Milford chronicle., 1889-04-12

paragraph from my own experience.
DR. TALMAGE mas BEEN THERE HnIsELR
My first settlement as pastor was in a vii
lage Ny salary was $500 and parsonage.
The amount seemed enormous 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 con
gregation to my house in groups of twenty
five each. We began and rs they were the
best congregation in all the world and we
felt nothing was too good for them. we
piled all the luxuries 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 Il mans body before
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 pack Of hounds in full cry
and alas for the reindeer They jingle his
doorbell 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 him postal card, or
letter, in curtest style, telling him to pay
up. They attach his goods. They want cash
or a note at thirty days or a note on demand
They call him a knave. They say he lies
They want him disciplined 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 beneath, and he is in
suited and gibbeted, and sued, and dunned,
and sworn at, until he gets the nervous dys,
pepsia, gets neuralgia, gets liver complaint,
gets heart disease, gets convulsive disorder
gets consumption.
Now be is dead, and you say; "Of course
they will let him alone" Oh, no! Now they
are watchful to see whether there are any
unnecessary expenses at the obsequies, to sc,
whether there is any useless handle on ths
casket, to see whether there is any surplm
plait on the shroud, TO see whether the hearseb
costly or cheap. to see whether the flowers sen,
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 ransacb
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 debt! 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 thati Well,
you will caricature his reverence for the
Scriptures, you viii take all those incidents
of the Bible which can be made mirth Of
Jonah's whale, SamsOn's foxes, Adams rib
then you will carcature eccentric Chris
tians or Inconsistent Christians, then You will
pass off as your own all those hackneyed ar
gliments against Christianity which arc as
old as Tom Paine, as Old ns VOltaire, es old as
sin. Now you have captured his Bible, and
you have taken his strongest fortress; tho
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 encampment.
A LOSS THAT CANNOT BE REPLACED.
A steamer fifteen hundred miles from shore
with broken rudder and lost compass, and
hulk leaking fifty gallons the hour, is better of
than young man when you have robbed him
of his Bible Have you ever noticed how des-
picably mean it is to take away the worlds
Bible without proposing a substituted 1t is
mcaner than to come to a 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 poor man and burn his house down.
1t Is the worst of all larcenics to steal the
Bible which has been the crutch and medi
cine and food and eternal home to so many!
What generous and magnanimous business
| infdelity has gone intol This splitting up of
life boats and taking away Of fire escapes and
extinguishing of light houses.
come out and say to such people, "What
are you doing all this forF "Oh," they say
''just for fun" It is such fun to see Christians
try to hold on to their Biblesi 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 caiae
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 saviouri Think
| Of the meanest thing you ever heard Of; then
! 90 down thousand feet underneath it, aud
/ you will find yourself at the top Of a stairs
| hundred miles long; go to the bottom Of
/ the stairs, and you will find n ladder q
thousand miles long, then go to the foot Of
]
| far as from here to China and you will find
the headquarters of the meanness that would
rob this world Of its only comfort in life, its
/ only peace in death and its only hope for I'm
mortality Slaughter young mans faith 10
/ God, and there is not much moro 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
arc, for their souls have gone on to retribu'
ton. Not much prospect for a young man
who started life with good health, and good
education, and a Christian example set him,
and opportunity Of usefulness, who gatherel
| all his treasures and put them in one box, and
then dropped it into the sea.
Now, how is this wholesale slaughter to be
stoppedi There is not person in the housc
but is interested in that question. Young
man, arm yourself The object Of my sermon
is to put Il weapon in each Of your hands for
your own defense Wait not for Young
Mems Christian associations to protect you, OF
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
/ parlor OF IashlOnabte DotAuinB uousei Vi
room in the fourth story Of cheap lodging,
care not Only have that one room your
fortress. Let not the dissipator or unciean
step over the threshold II they come uF
che long flight of stairs and knock at the door,
meet them face to face, and kindly yet firmly
refuse them admittance 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 can play on one, have an instrument
Of music-harp or flute, or cornet, or melo-
deon, or violin, or piano. Every morning
before you leave that room, pray. Every
night after you come home in that reom