The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1889-04-25

.aiAaoh tho pereit housohoiu tho DOCKS, |
the pictures, tho 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,
Tor Gods saice young man, as far as possible,
keep out Of II,
IL. But think more young men are slaugh-
tered through irreligion, Take away young
mans religion and you make him the prey OF
evtl. We all know that the Bible is the
only perfect system Of morals Now II you
want TO destroy the young mans morals take
hts 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
Jonahs 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 Voltaire, as old as sim. Now You
have captured his Bibl,, and you have taken
his strongest fortress; the way Is COM
parativeiy clear and ali the gates Of his soul
are set open in invitation to the sins of earth
ind the sorrows Of death, that they may
come In and drive the stake for their en-
eampment
A steamer 1900 miles from shore with
broken rudder and lost compass, and hulk
leaking fifty gallons the hour, is better off
than young man whom you have robbed
him Of his Bible. Haveyou ever noticed how
despicably tlea1 it is to take away the worlds
Bible withtAs proposing substituted 1t is
paeaner than to come to sick man AMI 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 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 30
many! What a generous and magnanimous
business intdelity has gene into? This split
ting up of life boats and taking away of fire
escapes and extinguishing of lighthouses
come out and | say to such people: 'What
are you doing all this forT' ''Oh," they say,
"just for fun" II is such fun to see
Many of them have lost loved ones and have
been told that there is resurrection, and 1t
is such fun to tell them there will be
no resurrection Many Of them have
believed that Christ came 10 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 60
down thousand feet underneath it, and you
will find yourself at the top of stairs hun
dred miles long; 60 to the bottom Of the
stairs, and you will find ladder a
thousand miles long; then go to the
foot Of the ladder and look off preci-
pice mar as far as from here to emma, ana
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
| 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 are in their fathers or
mothers house broken down in health, wait
ing to die; others are in the hospital; others
are in Greenwood, or, rather, their bodies are,
| for their souls have gone on to retribution. 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 a 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 tc
God for help, take care of yourself.
First, have room somewhere that you car
call your own. Whether it be the back par
lor Of fashionable boarding house, or {
room in the fourth story of cheap lodging
l care not. Only have that one room you
fortress. Let not the dissipator or unclear
step over the threshold. If they CONT
up the long flight of stairs ant
knock at the door, meet them face to face
and kindly yet firmly refuse them admit
tance Have few family portraits on thu
wall, il you brought them with you from
your country home. Have Bible on tn
stand. If you can afford it and you play OF
one, have an instrument Of music-harp o.
flute, or cornet or melodeon, or violin
or piano Every morning before yo'
leave that room, pray. Every night afte
you come home in that room, pray. Max
your Mount Zion. Let no bad book or news
Z paper come into that room, any more thai
you would allow cobra to coil on your table
Take care of yourself. Nobody else will tax
care of you. Your help will not come up tw
or three or four flights of stairs; your he'll
heaven, from that God who in the six thou
sand years of the worlds history neve
betrayed a young man who tried to b
good and Christian. Lot me say in regar
to your adverse worldly circumstances, i
passing, that you are on level now wit
those who are finally to succeed Mark m
words, young man, and think of it thirt
who thirty years from now are the milGor
aires of this country, who are the orators c
the country, who are the poets of the cour
try who are the strong merchants of tn
country who are the great philanthropists G
the country-mightest in church and State
are this morning on level with you, not a
inch above. and you in straitened circum
stances now.
Herschel earned his living by playing
violin at parties, and in the interstices Of th
play he would go out and look up at the mic
night heavens, the fields of his immorta
conquests George Stephenson rose fror
being the foreman in a colliery to be th
most renowned of the worlds engineers. n
outfit, no capital to start with Young mar
go down to the Mercantile Library and g
some books and read of what wonderful mecf
anism God gave you in your hand, In you
foot, in your eye, in your ear, and then as
some doctor to take you into the di
secting room and illustrate to you wha
/, you have read about. and neve
again commit the blasphemy of saying 20
, have no capital to start with. Equipped
Why, the poorest young man in this house
, equipped as only the God of the whole un
verse could afford to equip him. Then b
, body-a very poor affair compared with h
wonderful soul-oh, that is wha
makes me solcitous. am not so muc
anxious about you, young man, because 20
have SO little to do with, as l am anxior
about you because you have much to ris
and lose or gain.
There is no class OF persons that so stir m.
ympathies as young men in great cities No
quite enough salary to live on, and all tn
temptations that come from that deficit
|, Invited on all hands to drink, and thei
: exhausted nervous system seeming TO az
: mand stimulus Their religion caricature
by the most of the clerks in the stor
, and most of the operatives in the factory
, The rapids of temptation and death rushin
AGAINST that young man forty niles the houl
: aTe se in frail boat he ide:i ZIP stream
! MA d ,thing but broken oh 10 york witt
| Unless Almighty God help then they WI
, go under.
An when 1 told you to take care of you
: self you misunderstood me if you thought
T meant you are to depend upon human resol
= luton, which may be dissolved in the foa
. of the wine cup or may be blown out wit
the first gust of temptation. Here is Il
helmet, the sword of Lord God A
mighty. Clothe yourself in that panoply ar
!; you shall not be put to confusion. Sin pa,
7 well neither in this world nor the next, b.
! right thinking and right believing and rigl
! acting will take you in safety through til
life and in TRANSPORT through the next