Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1889-04-26

ciplined at the church. They want
him turned out of the hank. They
come at him from this side, and from that
side, and from before aud from behind and
FROM above. aud from beneath. and he is in
suited ana glbbcted, and sued, and dunned,
and sworn at until he gets the nervous dys-
popsia2, gets neuralgia, gets liver complaint,
gels heart disease, gets convulsive disorder,
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 expenses at the
obSequies, TO see whether there is any useless
handle on the casl1et TO see whether there is
any surplus plat on the shroud, to see
whether 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
grave is made out Then they
ransack the bereft household, the books,
the pictures, the carpets, the chairs, the sofa,
the piano, the mattresses, the pillow on which
he dies. Cursed be debit For the sake of your
own happiness, for the sake of your good
morals, for the sake of your immortal SOUL
for Gods sake, young man, as far as possible,
keep out of it.
IL. But think more young men are slaugh-
tered through irreligion. 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 morals take
his Bible away. How will you do that 4? Well.
you will cariCature ilis reverence for the
Scriptures, you will take all those incidents of
the Bible which can be made mirth Of
Jonah's whale, Samsons foxes, Adams
rib-then you viii caricature eccentric
Christians or inconsistent Christians
then you will pass Off as your own
oil those haclneyed arguments against
Tfb,sietso r,itv which osD old Tom Paine
as old as Votaire as old as sin. Now you
have captured his Bible, and you have taken
his strongest fortress; the way is COM
paratively clear, and all the gates of his soul
are set opon in invitation to the sins of earth
and the scrr2vs Of death. that they may
come In and drive the stake for their en-,
campment.
A steamer 1900 miles from shore with
broken rudder 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. Haveyou ever noticed how
despicably mean it is to take away the worlds
Bible without proposing q substitute? 1t is
meaner than to come to a sick man and steal
his medicine, meaner than to come to
cripple and steal his crutch mCaner than tC
come to q pauper and steal his crust meaner
than to como to q poor man and burn his house
down 1t is the worst of all larcenieS to steal
the Bible, which has been the crutch and
many What generous and magnanimous
business intidelity has gone into2 This split
ting up Of life boats and taking away of fire
escapes and oxtinguishing of lighthouses.
| come out aud Isay to such people; what
are you doing all this for?' ooh, " 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 a 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 saviourl Think of the
r.sanest thing you ever heard of; then go
down q thousand feet underneath it, and you
will find yourself at the top of stairs hun
dred miles long, go to the bottom Of the
stairs, and you will find a ladder q
thousand miles long; then go to the
foot of the ladder and look off a prec-
pice half as far as from here to China, and
you viii find the headquarters Of the mean
ness that would rob this world of its only
comfort in life, its only peace in death and
its only hope for immortality. Slaughter a
young mans faith in God, and there is not
much more left to slaughter.
Now, what has become of the Slaughtered
Well, some Of them arc in their fathers or
mothers house broken down in health, wait
my W uS OlICl Ill btlS uOSpIlult OOll6Ib
are in Greenwood, or, rather, their bodies are,
for their souls have gone on to rehibution. Not
much prospect for young man who started
life with good health, and good education,
and Christian example set him, and oppor-
tunity of usefulness, who gathered all his
| treasures and put them in one box, and then
dropped it into the sea.
Now, how is this wholesale slaughter to be
stopped? There is not person in the house
but is interested in that question. Young
man, arm yourself. The object Of my SER
mon is to put weapon in each of your hands
for your own defense. Wait not for Young
Mems Christian Associations to protect you,
or churches to protect you Appealing to
God for help, take care of yourself.
First, have a room somewhere that you can
call your own. Whether it be the back par
lor Of a fashionable boarding house, or
room in the fourth story of cheap lodging,
I care not. Only have that one room your
fortress, Let not the dissipator or unclean
step over the threshold, If they come
knock at the door, meet them face to face
and kindly yet firmly refuse them admit
lance. Have few family portraits on the
wall, if you brought them with you from
your country home. Have a Bible on the
stand. II you can afford it and you play on
one, have an instrument Of music-harp or
flute or cornet, or melodeon, or violin,
| Vi IlhllO Lively DblOI6 you
leave that room, pray. Every night after
| you come home in that room, pray. Make
that room your Gibraltar, your Sebastapol,
your Mount Zion. Let no bad book or news
paper come into that room, any more than
| you would allow cobra to coil on your table.
Take care Of yourself. Nobody else will take
care of you Your help will not come up two
or three or four flights Of stairs; your help
will come through the roof, down from
/ haux {l,pt III ~,
sand years of the worlds history never
betrayed q young man who tried to be
| good and Christian Let me say In regard
to your adverse worldly circumstances, i'll
| passing, that you are on g level now with
those who are finally to succeed. Mark my
words, young man, and think of it thirty
years from now. You will find that those
who thirty years from new are the million
aires Of this country, who are the orators OF
the country, who are the poets of the coun-
try, who are the strong merchants Of the
country, who are the great philanthropists OF
the country-mightest in church and State
are this morning on a level with you, not an
inch above, and you in straitened circum-
stances now.
Herschel earned his living by playing q
violin at parties, and in the inteIstices Of the
play he would go out and look up at the mid
night heavens, the fields of his immortal
conquests. George Stephenson rose from
being the foreman in a colliery to be the
most renowned of the worlds engineers. No
outfit, no capital to start with Young man
go down to the Mercantile Library and gel
some books and read of what wonderful mech
anism God gave you in your hand, in YOU
foot, in your eye in your ear, and then ash
some doctor to take you into the dis
secting room and illustrate to you what
you have read about. and never
again commit the blasphemy of saying you
have no capital to start with. Equipped
Why, the poorest young man in this house is
equipped as only the God of the whole uni
verse could afford to equip him. Then his
body-a very poor affeir compared with bis
wonderful soul-oh, that is what
makes me solictous. l am not so much
anxious about you, young man, because YOU