The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1889-04-11

nave been told By those who have OBJ
served that it Is possible to Calculate
Just how many letters viii be sent 10
the Dead Letter office every wear
tarough rlisdirection; that il Is posi-
bic to calculate just how many letters
VIII be detained for lack Of postage
stamps through the forgctfuiness Of
the senders, and that il Is possible 20
tell Just how many people viii fall in
The streets by slipping on an orange
peel. In other words, there are no
accidents. The most insignificant
event you ever heard of Is the link be-
tween two eiernities-the eternity of
the past and the eternity of the future.
mead The right way, young man, and
you viii come out at the right goal.
Bnng me young man and tell me
| what his physical health is, and what
ms mental caliber, and what his habits,
and l Will tell you what will be his
destiny for this world, and his destiny
Tor the world to come, and will not
make nve inaccurate prophecies out of
the five hundred. All this makes me
sollcltous in regard to young men.
and want to make them nervous in
regard to the contraction of unpayable
deots- L give. you paragraph from
| my own experience.
DR.. TALMAGE HAS BEEN THERE HIMSELF.
| My first settlement as pastor was in
a village. My salary was $500 and a
| parsonage. The amount seemed enor-
nous TO me. | said TO myself, What!
all this for one Year," / was afraid
OF getting worldly under so much
prosperity! | resolved to invite all
the congregation to my house in
groups of twenty-five each. We be-
| gan, and as they were the best con-
gregation in all the world. and we
felt nothing was too good for them,
we piled all the luxurics on the table.
| | never completed the undertaking
At the end Of six months | was in
financial despair found what every
young man learns in time to save
himself, or too late, that you must
| measure the size of a mans BODY be-
fore you begin to cut the cloth for his
coat.
When young man willfully and of
| choice, having the comforts of life,
goes into the contraction of unpayable
| debts he knows not into what he goes
The creditors get after the debtor, the
| pacl, of hounds in full cry, and alas!
for the reindeer. They jingle his door
bell before he gets up in the morning,
they jingle his doorbell after he has
gone to bed at night. They meet him
as he comes off his front steps. They
send hlm 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 anote
on demand. They call him a l1nave.
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 be-
meath, 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 dis
order, gets consumption.
Now he is dead, and you say: "Of
course they will let him alone" Oh,
mol Now they are watchful to see
whether there are any unnecessary ex-
penses at the obsequies, to see whether
there Is any useless handle on the cas-
ket, to sec whether there is any sur-
plus plat on the shroud, to see wheth-
er the hearse is costly 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
bools,sthe pictures, the carpets, the
chairs, the sofa, the piano, tho mat
tresses, the pillow 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 i'm
mortal soul, for Gods sake, young
man, as far as possible, keep out of it.
II. But l think more young men
are slaughtered through irreIigion.
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 if you
want to destroy the young mans NOR
ais take his Bible away. How will
you do that? Well, you will caricature
his reverence for the Scriptures, you
will take all those incidents of the
Bible which can be made mirth Of
Jonah 5 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 hacEneyed arguments against
Christianity which are as old as Tom
Paine, as old as Voltain, 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 en-
campment.
LOSS THAT CANNOT BE REPLACED.
A steamer fifteen hundyed miles
from shore with broken riIdder and
lost compass, and hulk leaking fifty
gallons the hour, is better off than a
young man when you have robbed
him of his Bible. Have you ever no
ticed how despicablv mean II is to take
away the worlds Bible without pro
posing a substitute? It is meaner than
to come to sick man and steal his
medicine, meaner than to come TO |
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 down. 1t is
the worst of all larcenies to steal the
Bible, which has been the crutch and
medicine and food and eternal home to |
SO manyl What generous and mag
unanimous business infidelity has gone
into! This splitting up of life boats
and taking away of fire escapes and,
extinguishing of light houses.
leone out and l say to such people,
"What are YOU doing all this fOr2" |
"Oh, they say. ''just for fun" 1t is |
such fun to see Christians try to hold
on to their Bibles! Many of them
have lost loved ones, and have been
told that there is resurrection, and it
is such fun to tell 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 thousand
foot underneath # and yoI, will find |