
found that there was a sediment at the
bottom, and every drop of that snow
water was riled and you found that
the snow bank had gathered up the
impurity Of the field, and that after
all it was not fit to wash in. And so
say it will be if you try to gather mp
these contrasts and comparisons with
others, and with these apologies at
tempt to wash out the sins of your
heart and life. it will be an unsuc-
cessfui ablution. Such snow water
will never wash away single stain of
an immortal soul.
''GooD RESOLUTIONS.
But / hear some one say: 'I will
try something better than that. Will
try the force of good resolution.
That will be more pungent, more caus-
tic, moro extirpating, more cleansing.
The snow water has failed and now
will try the alllali of the good, strong
resolution" My dear brother, have
YOU any idea that resolution about
the future will liquidate the paste Sup
pose l owed you five thousand dollars
and / should come to you tomorrow
and say; "Sir, | will never run in
debt to you again; if | should live
thirty years, / will never run in debt
to you again." will you turn to ne
and say: eff you will not run in debt
in the future, | will forgive you the
five thousand dollars. " Will you dc
that2 MOI Nor will God. We have
been running up a long score OF
Indebtedness with God. If for the
future we should abstain from
sin, that would be no defray
ment of past indebtedness. Though
you should live from this time forth
purse as an archangel before the
throne, that would not redeem the
past. God, in the Bible, distinctly
declares that he will require thai
which is past" - past opportunities
past neglects, past wicked words
past impure imaginations, past every
thing. The past is q great cemetery,
and every day is buried in it. And
here is a long row of three hundred
and sixty-fve graves They are the
dead DAYS of 1883. Here is long row
Of three hundred and siXty-five more
graves, and they are tho dead days oi
1887. And here is a long row of three
hundred and sixty-five more graves
and they are the dead days of 1886. II
is vast cemetery of the past, But
God will rouse them all up with resur
rectionary blast, and as the prisoner
stands face to face with juror and
Judge, so YOU and ] will have to come
up and look upon those departed days
face to face, eXulting In their smile OF
covering in their frown.
murder WILL OUT"
Murder will OUT is proverb that
stops too short. Every sin, however
small, as well as great. viii out. In
} hard times in Englsnd, years ago, il
| is authentically stated that q manu-
facturer was on the way, with a bag
, of money, to pay off his hands. a
man infuriatod with hunger met hin
/ on the road, and took rail with {
nail in it from paling fence ane
struck him down, and the nail enter
+ ing the skull instantly slew HIM
, Thirty years after that the murders
D went back TO that place. He passed
into the grave yard, where the sextoi
: was digging n grave, and Whlle IA
= stood there the spade OF the seXtoi
turned up a skull, and, lol the mur
! J derer saw a nail protruding from tn
: back part of the skull and rs the sex
ton turned the skull, it seemed witt
] hollow ewes TO glare ON the murderer
D and he, first petriiied with horror, ,stoo'
. in silence. but soon cried out, Guilty
{ guiltyl O God" The mystery of th
G crime was over. The man was trle
0 and executed. My friends ell the III
7 pardoned sins of our lives, though W
G may think they are buried out tof slgf
r and rone into a mere skeleton {
+ memory, will turn up in the cemeter
Y of the past, and glover upon us VII
, | I I ai
}, pardoned sins Oh, have you done th
j; preposterous thing Of supposing thi
d good resolutions for the future WI
n wipe out tho pastl Good resolution
a though they may be pungent an
:, caustic as alkali, have no power
~ neutralize a sin, have no power
g wash away transgresSion. it wnn
- something more than earthly chen
7 istry to do this. Yea, yea, though
:, wash myself with snow water, an
~ should cleanse my hands in alllal
:, - yet shalt thou plunge me ia the ditcl
- and mine own clothes shall abhor me
M SIN NOT A FLowERY PARTERRE.
II You see from the last part of tn
!, text that Jobs idea of sin was vei
h different from that of Eugene Sue,
=, George Sand, or NJ. J. Michelet,
40 any of the hundreds of writers WI
have done up iniquity in mezyotin
- and garlanded the wine cup with G
lantine and rosemary, and made I!
o path of the libertine end in bowers
re ease instead of on the hot tagging
e. eternal torture. You see that il
- thinks that sin is not a fiowery pa
. terre; that it is not a tableland Of fl
g nrosnecis. that II is not music, dub
~ ~ mer, violoncello, castanet. and Ia